Beni Mellal – Morocco became the first Arab country to publicly commit forces to the Gaza International Stabilization Force (ISF) on Thursday, as Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita announced the country’s contribution at the inaugural meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington.
“Morocco is ready to deploy police officers and train policemen from Gaza,” Bourita told the gathering at the Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace. He added that Rabat would also deploy “high-ranking military officers to the ISF joint military command.”
The announcement placed Morocco alongside Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania as the first five nations to formally commit troops to the nascent force. This puts an end to weeks of speculation and unconfirmed reports about Rabat’s role.
ISF Commander, US Army Major General Jasper Jeffers, confirmed the pledges before the assembled delegations. “The first five countries have committed troops to serve in the ISF,” Jeffers said, naming the five nations. He added that Egypt and Jordan had committed to training police forces.
The contributing countries have drawn a clear line on the scope of their involvement. Their forces, they have stressed, would be limited to peacekeeping tasks such as border security and humanitarian assistance, stopping well short of any operations that would require confronting Hamas or disarming other armed factions.
Morocco’s contribution goes beyond troop deployment. Bourita said Rabat would establish a military field hospital in Gaza and lead a deradicalization program aimed at combating hate speech and promoting tolerance and coexistence. He described it as a model drawn from Morocco’s own counterterrorism strategy.
Jeffers outlined the ISF’s operational plan. The force would deploy first to southern Gaza’s Rafah sector, train police there, and “expand sector by sector.”
The long-term objective calls for 20,000 ISF troops and 12,000 trained police officers. Indonesia accepted the position of deputy commander of the force, with President Prabowo Subianto announcing his country would contribute 8,000 or more troops.
Trump, who presided over the meeting and spoke for roughly 45 minutes, confirmed Morocco’s financial contribution as well.
He announced that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, and the UAE had collectively contributed more than $7 billion toward the Gaza relief package. He did not specify individual amounts. The US, Trump said, would contribute $10 billion to the Board of Peace.
Bourita addressed Trump directly during his remarks. “His Majesty King Mohammed VI salutes and supports your vision and your leadership for promoting peace and prosperity in the world, and particularly in the Middle East,” he affirmed. “Thanks to your peace plan for Gaza, a ceasefire has been obtained, a tragic war has ended, and lives have been saved.”
The meeting drew delegations from 47 countries, though key Western powers, including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, declined full membership. France did not send a representative. The EU attended as an observer. Russia and China, both permanent UN Security Council members, were absent.
The Board of Peace itself was established through a UN Security Council resolution in November 2025, authorizing it to serve as a transitional administration for Gaza and to deploy the ISF. Russia and China abstained from that vote.
The board’s mandate runs through 2027 and is limited to Gaza. Trump has signaled ambitions to expand its role to global conflicts, a prospect that has alarmed several European governments who fear it could undermine the United Nations.
Trump claimed at the meeting that “the war in Gaza is over,” though he acknowledged “little flames” remain. Israeli violations have killed more than 600 Palestinians in airstrikes since the ceasefire took effect.
Hamas’s continued hold over Gaza and the unresolved question of its disarmament remain central obstacles to ISF deployment, according to experts cited in coverage of the event.
On the ground, Nickolay Mladenov, a senior Board of Peace official, reported that 2,000 Palestinians applied to join a new transitional police force within hours of applications opening on Thursday.
