Decision on deployment of Pakistani troops to Gaza not yet finalized: Defense chief

ISTANBUL

A decision on sending Pakistani troops to Gaza as part of an international stabilization force under a US-brokered peace agreement is "in process" and has yet to be finalized, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Tuesday.

“This thing has to be finalized, (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 the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel, brokered through regional and international mediation, took effect on Oct. 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 Stabilization Force (ISF).

No details have been finalized 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 Gaza Health Ministry.