Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan and Kosovo have also pledged to participate, while Egypt and Jordan will provide training for police officers.

Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania have pledged to send troops to Gaza, the commander of a newly created International Stabilization Force (ISF) has said during a meeting of United States President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace.

US Army General Jasper Jeffers, who has been appointed as the head of a future Gaza stabilisation force by Trump’s board, said on Thursday that the Indonesian contingent to the mission has “accepted the position of deputy commander”.

“With these first steps, we will help bring the security that Gaza needs,” Jeffers said during a meeting of the board in Washington, DC.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who was among several world leaders participating in the meeting, said his country would contribute up to 8,000 personnel to the planned force “to make this peace work” in the war-torn Palestinian territory, where Israel’s genocide has killed at least 72,000 people.

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will also send an unspecified number of troops, including medical units, to Gaza, while Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that his country is ready to deploy police officers to Gaza.

Albania, whose prime minister recently made a two-day official visit to Israel, has also said it will contribute troops, while neighbouring countries Egypt and Jordan have said they will participate by training police officers.

Indonesia, which was one of the first countries to commit to sending troops, has sought to reassure potential critics that its participation is intended to ensure international law is upheld in Gaza, amid Israel’s genocidal onslaught.

‘Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations’

Indonesia’s foreign minister met with both United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour in New York on Wednesday, in advance of President Subianto’s participation in the Board of Peace meeting.

“Indonesia’s mandate [on troop deployment] is humanitarian in nature with a focus on protecting civilians, humanitarian and health assistance, reconstruction as well as training and strengthening the capacity of the Palestinian Police,” Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a recent statement, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper.

“Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations or any action leading to direct confrontation with any armed group,” the ministry said, responding to questions raised over its future role in Gaza by Amnesty International.

The head of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, has voiced concerns that Indonesia risked violating international law through its participation in the Board of Peace and the planned stabilisation force for Gaza.

Hamid warned that Indonesia’s deployment of troops to Gaza “means putting Indonesia at risk of participating in a mechanism that will strengthen violations of International Humanitarian Law”.

“The Peace Council does not include members from the most disadvantaged Palestinians, but instead includes members from Israel, which has for nearly eight decades carried out an illegal occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people, even committing genocide in Gaza,” Hamid wrote last week in an open letter to the speaker of the People’s Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia.

Palestinians have also voiced concerns that Trump’s Board of Peace will only further entrench Israel’s illegal occupation of the Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces continue to carve out more “buffer zones” and restrict the entry of food and other aid, months into a so-called “ceasefire” with Hamas, during which almost 600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks.

The Gaza stabilisation force differs from other peacekeeping forces deployed by multilateral organisations such as the UN or the African Union.

In neighbouring Lebanon, more than 10,000 peacekeepers from 47 countries continue to participate in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was created in 1978.

Indonesia, along with Italy, is one of the largest contributors of troops to UNIFIL, which has repeatedly come under fire from Israeli forces, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Leaked audio from the Epstein files suggests former UK prime minister and ‘Board of Peace’ member Tony Blair was known for earning large sums of money for advisory work after leaving office. Blair’s office told Al Jazeera the figures mentioned in the audio were ‘rubbish’.

Following back-to-back Australian Open wins, Aryna Sabalenka has now lost two consecutive finals with Elena Rybakina defeat.

Following two ‌years of triumph at the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka is now processing another two years of ‍pain – and a series of missed chances in Melbourne that have left her “really upset”.

A year on from ‍losing the final in three sets to American Madison Keys, Sabalenka fell 6-4 4-6 6-4 to Elena Rybakina on Saturday, the Russia-born Kazakh turning the tables on the Belarusian who beat her for the 2023 title.

“I was really upset with myself, I would say, because once again I had opportunities,” Sabalenka said.

“I played great until a certain point, and then I couldn’t resist that aggression that she had on court.”

While the Keys shock left Sabalenka inconsolable and ⁠her racket in pieces, defeat to fifth seed Rybakina had its own unique sting.

The world number one ​held a 3-0 lead in the third set and had all the running before ‍former Wimbledon champion Rybakina broke back in the fifth game and stormed to her second Grand Slam trophy.

“She made some winners. I made a couple of unforced errors,” Sabalenka continued.

“Of course, I have regrets. You know, when ‍you lead 3-0 and ⁠then it felt like in a few seconds it was 3-4 and I was down with a break. So it was very fast.

“Great tennis from her. Maybe not so smart for me but, as I say, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner, maybe again a loser. Hopefully not. We’ll see.”

It was Sabalenka’s second significant loss to Rybakina in a few months, having been beaten for the season-ending WTA Finals crown.

More alarmingly, it ​was her third loss in her last four major finals, with Coco Gauff ‌flooring her at last year’s French Open.

Sabalenka did not lose a set coming into the Melbourne final and had won 46 of her 48 previous matches at hardcourt Grand Slams.

Now Rybakina, one of the few players able to match her ‌for power, has dealt Sabalenka’s aura a heavy blow.

Sabalenka laughed ruefully and shrugged through her post-match news conference but was honest enough to admit ‌she had been despondent outside the room.

On court, she draped a ⁠white towel over her head to conceal her anguish before gathering herself to deliver gracious congratulations to Rybakina, her most frequent opponent on tour.

She consoled herself that, barring a few errors in the final set, Rybakina had simply wrested the trophy from ‌her grip with the quality of her tennis.

“Even in this final, I feel like I played great. I was fighting. I did my best, and today she was a better player,” said Sabalenka.

“So I ‍don’t know. We’ll speak with the team. Now they try to avoid and escape me because they see that it’s not really healthy to be around me right now.”