JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a U.S. plan to end war in the Palestinian territory for good, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan includes an international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire which began this month, halting two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops to the international force. “Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a news conference in Budapest.
Once warm Turkish-Israeli relations soured drastically during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign in the small Palestinian enclave.
“Turkey, led by Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel,” Saar said, speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip and we will not agree to that and we said it to our American friends,” Saar said.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending U.S. soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
Last week Netanyahu hinted that he would be strongly opposed to any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza. On Sunday, he said Israel would decide which foreign forces to allow in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up the truce, said on Friday the international force would have to be made up of “countries that Israel’s comfortable with”. He made no comment on Turkish involvement.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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