International troops won’t want to enforce Gaza peace, says King of Jordan

Jordan’s King Abdullah told the BBC that countries would refuse to be asked to “enforce” peace in Gaza if they were deployed under Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Under US President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Arab countries and international partners must commit to stabilization forces that “will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt, which have extensive experience in this area.” Hamas must disarm and give up its political control over the region.

King Abdullah said, “What is the mandate of the security forces inside Gaza? We hope that it will be peacekeeping, because if peace is imposed, no one will want to touch it.”

He said in an exclusive interview with BBC Panorama that Jordan and Egypt are ready to train Palestinian security forces.

“Peacekeeping is sitting there supporting the local police forces, the Palestinians, who Jordan and Egypt want to train in large numbers, but that takes time. If we are going around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that is not a situation that any country wants to get involved in.”

The king’s comments reflect the concern of the United States and other countries about being drawn into an ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, or Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

King Abdullah said he would not send Jordanian forces to Gaza because his country is “very close politically” to the situation. More than half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin, and over the decades, the country has received 2.3 million Palestinian refugees who fled previous wars with Israel – the largest number in the region.

In response to a question about whether he has confidence in Hamas’ ability to fulfill its promise to abandon any political role in Gaza, he replied: “I do not know them, but those who work close to them – Qatar and Egypt – feel very, very optimistic that they will adhere to that.”

He added, “If we do not solve this problem, and if we do not find a future for Israelis and Palestinians and a relationship between the Arab and Islamic world and Israel, we will be doomed to failure.”

The main mediation efforts during the war were undertaken by Qatar and Egypt in cooperation with the United States.

The Jordanians were part of an international effort trying to deliver aid to Gaza and evacuate sick and wounded children. The king flew over the region on three missions to parachute in aid supplies.

“Looking at the back ramp was shocking,” he said. “The devastation in this part of Gaza was just a shock to me.

“I saw it firsthand, and how we, as an international community, allow this to happen is amazing.”

The King requested President Trump’s support to evacuate 2,000 seriously ill Palestinian children from Gaza. In a White House meeting with the Jordanian king in February, Trump called it a “beautiful gesture.”

Since then, 253 children have been evacuated to Jordan. In total, more than 5,000 people were medically evacuated, most of them to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. More than 15,000 Gazans are still awaiting evacuation, including about 3,000 children, according to the World Health Organization.

For children and their parents to be removed from the territory, they must undergo a comprehensive security check by Israel and the host countries. The World Health Organization described the process as “extremely slow.” The Israeli military group overseeing aid to Gaza – Cogat – insists it attaches “great importance” to facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza, including the evacuation of patients with “complex medical conditions.” He stresses the need to conduct security checks on individuals traveling through Israeli territory.

In her interview with the Panorama program, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan criticized the international community for failing, as she put it, to stop the war for two years.

“Do you know what it’s like to be a parent for the past two years? To watch your children suffering, starving, shaking in terror, and to be powerless to do anything about it, to know that the whole world is watching and doing nothing about it. This nightmare, it is every parent’s nightmare, but this nightmare has been the daily reality for Palestinians for the past two years.”

The Queen, who is of Palestinian origin, praised President Trump for his efforts to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. She said that he used American diplomatic, military and financial support as a means of pressure on Israel.

“To his credit, Trump was the first president in a long time to actually put pressure on Israel. Previously, when they crossed lines, the American president might just say a few words of rebuke or just a slap on the wrist. President Trump has already gotten [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu actually agrees to a ceasefire. “I hope he will continue to participate in this process.”

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of prolonging the war by refusing to release Israeli hostages, and has said the organization – which is classified as a terrorist group by the UK, US and EU – is using civilians as human shields in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Strip, more than 68,000 people have been killed since Israel invaded Gaza.

The Israeli invasion followed a Hamas attack on October 7, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, most of them Israeli civilians, and 251 were taken hostage in Gaza. Since then, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants on war crimes charges against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as well as Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, although Hamas later confirmed that he was killed in an airstrike.

The signing of the Trump ceasefire agreement also witnessed the release of 20 Israeli hostages alive from Gaza, as efforts continue to recover the remains of the dead. Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners convicted of crimes, including murder and fatal attacks against Israelis, and about 1,700 detainees from Gaza who Israel had been holding without charge.

When Queen Rania was asked if she believed lasting peace was possible, she said that hoping for that was not naive, but rather a form of challenge.

“I truly believe that Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side,” she said. “In the current atmosphere, there is so much animosity and so much anger, sadness, hatred and cynicism between the two peoples that peace cannot actually be achieved alone. I am not naive here. But I believe this is the only way with pressure from the international community.

“Many times over the past two years, hope has seemed out of reach. Choosing hope has not been easy…it is difficult, and it is heavy. But it is the only path that does not deny the Palestinians or betray their struggle or our humanity.”

With additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Soha Kawar, David McIlveen and Liam Connell.