Jakarta. Indonesia is ready to deploy peacekeeping troops to Gaza if required, President Prabowo Subianto recently told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Prabowo had met with Guterres in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday local time, ahead of the summit with the leaders of the world’s top 20 economies. Prabowo brought up Indonesia’s plans to send peacekeepers to Gaza—something that he had already proposed during his time as president-elect and defense minister.

“We reaffirm Indonesia’s commitment to support all UN efforts. We are willing to support, for instance, we are on record as saying that we will support peacekeeping forces in the event of a possibility for a ceasefire and the need for internationally mandated peacekeepers,” Prabowo told Guterres in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday local time.

“We are ready to provide the forces,” he added. 

Parts of the meeting shown to the public did not include Guterres’ comment on Indonesia’s peacekeeping force plans. However, Guterres began his remarks by calling Indonesia an “extremely strategic and valuable partner” to the UN. The organization also “sees eye-to-eye with Indonesia” in the crucial aspects of today's world, according to the UN chief. 

Prabowo first unveiled Indonesia’s plans for the peacekeeping mission at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference, in June. But Indonesia will only have its personnel help enforce a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN’s request. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also said that he was open to working with Indonesia on the peacekeeping mission. Riyad Mansour, a Palestinian envoy to the UN, said in July that it was not the right time to implement the idea, saying that Palestine was still focused on ending the conflict.

“After we put an end to the war, we will consider all these options with an open mind to see which ones would be applicable and useful and what would not be possible. But we are not there yet,” Mansour told a press briefing in Jakarta at the time.

The Health Ministry in Gaza reported over the weekend that the war’s death toll in the Palestinian enclave had reached at least 43,846 people. It has been around 13 months since the escalation between Palestinian militants Hamas and Israeli forces. 

Indonesia is among the top contributors to the UN peacekeeping mission. About 2,738 Indonesian uniformed personnel currently serve in peace operations, the UN data shows. 

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