Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan used a high-profile conference in Qatar on Saturday to lay out a plan that would see Hamas step back from running Gaza in exchange for a new Palestinian administration, a fresh police force and an international peace mission that Turkey wants to join.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan said Hamas is prepared to hand over governance of Gaza, but only after a “credible” Palestinian civil administration and a vetted police force are in place.
He said it is “neither realistic nor doable” to demand that Hamas give up its weapons in the first phase of the current ceasefire plan without those institutions.
Fidan explained that the proposed police force would not include Hamas members and would be backed by the International Stabilization Force (ISF), that would deploy inside Gaza. He said the United States is pressing Israel to accept Turkey as part of that force.
The Doha Forum is an annual gathering in Qatar that brings together heads of government, ministers and experts to talk about conflicts and global policy. This year much of the focus is on the US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza and a wider peace plan that aims to move from a fragile pause in fighting to a permanent halt to Israel’s offensive and the reconstruction of the territory.
Qatar’s prime minister has called the situation a “critical moment,” warning that the current phase is still only a partial truce, with Israeli forces inside Gaza and continued violence on the ground. More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its campaign in 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and Israel faces genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice.
Fidan used his public session at the forum to signal that Ankara wants to move from rhetoric to direct involvement in how the plan is carried out.
He said Turkey is ready to “do whatever it takes” to support peace efforts, when asked if Ankara would send troops as part of a Gaza mission.
Fidan described wide-ranging talks about the proposed stabilization force, covering how it would be deployed, what its rules would be and which states might contribute troops. “Thousands of details, questions are in place,” he was quoted as saying in regional media.
He argued that the first task of any such force should be to separate Palestinians and Israelis along the border, and only then address other issues. He added that the force would need a trained Palestinian police contingent and local administrations in Gaza that can form what he called a “peace committee.”