
First ISF vehicles reach Gaza logistics hub as disarmament deadlock stalls deployment
The arrival of tactical vehicles at a support base near Kerem Shalom marks a preparatory step for the International Stabilisation Force, but the plan remains blocked by a sequencing dispute over Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawal.
The Board of Peace announced on 30 June that the first tactical vehicles had arrived at the Endurance logistics support area near the Kerem Shalom crossing, inside Israel and adjacent to the Gaza Strip. The site is intended as a transit and staging hub for the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), the multinational contingent that the Board envisions taking over security responsibilities in Gaza after a phased Israeli pullback. Moroccan officers had already reached southern Israel on 18 June to join the nascent ISF headquarters, according to the Board and reports citing Agence France-Presse, but no operational deployment inside the Palestinian enclave has yet occurred.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem expressed hope that the arrival of international troops would become “the beginning of the implementation of their tasks — separating our people in the Gaza Strip from the Israeli occupation army and working to stop the violations they commit.” He urged the Board of Peace to activate the ceasefire plan immediately, including the entry of a national committee to administer Gaza, the delivery of tangible humanitarian aid, and an Israeli withdrawal. At the same time, Hamas issued a separate statement condemning what it described as a US-backed proposal to exclude the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from any future reconstruction framework, calling the agency an “international witness to the Nakba” and any attempt to curtail its role a direct assault on the right of return. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, representing 57 member states, reinforced that position from Jeddah, declaring its “strong support” for UNRWA’s political, legal and humanitarian mandate and rejecting all efforts to weaken, replace or eliminate it.
The institutional architecture of the post-war plan exists largely on paper. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic body expected to replace Hamas rule, remains based outside the Strip and has not entered the enclave. Diplomats and affiliated bodies have been meeting in Cyprus and Cairo to advance the committee’s work, but its operational presence is still absent. The ceasefire framework is caught in what regional mediators describe as a sequencing trap: Israel insists it will not withdraw without verified Hamas disarmament, while Hamas maintains it will not discuss decommissioning before Israel addresses what the group considers failures to implement Phase One and provides international guarantees. The Board of Peace is expected to ask the UN Security Council to press Hamas to disarm, according to a report seen by the Associated Press, but Arab officials argue that without a clear Israeli withdrawal timeline and a political horizon, disarmament remains impossible to sell.
The Board’s immediate fallback plan involves establishing “temporary communities” inside the Israeli-controlled Green Zone, with a first site reportedly planned near Rafah, to offer civilians shelter and services outside Hamas-controlled territory. Yet this track, too, faces unresolved questions: whether Palestinians would voluntarily move into areas under Israeli military control, whether the NCAG would lose legitimacy by operating there, and whether Israel will authorise the necessary construction and administrative steps. The ISF’s eventual mandate — to facilitate humanitarian aid, escort reconstruction materials and help create conditions for recovery — depends on a political breakthrough that has not materialised. For now, the vehicles at Endurance remain a logistical marker of a plan whose operational timeline is undefined.
| Arab Levant-Maghreb press | −0.80 | critical |
|---|---|---|
| Israeli press | +0.40 | aligned |
The region is being dragged into a new cycle of violence by Israel's provocations, and the international community's complicity only deepens the crisis.
By linking the Gaza border deployment to ongoing Israeli operations in Lebanon and Iran, the narrative creates a unified picture of Israeli aggression, making the specific event appear as part of a larger, coordinated threat.
The Arab bloc omits any mention of the security concerns that might justify the international forces' presence, such as rocket attacks from Gaza or the need to prevent smuggling.
Israel coordinates with its allies to maintain security and economic stability, and the international forces at the border are a testament to that successful partnership.
By emphasizing the diplomatic and technical dimensions (the Netanyahu-Trump call, tech costs), the narrative normalizes the military deployment as a routine, cooperative security measure, downplaying any contentious political context.
The Israeli bloc omits any reference to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or the legal disputes over UNRWA's mandate, focusing instead on the operational and diplomatic aspects.
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