NEW DELHI, October 14. /TASS/. It’s still premature to talk about deploying UN peacekeeping forces to the Gaza Strip following the ceasefire agreement, but that may change depending on future developments in the enclave, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told TASS.

"You've seen the first step has been thankfully achieved, and hostages have been released, and it has been the release of prisoners as well. The obvious cessation of hostilities, hopefully that will stick, that will stand," he told TASS on the sidelines of a meeting of commanders of the armies of countries serving in UN peacekeeping forces.

According to Lacroix, the idea of an international presence, including one under a UN Security Council mandate, currently remains speculative.

"I think that there has been certainly talks about the possibility of the international force. Eventually, with Arabian and other countries, some of them express their readiness for that. I believe that some of these countries are keen to have, if they engage on the ground, they are keen to have a Security Council mandate," the under-secretary-general noted.

He emphasized that any future decisions would depend on the progress of implementing the agreements and on negotiations between the parties and international participants.

"At this stage, much depends on what comes next in terms of the agreement," Lacroix added.

On Monday, a Peace Summit was held in Sharm el-Sheikh to mark the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of all Israeli hostages held there. During the meeting, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, US President Donald Trump, and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a final agreement on the ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

According to al-Sisi’s office, the summit participants called for implementing the next stages of Trump’s plan to resolve the conflict in the Gaza Strip, including matters of governance, infrastructure reconstruction, and political settlement.