International Stabilization Force in Gaza Remains Spurious
Murad Makhmudov, Michiyo Tanabe, and Kanako Mita
Modern Tokyo Times
The proposed U.S.-backed stabilization force for Gaza—possibly structured under a United Nations umbrella and reinforced by major European actors—remains more aspiration than reality. Plans continue to circulate in diplomatic corridors, but the situation on the ground is too volatile, too combustible. And the historical shadows are long. After the failures in Haiti and other fractured states, the notion of disarming Hamas and associated Islamist factions borders on the perilous. Thus, despite bold assurances from NATO members to Gulf partners, progress is glacial while Israel continues to strike Gaza in the name of national security and proactive counterterrorism.
Unlike a traditional UN peacekeeping mission, Washington favors a slimmer, coalition-based operation—an uneasy echo of the Haiti framework. The mission’s mandate would be narrow: enforce a ceasefire and establish the bare minimum of stability to prevent Gaza from imploding further. Yet even this limited ambition is fraught with hazards, and any semblance of success remains uncertain.
Egypt is emerging as the likely anchor of such a force—a pragmatic choice from Israel’s vantage point. The Egyptian military’s bitter experience fighting Islamist insurgents in the Sinai makes it a seasoned, if hardened, candidate. Crucially, Egypt is far less polarizing than Turkey, whose regional aspirations and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s anti-Israel rhetoric render Ankara unacceptable to Jerusalem.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) observes, “Still, the lineup of potential contributors raises difficult questions. According to The Guardian, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan are being considered as key troop providers. Yet the irony is glaring: Indonesia continues a brutal campaign against indigenous Christian Papuans in West Papua; Turkey maintains an illegal occupation in northern Cyprus; and Azerbaijan has just expelled the last Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh in a de facto ethnic cleansing.”
These contradictions form the mission’s Achilles’ heel. Europe and Gulf powers continue to champion an eventual Palestinian state, while Israel remains firmly opposed—a stark political mismatch that guarantees future friction. Any stabilization force inserted into this landscape will inevitably collide with incompatible goals, local hostility, and foreign agendas.
Tensions are already simmering. Israel’s recent accusation that Hamas violated the ceasefire—followed immediately by retaliatory airstrikes—highlights how fragile the situation remains, how quickly the truce can collapse into renewed violence.
Nor does the international record inspire confidence. The U.S.-favored model in Haiti is now buckling under the weight of rampant gang warfare, political disintegration, and a force too constrained to impose order. If such a mission is faltering in Haiti, can it truly succeed in Gaza, where militant Islamism, entrenched ideological networks, and regional rivalries present even deeper challenges?
Or will the operation become little more than a geopolitical bandage—a buffer designed to manage, not solve, the conflict, reducing the tempo of violence while leaving its roots untouched?
After the October 7 Hamas pogrom against Israeli civilians, followed by the devastating Israeli campaign in Gaza, half-measures risk becoming preludes to the next catastrophe.
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