A decision on sending Pakistani troops to Gaza as part of an international stabilisation force under a US-brokered peace agreement is "in process" and has yet to be finalised, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday.
“This thing has to be finalised, (and) it is in process. The government will take a decision after passing through the process, and I don’t want to preempt it,” Asif told Geo News.
He added that the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will take the parliament and all institutions into confidence before deciding on the issue.
Under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, a phased ceasefire agreement between Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel, brokered through regional and international mediation, took effect on October 10.
Phase one includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
It also envisages rebuilding Gaza and establishing a new governing mechanism without Hamas, including a temporary International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
No details have been finalised yet, though Indonesia and Malaysia have pledged to deploy peacekeepers in Gaza.
Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 68,500 people and injured more than 170,300, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
