How Morocco's Gaza deployment is reshaping its ties with Israel

In July, Morocco became the first Arab and African nation to deploy its military to the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in Palestine under Donald Trump’s "peace plan" for Gaza, bolstered by his equally dubious Board of Peace (BoP). 

Morocco signed an agreement in Rabat on 15 July to formalise its participation in the ISF.

The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita; Nickolay Mladenov, director general of the BoP; senior defence officials and ISF commander Jasper Jeffers.

Morocco’s participation follows instructions from King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces and chairman of the Al-Quds Committee.

The ISF was originally planned to deploy 500 Moroccan military officials to a refugee camp in the southern city of Rafah. The figure has now been reduced to just 200 Moroccan soldiers, Al Jazeera reported. The force is expected to work in collaboration with the Israeli military. 

Since Morocco signed the agreement, Hamas has announced its conditional disarmament proposal in keeping with Trump’s Gaza plan. 

However, Israel has disregarded its side of the agreement and shows no sign of withdrawing from Palestine and the territories in which it continues to occupy illegally.

Instead of giving a withdrawal timeframe, Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposed to extend its illegal settlements into the Gaza Strip.

According to an official statement by Morocco’s National Defence Administration, Morocco's contribution “demonstrates its commitment to peace, international cooperation, and regional stability”.

The move also aligns with Morocco’s role as a founding member of the BoP, the statement says.

Explaining the benefits for Rabat, international relations professor Said Saddiki, at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez, noted that joining the force “provides Morocco with an opportunity to regain a more visible diplomatic role in the Palestinian issue, complementing its longstanding role through the Al-Quds Committee and the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency”. 

Humanitarian narrative 

While other sources such as the Council on Foreign Relations also indicate the aim is for the ISF to serve as the primary security force in Gaza, replacing the Israeli military, Morocco has leaned heavily on the narrative that it will help establish a field hospital in Gaza under the ISF mission.

The field hospital is “nothing more than a narrative,” according to Saadia*, a key member of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) in Morocco and an organiser for the most recent Global Sumud flotilla. 

Fuelling the ‘machinery of genocide’: Morocco’s backdoor support for Israel’s war on Gaza

Read More »

Considering Morocco’s role, Saadia told Middle East Eye, “It is possible that Morocco is helping Palestine, but it is helping the Zionist entity more,” such as the kingdom’s role in shipping arms to Israel, she added. 

According to Professor Saddiki, the field hospital “should primarily be viewed as a humanitarian initiative rather than a military one”. 

While he noted Morocco’s good relations with both Palestinian and Israeli leadership, he emphasised that “the current regional environment leaves little room for any Arab state to play an effective mediation role. Morocco is therefore more likely to contribute through humanitarian assistance and diplomacy than through active mediation.” 

However, Morocco’s Ministry of Defence has not shared details of the role that Morocco will be playing under the ISF in Palestine. 

“I don't know what Morocco’s role will be [in the ISF] other than perhaps disarming the resistance [Hamas] and even supervising a new colonisation of the Gaza Strip by the American-Zionist entity,” Saadia said.

Professor Saddiki suggests Morocco’s “participation does not represent a strategic alignment against any party, nor does it come at the expense of the Palestinian cause.”

The professor highlighted that “domestically, Morocco has sought to balance its foreign policy with public support for Palestine”. Saddiki also recalled that pro-Palestinian and anti-normalisation movements in Morocco have remained highly active since October 2023. 

'Complicity in genocide’

Despite the Moroccan state’s overt support for Israel, many Moroccan citizens have warned that any normalisation deals with Israel amounts to "complicity in genocide" of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 

Younes*, a central figure in Morocco’s pro-Palestine protest movement and the last two Global Sumud flotillas, told MEE: “Joining the ISF is full complicity in genocide.” 

Morocco accused of using Israeli weapons to kill civilians in Western Sahara

Read More »

The activist added, “Entering Gaza on a Zionist tank to ‘impose’ peace from one side and oblige Palestinians to surrender and be demilitarised is a great sin which will not be tolerated.”

The peace plan and board have been widely condemned for breaching international law, from grassroots activism to country level. Younes added, “There is no peace plan, based on the history of deals with the Zionist entity [...] they believe they can do whatever they want.”

A Moroccan activist from Rabat, who preferred to use the name Shams, described Morocco’s  involvement as “very disheartening and disappointing”. 

Despite her disappointment, Shams said she is “not surprised” by Morocco’s involvement. 

That’s not to say the public is for the continued normalisation with Israel, she added: “I cannot speak for all Gen Z Moroccans, but I would say that most are opposed to the Moroccan military support joining the ISF.”

The 2025 Arab Index by the Arab Center Washington DC, published earlier this year, found that 89 percent of Moroccan’s oppose recognising Israel, with just six percent supporting normalisation with Israel.

Israel recognises Morocco’s sovereignty over disputed Western Sahara

Read More »

A Moroccan journalist, who preferred to stay anonymous, told MEE that “the Moroccan state narrative frames normalisation as leverage, cooperation and support for a two-state solution in exchange for US backing”. 

However, the journalist noted that “Moroccan public trust is breaking down,” due to the gap between the official framing and what is visible on the ground, with Israel's continued settlement expansion on occupied land, “moving further away from any two-state outcome". 

For Shams, further military intervention with the help of Moroccan forces will not bring peace to Palestinians. “I don’t think military intervention is going to facilitate peace when the oppressor has been destroying and bombing and blockading and [committing] genocide for decades on end,” she said.

“The US and Israel will only continue to destabilise, murder, kill and wreak havoc in Gaza, and destroy the lives of millions of Palestinians,” she added.

Screaming into the void

Morocco is the only North African and Arab nation deploying military forces to the ISF, joining Kosovo, Albania, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and more recently Uganda.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Egypt has limited its involvement to training and logistical support.

This unique positioning has sparked deep outrage among local activists. Younes expressed his frustration at how rapidly normalisation has spread across the country. 

Israeli flag flies in Morocco during military drill, sparking indignation

Read More »

“Zionists in Morocco successfully penetrated every single sector within a short period,” he explained. “What we gather as voluntary efforts and popular mobilisation to face this cancer during the past years isn't enough.”

Acknowledging the heavy weight of his assessment, he continued, “I think the more we struggle against accepting cooperation with Israel, the more Moroccan authorities normalise with these terrorists. We must change approaches and look for alternatives.”

Despite intensifying pressure from Moroccan state authorities, the pro-Palestinian movement maintains its defiance. Saadia, argued that governments participating in the ISF are labouring under a dangerous illusion. 

She warned that these nations wrongly think that “this American-Zionist axis will bring them some kind of security or protection”.

Pointing to the broader geopolitical escalation across the region, she reflected on the current US-Israeli war on Iran: “From this war we can understand that the Americans don't protect anyone other than the Zionist entity.”

* Names have been changed