A drone view shows tents used by displaced Palestinians amid destroyed buildings, following the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in Gaza City, Oct. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Israel won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a US plan to end war in the Palestinian territory for good, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday.

US President Donald Trump’s plan includes an international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire which began this month, halting two years of war between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops to the international force. “Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Saar said at a news conference in Budapest.

Once warm Turkish-Israeli relations soured drastically during the Gaza war, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel‘s air and ground campaign in the Palestinian enclave and even threatening an invasion of the Jewish state.

“Turkey, led by Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel,” Saar said, speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “So, it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip and we will not agree to that, and we said it to our American friends,” Saar said.

While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.

Last week Netanyahu hinted that he would be strongly opposed to any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza. On Sunday, he said Israel would decide which foreign forces to allow in Gaza.

“We are in control of our security, and we have also made it clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and this is how we operate and will continue to operate,” Netanyahu said.

“This is, of course, acceptable to the United States as well, as its most senior representatives have expressed in recent days,” he told a session of his cabinet.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up the truce, said on Friday the international force would have to be made up of “countries that Israel‘s comfortable with.” He made no comment on Turkish involvement.

Rubio added that Gaza’s future governance still needed to be worked out among Israel and partner nations but could not include Hamas.

Rubio later said that US officials were receiving input on a possible UN resolution or international agreement to authorize the multinational force in Gaza and would discuss the issue in Qatar, a key Gulf mediator on Gaza, on Sunday.

Turkey and Qatar are both key, long-time backers of Hamas.

A major challenge to Trump’s plan is that Hamas has balked at disarming. Since the ceasefire took hold two weeks ago as the first stage of Trump’s 20-point plan, Hamas has waged a violent crackdown on clans that have tested its grip on power.

At the same time, the remains of 13 deceased hostages remain in Gaza with Hamas citing obstacles to locating them in the pervasive rubble left by the fighting.

An Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday Hamas, which released the remaining 20 living hostages it took in its Oct. 7, 2023, assault, knew where the bodies were.

“Israel is aware that Hamas knows where our deceased hostages are, in fact, located. If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages,” the spokesperson said.

Israel had, however, allowed the entry of an Egyptian technical team to work with the Red Cross to locate the bodies. She said the team would use excavator machines and trucks for the search beyond the so-called yellow line in Gaza behind which Israeli troops have initially pulled back under Trump’s plan.

Netanyahu began the cabinet session by stressing Israel was an independent country, rejecting the notion that “the American administration controls me and dictates Israel‘s security policy.” Israel and the US, he said, are a “partnership.”