Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview published Sunday that he is be prepared to send troops to a future Palestinian state to help stabilize it, but only in agreement with Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to AFP.

Sisi, who begins his first European trip on Monday, made the comments in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. He is due to visit France and Italy, as well as Vatican City for a meeting with Pope Francis.

“We are ready to send military forces into a Palestinian state,” he said. “We would help the local police and reassure the Israelis through our role as guarantor. Not forever, of course. For the time necessary to reestablish confidence. But first a Palestinian state must exist where troops can be sent to.”

Sisi said he has previously spoken of the idea with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as well as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas.

Sisi also addressed neighboring country Libya, which he described as having descended into “chaos” adding that “extremely dangerous jihadist bases” were being established there. 

“The international community must make a very clear and joint choice in favor of the Libyan national army and no one else,” Sisi said. “Aid, equipment, training must be sent to it exclusively.”

Sisi also stressed that Egypt had not intervened militarily in Libya. Egypt has continually denied reports that it facilitated air strikes by the United Arab Emirates, a close ally, against militias in Libya.

Sisi overthrew former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, prompting a wave of violence between Morsi supports and security forces that drew international rebukes. 

But Egypt has returned from the cold since Sisi’s landslide election win earlier this year, boosted by its increasingly central role in combating regional Islamist militancy and terrorist activity.