The Israeli security cabinet on Sunday endorsed the entry of a multinational stabilisation force and the Board of Peace, the international body under U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, into a restricted zone in southern Gaza. The decision, approved despite opposition from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, provides a legal framework for the force to operate in coordination with the Israeli military and grants it immunity under Israeli law. It comes on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure for Washington, where he is to meet Trump on Tuesday, and is widely seen in Israeli political circles as a gesture of goodwill after weeks of stalling.

Under the pilot project, which Israeli officials say will begin in Rafah, up to 500 Moroccan soldiers are expected to deploy to a refugee camp that would be administered by a Palestinian technocratic committee (the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza – NCAG). Palestinian police, recruited by the NCAG and trained in Egypt, would be responsible for internal security but would carry only batons and tasers. The enclave would sit between territory fully controlled by Israel and areas still under Hamas authority, and Israel has made clear it will not withdraw from the so-called “yellow line” for its establishment. Any new contingent entering Gaza requires specific approval by the prime minister, defence minister and foreign minister, a condition that Israeli analysts say guarantees strict control over the force’s composition and deployment.

Viewed from Washington, the decision marks the most concrete step towards implementing Trump’s 20-point plan, which envisages the Board of Peace overseeing demilitarisation, a surge in humanitarian aid and an eventual transition to Palestinian self-administration. U.S. officials, including the Board’s envoy Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed the move as a “critical part of the agreed framework.” Yet the plan has been delayed for months, with Israeli officials linking progress to the disarmament of Hamas — a step the Islamist movement has so far refused. Morocco formally committed to joining the force in July 2026, and sources in Rabat say its contingent will include senior officers, gendarmes and police, along with a military field hospital. Other contributors mentioned include Uganda, though their numbers remain small.

Palestinian perspectives on the pilot are fraught. The NCAG, a body of technocrats formed under the Trump framework, has struggled to recruit and train police because Israel has not permitted thousands of prospective officers to leave Gaza for instruction in Egypt or Jordan. Hamas, for its part, has rejected any disarmament and continues to control the coastal strip’s remaining population centres. Regional analysts in Amman and Cairo note that earlier attempts to establish humanitarian zones in Gaza — including a U.S.-Israeli initiative that led to hundreds of casualties — have bred deep scepticism about the viability of such projects without a comprehensive political settlement.

The Rafah pilot now becomes a test of Netanyahu’s ability to demonstrate diplomatic momentum while managing an Israeli political right that views any international presence in Gaza as a security risk. With Israel controlling an estimated 64 per cent of the territory and vowing to expand that to 70 per cent, and with most of Gaza’s two million inhabitants living in shattered conditions under Hamas rule, the force’s actual deployment will depend on further separate approvals and the outcome of the Netanyahu-Trump meeting. Officials in Jerusalem indicate that the meeting’s success will be measured by what Netanyahu can deliver to Trump, whose support he needs ahead of future elections, making the Gaza concession a calculated opening move.