Netanyahu opposes Turkish role in Gaza as ties sour over Erdogan’s criticism of Israel campaign
Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces hit a high-rise tower block in Gaza City on October 7. PHOTO: REUTERS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will determine which foreign forces to allow in as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile truce under US President Donald Trump’s plan.
It remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops, in part given the refusal of Palestinian Hamas militants to disarm as called for in the plan, while Israel has raised concerns about the composition of the force.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US troops to the Gaza Strip, it has talked with Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan about contributing to the multinational force.
Read more: Palestinians agree on governing body for Gaza
“We are in control of our security and we have also made it clear with regard to 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 told a meeting of his cabinet.
Israel, which has 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 objected to the Turkish role in the Gaza force
Last week Netanyahu hinted that he would oppose any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza. Once-warm Turkish-Israeli relations soured sharply during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticizing Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign in the tiny Palestinian enclave.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a visit to Israel aimed at supporting the ceasefire, said on 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 the future governance of Gaza must still be worked out between Israel and partner countries, but cannot include Hamas.
Later, Rubio said US officials were receiving information about a possible UN resolution or international agreement authorizing the multinational force in Gaza and would discuss the matter in Qatar, the main Gulf mediator on Gaza, on Sunday.
A major challenge to Trump’s plan is that Hamas has avoided disarming. Since the ceasefire came into effect two weeks ago as the first stage of Trump’s 20-point plan, Hamas has unleashed a violent crackdown on tribes that have tested its might.
Israel says Hamas knows where the hostages’ remains are
At the same time, the remains of 13 dead hostages remain in Gaza with Hamas citing obstacles to locating them in the scattered ruins left by the fighting.
An Israeli government spokesman said Sunday that Hamas, which released the remaining 20 hostages it took alive in the October 2023 attack, knew where the bodies were.
Read more: Israeli forces carry out targeted attacks on a suspect in central Gaza
“Israel knows that Hamas knows where our dead hostages actually are. If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages,” the spokesman said.
Israel, however, allowed an Egyptian technical team to enter to work with the Red Cross to locate the bodies. He said the team would use excavators and trucks to search beyond the so-called yellow line in Gaza behind which Israeli troops have initially withdrawn under Trump’s plan.
Netanyahu began the cabinet meeting by stressing that Israel is an independent country, rejecting the idea that “the American administration is controlling me and dictating Israel’s security policy.” Israel and the US, he said, are a “partnership”.
Diplomats and analysts say Trump managed to push Netanyahu, who has long rejected global pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, to accept the framework for a broader peace deal and also forced Netanyahu to call on Qatar’s leader to apologize after a failed bombing raid targeting Hamas negotiators in that country.
Trump also persuaded Arab states to persuade Hamas to return all Israeli hostages, its main lever in the war.
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