One of the more concrete developments connected to Trump’s Board of Peace is Indonesia’s training of a contingent of up to 8,000 soldiers for the proposed International Stabilization Force in Gaza. It is a significant commitment from the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation — and it comes with an equally significant caveat: those soldiers will not participate in the disarmament of Hamas.
Indonesia’s position reflects a broader tension within the stabilization force concept. Countries being asked to contribute troops have insisted that any deployment be framed as a peacekeeping mission — not a combat or disarmament operation. The prospect of their forces confronting Hamas fighters is a line none of them are willing to cross, leaving the disarmament task without an assigned executor.
This creates a fundamental problem. Israel and the United States have made clear that Hamas disarmament is the prerequisite for progress on everything else — reconstruction, governance transition, Israeli withdrawal, and the establishment of the stabilization force itself. If the force will not carry out disarmament, who will?
The Board of Peace convened its first meeting Thursday in Washington, bringing together more than two dozen founding member nations to address these questions. Trump claimed that member countries had pledged $5 billion for reconstruction and thousands of peacekeeping personnel. But the details of those commitments have not been made public, and the fundamental sequencing problem on disarmament remains unresolved.
Hamas’s own position adds another layer of complexity. It has made vague and conditional commitments to disarm, insisting that its security forces need to retain some weapons for law and order during any transition. Ideas under discussion include placing arms in sealed depots or surrendering heavy weapons while keeping handguns for policing. Whether Israel or the US would accept such arrangements is far from certain.