Kosovo to approve dozens of troops for Gaza’s International Stabilization Force

Small Balkan nation Kosovo says it wants to commit dozens of its security troops to an international force for Gaza because it appreciates what NATO-led peacekeepers have done for its own security since the 1998-1999 conflict with Serbia.

Today, Kosovo’s parliament is set to formally approve an earlier government decision to send the troops to the International Stabilization Force under a US-backed initiative following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last year.

The ISF is yet to deploy to help maintain peace and assist in rebuilding Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which Kosovo has joined. Indonesia, Albania and Kazakhstan are among the other countries that have promised to participate in the ISF.

In Kosovo, contributing to the international force is seen as proof of how far the country has come after declaring independence from Serbia in 2008, a split which Belgrade still does not recognize but which the US and most of the EU do.

Belgrade’s brutal crackdown on Kosovo’s separatist rebels prompted a NATO intervention in 1999 that forced the Serb troops out of the territory and paved the way for the peacekeepers’ deployment.

“Our country has been a security consumer, meaning NATO countries have contributed to the security of the Republic of Kosovo,” Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci tells The Associated Press. “Today we are entering a phase where we are becoming a provider, or exporter, of security.”

Maqedonci says the Kosovo contingent will consist of several dozen officers, including those from demining units. The troops will be tasked with providing humanitarian support, security assistance and other duties determined by the mandate of the Gaza force, Maqedonci adds.

“We are currently in the final preparations phase,” Maqedonci says. He says a US representative has helped with the preparation, including vaccination of troops, issuing of visas and other technical arrangements.

Kosovo currently has a security force of some 4,000 personnel that is being trained to become a small, professional military aligned with NATO.