Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday approved the legal framework allowing the US-backed Board of Peace and an international stabilisation force to enter the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official confirmed. The move, reported by multiple outlets, grants the force immunity under Israeli law and mandates full coordination with the Israel Defense Forces in areas outside Israeli control. It comes one day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to depart for Washington, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump.

According to the Israeli official, the mission – named the International Stabilization Force – will initially comprise around 200 personnel from “friendly countries such as Uganda and Morocco.” However, a separate report citing sources familiar with the plan said a first phase would see 500 Moroccan soldiers deploy to a limited zone in Rafah. Morocco formally signed an agreement to join the force on 15 July 2026, committing senior military officers, gendarmerie and police elements, as well as a field hospital. The force is intended to support a Palestinian technocratic administration, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which would assume civilian governance in areas cleared of Hamas control.

The cabinet decision does not permit immediate deployment. Entry of any contingent requires separate approval from the prime minister, the defence minister and the foreign minister, a condition that Israeli media described as a brake on rapid expansion. The army has also stipulated that reconstruction cannot begin at this stage. The pilot project envisages a humanitarian zone in Rafah where vetted Gazans from Hamas-controlled areas could relocate to temporary housing, but the plan has stalled. Hamas has refused to disarm, and Israel has said it will not withdraw from the so-called yellow line until the group is disarmed. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir voted against the decision.

Viewed from Washington, the Board of Peace framework is designed to break the impasse by creating a demilitarised, internationally administered foothold. Board envoy Nickolay Mladenov welcomed the Israeli step as “a critical part of the agreed framework for stabilizing Gaza.” Yet the gap between the plan’s architecture and on-the-ground realities remains wide. The technocratic committee has recruited only a few hundred potential police officers, who are currently training in Egypt, and Israel has not authorised thousands more to leave Gaza for training. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently expressed doubt that any actor other than Israel would be willing or able to disarm Hamas by force. No date has been set for the force’s deployment, and the dossier remains subject to further Israeli approvals and the unresolved question of Hamas’s weapons.