The Indonesian military is preparing as many as 8,000 soldiers for a potential peacekeeping mission in Gaza, Simanjuntak told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The move showcases the efforts of President Prabowo Subianto to position Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, to take on a more prominent role in international security.
Simanjuntak, the Indonesian army chief of staff, said the plan was still at the planning stage, with the number of troops and the timing of any deployment dependent on further coordination along the military chain of command.
The statement said any deployment would focus on engineering and medical units. It was issued after a joint meeting of senior army and police leaders with Prabowo in Jakarta. Indonesia has stepped up its diplomatic messaging on Gaza in recent months, as Prabowo seeks to elevate the country's role in global peacekeeping efforts and post-conflict stabilization missions.
Prabowo told the UN General Assembly in September that Indonesia was ready to deploy "20,000 or even more" peacekeeping troops to help secure peace in Gaza or elsewhere. He was later among dozens of world leaders who took part in a summit in Egypt on Gaza's future, hosted by US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
