Trump Deploys U.S. Troops to Israel Amid Gaza Cease-Fire

The United States is deploying up to 200 soldiers in Israel to help oversee the Gaza ceasefire process in coordination with regional partners, including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. But a US official said the forces, some of which have already arrived in Israel and will continue to do so over the weekend, will not be there to conduct offensive operations and will not enter Gaza. Foreign policy Friday.

The official said that the forces will focus on planning and establishing a civil-military coordination center, without providing details about its specific location in Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the evolving and sensitive nature of the matter. The official said that the center “will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian, logistical and security aid to Gaza during the process of implementing the ceasefire agreement.” “Secondly, it will also monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement [to] Ensuring it stays on track.”

The United States is deploying up to 200 soldiers in Israel to help oversee the Gaza ceasefire process in coordination with regional partners, including Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. But a US official said the forces, some of which have already arrived in Israel and will continue to do so over the weekend, will not be there to conduct offensive operations and will not enter Gaza. Foreign policy Friday.

The official said that the forces will focus on planning and establishing a civil-military coordination center, without providing details about its specific location in Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the evolving and sensitive nature of the matter. The official said that the center “will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian, logistical and security aid to Gaza during the process of implementing the ceasefire agreement.” “Secondly, it will also monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement [to] Ensuring it stays on track.”

The goal is to provide a coordination center to avoid causing chaos “in an already tense area,” the official said, and the center will seek to “unify efforts to maximize the flow of support flowing into Gaza.” The official added that this effort aims to help lay the foundation for the goal of transition to civilian rule in the region.

The American official was unable to determine how long the deployment might continue, noting that there were many “unknowns.”

The task force will be led by US Central Command, led by Admiral Brad Cooper. White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt wrote in a post on X on Thursday that troops are “already stationed” at Central Command and “will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and will work with other international forces on the ground.” Some of the forces being deployed are already in the region, but others come from the United States.

This announcement comes after Israel and Hamas reached an agreement to implement the initial phase of US president Donald Trump’s peace plan in Gaza. Now the ceasefire is in effect, and Israeli forces have completed a partial withdrawal, withdrawing to the agreed-upon line in Gaza. Hamas is expected to release the remaining hostages in the coming days, although the agreement leaves open the possibility that the remains of some deceased hostages may not be returned immediately due to Hamas’ inability to locate them. More humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza starting this weekend.

The peace plan included a call for the United States to cooperate with Arab and other international partners to immediately deploy a temporary international stabilization force in Gaza. The Civil-Military Coordination Center will work to support this force.

Despite the cautious optimism, there is still a lot of uncertainty when it comes to Trump’s plan. There are serious challenges to moving the process forward and reaching an agreement that leads to a permanent end to the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Friday that he is willing to resume the war if Hamas does not disarm, another element of the peace plan that Hamas has not yet agreed to. “Hamas will disarm, and Gaza will be demilitarized,” Netanyahu said. “If this can be achieved the easy way, all the better; if not, it will be achieved the hard way.”

When asked whether there were reasons for concern regarding the deployment of US forces to Israel amid this period of uncertainty, retired Gen. Joseph Votel, who oversaw US military operations in the Middle East from 2016 to 2019 as head of Central Command, said, Foreign policy: “I’m always concerned about the safety of our forces – but if this small deployment can galvanize the security response, it’s worth it.”

Votel added: “Our recent experience in Lebanon is a good example of this – we provide leadership, communication and advice to our partners. Without knowing too many details, this seems like a wise deployment that supports our interests.”