US-backed int’l force won’t confront Hamas, Israel believes, as Azerbaijan rules out participation

Hamas is expanding its military capabilities, Israeli intelligence suggests, while the US hopes of forming international forces to disarm Hamas dim.

By World Israel News Staff

Efforts by the Trump administration to assemble an international peacekeeping force to police the Gaza Strip, enforce the ceasefire, and ensure that Hamas disarms suffered a major setback recently, after one of the key states considering contributing to the force said it would not send soldiers to Gaza, according to a report published Sunday morning.

The US has reportedly envisioned forming the international stabilization force for Gaza with soldiers from Arab and Muslim allies, in the hopes of increasing the odds that Hamas will cooperate with the demilitarization of the coastal enclave.

Those plans have been complicated, however, both by Israeli opposition to the inclusion of Turkey – a major US Muslim ally – in the ISF, and the hesitance of other powers to send troops to Gaza.

Reservations among Muslim and Arab states only increased after the US amended the draft resolution, passed at the United Nations Security Council last week, mandating the international force’s responsibilities for disarming Hamas – a role that could lead to hostilities between the terror group and the ISF.

Several days ago, Azerbaijan told the US it was no longer interested in sending troops as part of the ISF deployment, Israel Hayom reported.

The loss of Azerbaijan, one of the few Muslim states allied with Israel, has reinforced growing doubts among Israel’s security establishment that the ISF will ever be formed and deployed to Gaza.

Thus far, not a single country has formally signed on to contribute to the ISF, despite a number of countries reportedly expressing interest.

At the same time, Israel increasingly believes an armed confrontation with Hamas to be inevitable, amid growing evidence that Hamas has not only declined to disarm since the ceasefire went into effect last month, but has in fact worked to reconstitute its military capabilities.

During a meeting of the security cabinet last Thursday, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency told Israeli ministers that Hamas is expanding its arsenal, including through the exploitation of dual-use materials included in humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza.

“Hamas is exploiting the ceasefire to strengthen its power to prepare against us, in case we enter to operate in the red side of Gaza, and also to appoint officials in the organization,” a Shin Bet official was quoted as telling the security cabinet.