Istanbul - Turkey would be willing to provide troops for a peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

According to a report in the daily Sabah newspaper, the Turkish government is pushing for an international peacekeeping force to supervise a new ceasefire agreement.

In Ankara's view, such forces would also monitor the network of some 200 tunnels beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border which are being used to smuggle weapons, as well as goods and food products, into the Gaza Strip.

"If it would serve peace, then we could send soldiers to Gaza," government spokesman Cemil Cicek was quoted by the paper as saying. (dpa)