JAKARTA: Indonesia’s army is preparing up to 8,000 troops for a possible peacekeeping mission in Gaza, underscoring President Prabowo Subianto’s (pic) push for the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation to take on a bigger role in international security.
Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak said the plan remains tentative, with troop numbers and deployment timing dependent on further coordination across the military chain of command, according to a statement late Monday.
The statement, which added that any deployment would focus on engineering and medical units, was issued following a joint military-police leadership meeting with Prabowo in Jakarta.
Indonesia has stepped up diplomatic messaging on Gaza in recent months, as Prabowo seeks to elevate the country’s role in global peacekeeping and post-conflict stabilization efforts.
Prabowo said at a United Nations General Assembly meeting in September that Indonesia was prepared to deploy "20,000 or even more” peacekeeping troops to help secure peace in Gaza or elsewhere. He was later among dozens of world leaders to attend a summit in Egypt on Gaza’s future led by US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
Indonesia also recently joined Trump’s Board of Peace. Prabowo has said the Southeast Asian nation would be open to ties with Israel if that country recognizes Palestinian statehood. - Bloomberg
