The Israeli government has approved the entry of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) into Gaza on July 26, 2026. Part of a 20-point peace plan proposed by U.S.
The approval comes as Israel continues to maintain a significant military presence in the enclave, currently occupying close to 70 percent of Gaza.
The ISF Framework and Israeli Oversight
The ISF is designed to operate in full coordination with the Israeli military. The cabinet determined that Israel will have the authority to approve which countries can send forces.
This force will be tasked with operating in zones not currently under Israeli control, which are demarcated by the “Yellow Line”—a boundary Israel uses to mark its withdrawal areas under the first phase of the deal.
This transition is intended to function alongside the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a technocratic governing body. The broader plan requires Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the strip, overseen by an international Board of Peace, though the vast majority of Western countries refused to join the board.
Humanitarian Surge and New Border Crossings
Parallel to the security arrangements, Israel is implementing a significant increase in aid flow to the enclave. On Sunday, 322 humanitarian aid trucks were transferred to Gaza, marking the highest single-day volume since the beginning of the war. An Israeli government official stated, 322 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza today. This is the highest number of aid trucks transferred to Gaza in one day since the beginning of the war.
This surge follows a phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden that discussed the death of seven aid workers and deliberations in Israel’s cabinet. According to COGAT, the increase is part of preparations to move an unprecedented amount of aid into Gaza in the following days before Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan. To sustain this pace, KAN news reported that Israel is expected to open another crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez crossing, in the coming days and utilize the Ashdod port to bring humanitarian aid directly to Gaza. While only flour supplies have entered through the port of Ashdod to this point, trucks will now load supplies at the port of Ashdod and enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings.
- Jordan: The Jordanian army is expected to send a convoy of around 100 aid trucks carrying aid from the UN World Food Programme via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
- Egypt: Egypt is set to send more aid, increasing to approximately 300 aid trucks.
- Inspection Capacity: KAN quoted an Israeli official saying that more than 600 trucks could be inspected daily at the Kerem Shalom crossings.
The Gap Between Policy and Ground Reality
Despite the approval of the ISF and the increase in aid, a stark divide remains between the diplomatic framework and the situation on the ground. While a “ceasefire” between Hamas and Israel was agreed in October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and 3,888 wounded since the deal was implemented, with reports of killings of Palestinians by the Israeli military occurring almost daily.
The reality for Gaza’s population of almost two million is one of shrinking habitable space. As Israel continues to move the “Yellow Line” it created to demarcate areas it withdrew to under the first phase of the deal, the population has been forced to live in a diminishing fraction of the strip. The deployment of the ISF will operate in the areas that are not under Israeli control.
The timing of the cabinet’s approval comes a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to travel to Washington, DC in the United States.
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