Australian military ‘contingency planning’ for possible Gaza troop deployment

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is making contingency plans for deploying troops in the event they are called up to help secure peace in Gaza.

An international stabilisation force in the Middle East is part of the United States-brokered peace plan to end the Hamas-Israel war, with 200 US troops being sent to Israel to help facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza.

On Thursday, ADF’s chief of joint operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones, said plans were underway if Australian personnel had to be sent as part of the stabilisation force.

“We have a fair idea of their intention and what it might look like,” Jones told AAP at the headquarters of Joint Operations Command in Bungendore, NSW.

“Our job here in Joint Operations Command is to provide options to government and that is what we’ll do, and it’s for government to determine how they wish to commit to any operations in Gaza.”

“I would frame it as coordination and security, typical for a state in crisis, so to speak,” Jones said.

He said he had discussed the proposed stabilisation force over the phone late on Wednesday night with the US Central Command, with work underway on possible “security” deployments.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy confirmed no request had been made at this stage for Australian troops to be deployed.

“Our military, as is appropriate … is about contingency planning and that’s the normal course of action,” Conroy told reporters in Washington.

“No request has been made. If a request is received, we’ll consider it and the government will make a decision.”

What’s the status of the ceasefire deal?

Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of ceasefire violations amid tensions over the flow of aid into Gaza and warnings the humanitarian crisis in the devastated territory risks deteriorating further.

The militant group is also under pressure to disarm as part of the next step in the Gaza peace deal after returning most of the hostages to Israel earlier this week.

US President Donald Trump has said: “If they [Hamas] don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.”

Hamas has handed over the final two bodies of slain hostages it claims to have been able to recover — those of Israel’s last female hostage and a soldier who was a father of 13.

Meanwhile, Israel is also under pressure to allow “unhindered access” to humanitarian aid in Gaza, with 600 trucks carrying medicine and food supposed to enter the Strip a day as part of the agreement.

But it announced it would halve the number of humanitarian aid trucks allowed into Gaza as punishment against Hamas.