Netanyahu opposed Turkish role in Gaza as relations deteriorated over Erdogan’s criticism of Israeli campaign
Smoke and flames rise after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City on October 7. PHOTO: REUTERS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire under U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan.
It remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be willing to send troops, partly given the refusal of Palestinian Hamas militants to disarm as called for in the plan, while Israel has expressed concerns about the composition of that force.
Although the Trump administration has ruled out sending U.S. troops to the Gaza Strip, it has asked Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
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“We control our security, and we have also made clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and that is how we operate and will continue to operate,” Netanyahu said.
“This is of course also acceptable to the United States, as its highest representatives have expressed in recent days,” he declared during a session of his cabinet.
Israel, which besieged Gaza for two years to support its air and ground war in the enclave against Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, continues to control all access to the territory.
Israel opposed to Turkish role in Gaza force
Last week, Netanyahu suggested he would be opposed to any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza. Once-warm Turkish-Israeli relations have deteriorated significantly during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign in the small Palestinian enclave.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a visit to Israel aimed at strengthening the truce, said Friday that the international force should be made up of “countries that Israel is comfortable with.” He made no comment on Turkish involvement.
Rubio added that future governance of Gaza still had to be worked out between Israel and partner countries, but could not include Hamas.
Rubio later said U.S. officials were receiving feedback on a possible U.N. resolution or international agreement authorizing the multinational force in Gaza and would discuss the issue on Sunday with Qatar, a key Gulf mediator for Gaza.
A major challenge to Trump’s plan is that Hamas has been reluctant to disarm. Since the ceasefire took effect two weeks ago, the first step in Trump’s 20-point plan, Hamas has led a violent crackdown on clans that have challenged its grip on power.
Israel says Hamas knows where hostages’ remains are
At the same time, the remains of 13 deceased hostages remain in Gaza, with Hamas citing obstacles in locating them in the omnipresent rubble left by the fighting.
An Israeli government spokesperson said Sunday that Hamas, which freed the remaining 20 living hostages it took during its October 2023 assault, knew where the bodies were.
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“Israel is aware that Hamas knows where our deceased hostages in fact are. If Hamas made more efforts, it would be able to recover the remains of our hostages,” the spokesperson said.
Israel had, however, authorized the entry of an Egyptian technical team tasked with working with the Red Cross to locate the bodies. She said the team would use excavators and trucks to search beyond the so-called Yellow Line in Gaza, behind which Israeli troops initially retreated under Trump’s plan.
Netanyahu began the cabinet session by emphasizing that Israel was an independent country, rejecting the idea that “the American administration controls me and dictates Israel’s security policy.” Israel and the United States, he said, are a “partnership.”
Diplomats and analysts say Trump successfully pushed Netanyahu, who had long rejected global pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, to accept his framework for a broader peace deal and also forced Netanyahu to call Qatar’s leader to apologize after a failed bombing raid targeting Hamas negotiators there.
Trump also persuaded Arab states to convince Hamas to return all Israeli hostages, its main leverage in the war.
