Uganda moved a step closer Thursday to sending soldiers into Gaza, with Parliament approving a government request to deploy troops as part of a planned multinational mission intended to help secure the territory after Israel’s devastating war on the occupied Palestinian territory.
The motion, introduced by Defense Minister Kiryowa Kiwanuka, marked the clearest public sign yet that Uganda is prepared to take part in the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. Morocco has also committed troops to the proposed mission.
The decision prompted immediate scrutiny from opposition lawmakers, who questioned why Uganda had agreed to participate and whether any quid pro quo was involved. Hassan Kirumira, a member of parliament, warned that the move could create “diplomatic concerns” for Uganda, which belongs to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Kirumira said supporters of the deployment needed to answer the “big question”: “On which side is our army going to fight?”
Kiwanuka, urging lawmakers to back the plan, pointed to Uganda’s military experience in peacekeeping operations, including deployments in Somalia, as evidence of the country’s capacity to contribute to such a force.
The force was proposed in February by Trump’s Board of Peace and would be headed by American Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers. In May, Jeffers said the 20,000-strong mission would help guarantee “future prosperity and enduring peace.”
Trump last week announced an agreement under which Hamas would disarm and Israel would pull its forces out of Gaza. Under that arrangement, the International Stabilization Force would enter Gaza once a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops has been completed.
The agreement forms part of a wider cease-fire deal reached last year. It requires Israel to halt military operations, while Hamas and allied groups in Gaza are to stop all militant activity. It also sets out, in broad terms, how the decommissioning process would proceed.
After the agreement’s text was made public, Israel said it had “serious security concerns” and had conveyed them to the U.S.
Israeli attacks have killed 1,250 people since the cease-fire deal was reached in October, ending the main phase of fighting in the Israel-Hamas war, which had lasted two years.
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