The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) will oversee the initial stages of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) deployment into the Gaza Strip — with three or four other nations expected to contribute troops.
CENTCOM’s commander, Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, will “initially have 200 people on the ground” — though no American forces will go into Gaza, US officials told reporters on a White House-organized call.
The American military role was described as coordinating troops provided by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — and managing deconfliction with the Israelis.
“[Cooper’s] role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations or incursions — everybody is worried about the other side. So much of this is going to be oversight,” one US official said.
“Embedded in his team of 200 people will be probably a bunch of people from the Egyptian armed forces who will help, the Qatari armed forces who will help, as well as the Turks and probably the Emiratis,” the official said.
“The notion is to make it collegial.”
A second official emphasized that “no US troops are intended to go into Gaza.”
The first official said that CENTCOM’s main job will be setting up a “command room” to police the early phase of the just-adopted cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which is expected to be followed by the release of roughly 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday.
“The responsibility will be to keep the Israelis informed of what they’re seeing, to keep the Egyptians, the Qataris and the Turks informed about what they’re seeing, to come up with better security plans,” the first official said.
Cooper attended talks that led to Wednesday’s diplomatic breakthrough involving a cease-fire and hostage release agreement.
“We’re already talking to multiple governments about standing up that ISF force. I think with Admiral Cooper, it’s going to become a lot easier,” the first official said.
“He walked into the room at the first meeting and literally said, ‘I can have a command room up and running in two weeks,’” the official said, adding that “we’re going to be working [Friday] to try to figure out the exact location” of the CENTCOM-run command room.
It’s unclear how large the peacekeeping force will become.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted Thursday night: “To be clear: up to 200 U.S. personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and they will work with other international forces on the ground.”
President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, adopted in principle by both parties in the conflict, said that a multinational force would police Gaza as Hamas relinquishes power.
The document says that “the United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field.”
The 20-point plan says, “This force will be the long-term internal security solution. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces.”
Trump himself deflected questions on the likely composition of the force, saying Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office that it was “to be determined.”
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