Turkey will host a meeting next week with the foreign ministers of some Muslim countries to discuss the state of the Gaza ceasefire and how to proceed to the second stage, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced Friday.
Mr. Fidan explained that ministers from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are expected to attend the meeting on Monday. The ministers will discuss the ceasefire agreement and how to transition to create a “stability force.”
Such a force is a key component of the agreement’s second phase, which will have an international group oversee the security of Gaza and train new police.
The agreement says the stabilization force will be composed of U.S., Arab and European personnel. However, public criticism of Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war from some Arab and European states could complicate the construction and implementation of the second phase.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made it clear that the stabilization force would be made up of troops from only countries that Israel is “comfortable” with.
Turkey has expressed interest in being part of that force and sent 81 people to Gaza last week to help disseminate aid and locate bodies. The Israeli government has rejected Turkish participation in the stabilization force over Ankara’s anti-Israel comments.
Next week’s meeting comes as the future of the Gaza ceasefire remains unclear. Since the agreement went into effect, Israel has launched several airstrikes on what it says are Hamas targets in Gaza after accusing the terrorist group of violating the ceasefire’s borders and failing to return the bodies of hostages.
At least 200 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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