The United States has announced plans to deploy around 200 troops to Israel as part of a broader multinational effort to support and monitor the Gaza ceasefire, marking a significant shift in Washington’s post-conflict strategy for the region.
According to senior U.S. officials, no American troops will enter Gaza. Instead, they will help establish a civil-military coordination center on Israeli territory. The center’s mandate is to streamline humanitarian aid delivery, logistics, and security coordination — all crucial to ensuring the fragile truce holds and relief reaches Gaza’s devastated population.
A senior U.S. defense official told The National that the team will include strategic planners, logistics and transport specialists, primarily from the U.S. Army. Their role will support the next stage of the Gaza peace deal, which aims to stabilize conditions and pave the way for political transition.
“Phase one is to stop both sides from killing each other,” the official explained, underscoring the ceasefire’s immediate objective.
The mission will be overseen by Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), whose oversight will focus on monitoring compliance and preventing violations of the truce. Officials also confirmed that military representatives from Egypt, Turkey, and other regional partners will join the coordination team — a sign that the initiative is being framed as multilateral rather than unilateral.
A Regional Stake in Peace
For the Gulf and broader Arab world, the move carries strategic implications. It demonstrates Washington’s renewed commitment to active diplomacy and post-conflict stabilization, while highlighting the growing recognition that regional actors — not just Western powers — must shape Gaza’s future.
Sources familiar with the agreement say this is the first concrete step toward implementing the U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached earlier this week between Israel and Hamas. Yet questions linger over how Hamas’s disarmament, Israel’s withdrawal, and Gaza’s governance transition will unfold in the coming months.
Officials involved in the talks confirmed that the U.S.-led coordination team will monitor implementation of the ceasefire and assist in the transition toward a civilian administration in Gaza — a process expected to be gradual and politically sensitive.
Toward an International Stabilization Force
Central to the long-term peace framework is a proposal for an International Stabilization Force (ISF), outlined in President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. This multinational force — backed by Arab and regional partners — would eventually be stationed inside Gaza to maintain security and facilitate reconstruction.
The ISF’s responsibilities would include training a new Palestinian police force that could serve as Gaza’s primary internal security authority, tasked with maintaining law and order and coordinating with Israel and Egypt on border and counterterrorism matters.
For Gulf states, this represents an opportunity to play a constructive, stabilizing role — combining humanitarian commitment with pragmatic security coordination. With regional trust and credibility at stake, their involvement could determine whether this peace effort gains traction or falters like those before it.
From a Gulf perspective, this development is a moment of cautious optimism. The deployment of U.S. troops — outside Gaza but within operational proximity — signals a new phase of responsibility-sharing between Washington and its Middle Eastern partners.
It also reflects a strategic pivot: from military intervention to managed stabilization, from reactive conflict management to structured reconstruction.
Still, much depends on how regional actors — including Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Turkey — align their interests and ensure that Gaza’s future governance is both representative and secure.
The ceasefire, fragile as it may be, offers a rare window for the region to redefine collective security through cooperation, not confrontation. Whether that vision becomes reality will depend on the balance between U.S. leadership and Arab ownership of the peace process.
