ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The United States has acknowledged that Pakistan is willing to consider joining a future peace-building or stabilisation force in Gaza, while stressing that Washington has not asked Islamabad for any formal commitment.
Speaking after being asked whether the United States had secured Pakistan’s consent to deploy troops to Gaza, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said several key questions remained unresolved before any country could be expected to pledge participation.
“We’re very grateful to Pakistan for their offer to be a part of it, or at least their offer to consider being a part of it,” Rubio said. “I think we owe them a few more answers before we can ask anybody to firmly commit.”
Rubio added that the United States believed a number of countries acceptable to all parties involved in the conflict were prepared to step forward if a stabilisation arrangement took shape.
His remarks broadly reflected Pakistan’s longstanding public position, which has repeatedly emphasised that any involvement in an international peace effort would need to prioritise the safety and rights of Palestinian civilians and operate under a clear international mandate, with defined terms of engagement.
The comments came as fighting continued across Gaza. Witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli forces carried out airstrikes and artillery shelling in both northern and southern areas of the enclave, a claim reported by TRT World.
In Khan Younis in the south, residents described strikes on multiple locations, while artillery shells hit nearby areas. They also reported intermittent fire from military vehicles and machine-gun fire from Israeli gunboats towards fishing boats off the coast.
In Shujaiya, a neighbourhood in Gaza City, an airstrike sent plumes of smoke into the air, according to witness accounts. There was no immediate information on casualties.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli ceasefire violations had killed 395 Palestinians and wounded 1,088 others. The ministry added that since October 2023, Israeli attacks had killed more than 70,600 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 171,100, despite what it described as an ongoing truce.
