'Can Only Work With States We Trust': Israel Rejects Pakistan Army Role In Gaza

The Israeli envoy has rejected the proposal of Pakistani military involvement in a potential International Stabilisation Force (ISF) for Gaza under US President Donald Trump's Gaza plan. Israel's ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, said the Jewish state is not comfortable with the Pakistan army participating in any Gaza force, expressing deep concern over growing links between Hamas and Pakistan-based terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with NDTV's Senior Executive Editor Aditya Raj Kaul, the ambassador underlined that there can be no future arrangement for Gaza without the complete dismantling of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Pakistan's Role In US Army

Reacting to reports that the United States has approached several countries, including Pakistan, to contribute troops to a proposed stabilisation and reconstruction force in Gaza, Azar made it clear that Israel is not comfortable with Pakistan's participation. 

“There is an effort right now to try to create a situation in which we can move forward, but for that, Hamas must be dismantled. There is no way around it,” he said. 

The envoy added that many countries have already indicated that they are unwilling to send troops because they do not intend to fight Hamas, making the idea of a stabilisation force meaningless under present conditions.

When asked if Israel would be comfortable with the Pakistan Army's role in Gaza, given their links with radical terrorist organisations, the ambassador firmly replied “no”, indicating Israel's disapproval of any role by the Pakistan Army in Gaza.

On Hamas's Future

Azar said Israel's immediate priorities remain the retrieval of hostages, including the remains of dead hostages, and the destruction of Hamas's military and political infrastructure. He accused Hamas and countries sympathetic to it, such as Turkey and Qatar, of trying to bypass these core requirements. 

“Either Hamas dismantles, or it will be impossible to implement the second phase of any plan,” he said, warning that if diplomatic pressure fails to force Hamas to comply with the Trump plan, Israel would have no option but to act on its own.

On Pakistan's potential role, the ambassador said that countries normally cooperate only with those they trust and with whom they have proper diplomatic relations. “This is not the situation right now,” he remarked, making it clear that Israel does not see Pakistan as a credible or acceptable partner in any Gaza stabilisation mechanism.

Hamas-Pak Links

The ambassador's comments come amid fresh revelations accessed by NDTV about senior Hamas commander Naji Zaheer, who has allegedly been visiting Pakistan regularly for the last three years and has held meetings with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives, including in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Zaheer was reportedly in Peshawar just days after the October 7 terror attack on Israel.

Azar confirmed that Israeli intelligence is closely tracking these developments. He said Hamas has significantly expanded its international network of contacts after the October 7 attack, and that there is growing coordination among various jihadist organisations in the region. 

“From open sources alone, you can see that there are dozens of exchanges of Hamas leaders in this area. What is published is only part of the picture. There are also unpublished activities, and that should worry us,” he said, calling the trend “very worrisome."

While stopping short of directly accusing the Pakistani state, Azar strongly implied that such movements would not be possible without some form of official approval. He said Israel and other concerned partners are in dialogue with relevant authorities and are sharing intelligence inputs on these evolving terror linkages.

On India's Security Concerns

Referring to India's security concerns, especially in the context of past attacks by Pakistan-based terror groups, the ambassador said the situation is being monitored closely and that he is confident Indian authorities are taking the threat seriously and will act to safeguard the country's interests. On whether Hamas should be formally banned by India, Azar said there is a “clear threat” and that the decision rests with Indian authorities.

The interview underlines Israel's firm position that there can be no political or reconstruction process in Gaza without the complete elimination of Hamas and signals deep mistrust of Pakistan's role in any future regional security framework, particularly in light of emerging links between Hamas and Pakistan-based terror organisations.

On Iran 

Azar has said the ongoing wave of protests across Iran reflects a deep and long-suppressed public anger against the country's clerical establishment but cautioned that the powerful security apparatus of the Islamic Republic still makes any immediate political change uncertain. The ambassador described the unrest as a significant and encouraging development while underlining that the outcome will depend on how both the protesters and the regime respond in the coming weeks.

Azar said the demonstrations, which have continued for more than two weeks in multiple parts of Iran, show that large sections of Iranian society are “yearning for freedom” after decades of repression. While noting that the present movement may not yet have reached the scale of the 2009 Green Movement, he stressed that it is nevertheless a serious challenge to the authorities and a reflection of widespread frustration within the country.

“The Iranian people have been suffering so much under this repressive regime that has been not only oppressing them but also killing them,” the ambassador said. He pointed to Iran's human rights record and claimed that nearly 2,000 executions had taken place in the past year alone, describing this as evidence of the system's brutality and intolerance of dissent. According to him, any genuine political change in Tehran would bring relief not only to Iranians but to the wider region as well.

However, Azar was careful not to predict a swift or inevitable regime change. He emphasised that the Islamic Republic still commands formidable coercive power through institutions such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia. “These forces are very powerful and very repressive,” he said, adding that this makes the situation highly uncertain. He noted that an important question is whether the protesters are seeking limited reforms within the system or a complete transformation of the political order.

The ambassador said that different elements of Iranian society now appear to be participating in the unrest, including some groups that were previously seen as supportive of the establishment. Whether this represents a demand for course correction or a broader call for systemic change, he said, remains to be seen.