US to send 200 troops to Israel to monitor Gaza ceasefire

Up to 200 US troops already based in the Middle East will be moved to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza, according to US officials.

The US military will establish a multinational taskforce in Israel, known as a civil-military coordination centre, which is likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE, they said.

One senior official said no US forces will enter Gaza, adding that the American role was to create a Joint Control Center which will “integrate” the multinational force going in.

The Israeli government has approved the first phase of a Gaza deal with Hamas, which has led to a ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners.

The taskforce will be led by US Central Command (Centcom) based in the region, and is intended to oversee the progress of the ceasefire agreement and also help coordinate humanitarian assistance.

The multinational force will inform both the Israelis and Hamas via Egypt and Qatar of the situation on the ground and any potential violations of the truce, one of the officials said.

The force is being established under the leadership of Adm Brad Cooper, head of Centcom. He joined the American delegation for part of indirect talks in Egypt earlier this week, one of the officials said.

Those talks led to US President Donald Trump announcing on Thursday that Israel and Hamas had “signed off on the first phase” of a peace plan he unveiled last week.

One of the point’s in Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan included the US working with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilisation Force to immediately deploy in Gaza but this is yet to be agreed between the sides and would only happen if a hostage and prisoner exchange is completed.

Israel launched the war in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Since then, Israel’s massive military offensive has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, including more than 20,100 children. These figures are seen as reliable by the UN and other international bodies.