Team of 200 US Troops to ‘Oversee’ Gaza Truce: US Officials

AFP/APP

Washington: A US military team comprising 200 personnel will be deployed in the Middle East to “oversee” the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas following a peace deal brokered by President Donald Trump, senior US officials said Thursday.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US military’s Central Command, “will initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, and make sure there are no violations,” one senior official told reporters.

The official added that Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish, and possibly Emirati military officials would be embedded in the team. However, a second official clarified that “no US troops are intended to go into Gaza.”

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“The notion is to make it collegial, if you will. And the Israelis will obviously be in constant touch with them,” the first official said.

“Putting Admiral Cooper in the room gave a lot of confidence and security to the Arab countries,” the official added. “And therefore, it was passed on to Hamas that we were taking a very strong role — or the president was taking a very strong position — in standing behind his guarantees and his commitments here.”

The second official noted that the US personnel were intended “to help create the joint control center and then integrate all the other security forces that will be going in there to deconflict with IDF (Israeli Defense Forces).”