Kosovo’s government on Monday approved sending members of the Kosovo Security Forces, FSK, to Gaza as part of an International Stabilisation Force, an armed force envisaged under Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian territory, which will provide security, demilitarise Hamas fighters and guard deliveries of aid and reconstruction materials.

Kosovo initially committed to the idea when it signed up to Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, which will oversee the plan’s implememtation.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti told a government meeting on Monday that “we … have expressed our willingness to participate in this International Stabilisation Force … the FSK is well known for search-and-rescue missions and demining.

“The dispatch of our military personnel there [in Gaza] is based on … the invitation from the United States Central Command in December of last year, in accordance with Resolution 2803 of the United Nations Security Council, as well as the expression of political will within the Board of Peace. All operations of our army will be conducted in full compliance with the United Nations Charter, Humanitarian Law and the Rules of Engagement of the International Stabilisation Force,” Kurti added.

The September 29, 2025, UN resolution called for the establishment of a temporary International Stabilisation Force in Gaza “to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP [Board of Peace] … in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel”.

The resolution explains that, “as the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will withdraw from the Gaza Strip.”

Kurti recalled that Kosovo itself had benefitted from the presence of international peacekeepers at the end of its independence war. “We ourselves have been and are beneficiaries of international forces since 1999,” he recalled, referencing the NATO peacekeeping mission, KFOR, which has been present in Kosovo since the war ended in 1999.

Kurti also recalled that, in January 2025, the Kosovo government allocated 500,000 euros in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

So far, only five countries – Kosovo, Albania, Indonesia, Morocco and Kazakhstan – have agreed to staff the Stabilisation Force. Two other countries have committed to train Gazan police, Egypt and Jordan, Reuters reported in February.

The Kosovo government’s approval of deployment in Gaza meanwhile is only the first stage. The plan now needs the support of two-thirds of MPs in a vote. It is not known yet when such a vote will be held. Parliament’s current priority is the election of a state President, as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate is about to expire and a Constitutional Court deadline looms to elect her successor, in order to avoid new extraordinary elections.

Kosovo and Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 under a Kosovo-Serbia deal brokered by Trump in his first term on September 4, 2020. The only implemented part of the deal has been Israeli recognition of Kosovo and Kosovo’s opening of an embassy in Jerusalem. Kosovo and Palestine do not have diplomatic relations.