Kosovo Approves Troops to Gaza Under U.S.-Backed Scheme

PRISTINA, March 30 (Reuters) – Kosovo on ⁠Monday ⁠approved sending troops ⁠to Gaza for an international security force ​as part of a U.S.-backed initiative after last ‌year’s ceasefire between Israel and ‌Hamas.

Several nations including Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan ⁠and Albania ⁠have committed troops to the International Stabilization Force ​to keep peace and back a transitional administration in Gaza under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.”

Kosovo’s government ​said in a televised ministerial meeting on Monday ⁠the defence ⁠ministry had decided ⁠to ​send a force to Gaza after receiving a U.S. ​invitation in December.

“We ⁠are ready to participate and help the people of Gaza, because we ourselves have been and are beneficiaries of international forces since 1999,” ⁠Prime Minister Albin Kurti told the session.

The government did not ⁠reveal numbers of troops going to Gaza.

Violence in Gaza has persisted with the Israeli military killing over 680 Palestinians since the ceasefire with militant group Hamas began in November, local health officials say. More than 72,000 have been killed since the war started in ⁠October 2023.

Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, is an ally of the U.S. which backed its independence from Serbia in 2008.

(Reporting ​by Fatos Bytyci, Writing by Angeliki Koutantou, ​Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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