Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, officially confirmed on Tuesday that its army is preparing to send up to 8,000 soldiers to serve in the multinational peacekeeping force in Gaza as part of President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The announcement is a significant development as Indonesia is the first country to officially confirm its intention to establish peacekeeping forces in Gaza, four months after the signing of the ceasefire agreement.

Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Maruli Simanjuntak told Bloomberg that one brigade of between 5,000 to 8,000 soldiers is being prepared to operate in Gaza.

However, he emphasized that no final decisions have been made yet on the details and the army is still in its planning stages, but initial preparations have already begun.

Indonesia does not officially recognize Israel but maintains discreet trade and tourism ties with Israel.

During US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, his administration reportedly was close to finalizing deals with Indonesia and Mauritania to be the next Muslim states to normalize ties with Israel but ran out of time before Trump’s term was over.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)