Reports have indicated that Azerbaijan, alongside Indonesia and Pakistan, is a top contender to supply troops for the US-backed stabilisation force in the Gaza Strip.
Negotiations on the makeup of the temporary force, dubbed the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, are still underway, Politico reported on Wednesday.
Politico cited an unnamed US defence official as saying that these three countries had expressed the ‘most interest’ in joining the force.
According to the 20-point plan, the ISF would train and provide support to Palestinian police forces in Gaza and would consult with Jordan and Egypt, ‘who have extensive experience in the field’. The plan describes the ISF as a ‘long-term internal security solution’, working in tandem with Israel and Egypt to secure border areas and to prevent munitions from entering the strip. The ISF would establish control over the strip from the Israeli army.
According to Politico, the establishment of the force ‘is months away’, with many diplomats and analysts skeptical that Trump’s plan ‘will ever move out of its current phase’ — a ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the contents of the report when approached by OC Media.
Nate Ostiller
Aliyev attends Middle East peace summit in Egypt
Reports about Azerbaijan’s potential participation in the ISF emerged days after the 2025 Gaza peace summit, held on 13 October in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the meeting at Trump’s invitation. Earlier, in August, the three leaders initialled the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace agreement and agreed on the establishment of the Trump Route connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan.
Since then, Trump has regularly boasted about solving the long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, having also touched on the peace process between the two countries during the summit in Egypt.
Nate Ostiller
‘We have Armenia and Azerbaijan. That’s a little war that we stopped’, Trump said.
‘When I met them, it was in the Oval Office. They fought for like 31 years or some crazy number. […] By the time we finished — in one hour — they were both hugging each other. Now they are friends and they are getting along. So I want to thank you both. That’s incredible. Really incredible’.
Azerbaijan enjoys strong ties with Israel, including being its largest petrol supplier by 2023. Israel, in turn, exports arms to Azerbaijan — according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the figure reached up to 69% of all arms imported into Azerbaijan from 2016–2020, right before the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Azerbaijan has also reportedly hosted several meetings between Syrian and Israeli officials aimed at de-escalating tensions between Damascus and Tel Aviv. Azerbaijan was also reported to have held talks between Israel and Turkey aimed at de-esclating tensions in Syria in April.
Nicholas Castillo
