An American military team of 200 people will be deployed in the Middle East to “oversee” the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after a hostage release deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, senior US officials said Thursday.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of the US military’s Central Command, “will initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations,” one senior official told reporters.
Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish and probably Emirati military officials would be embedded in the team, he said. A second official said that “no US troops are intended to go into Gaza.”
“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 [with negotiators in Egypt] gave a lot of confidence and security to the Arab countries,” they 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 said 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).”
The soldiers will have expertise in transportation, planning, security, logistics and engineering, according to one of the officials, who added that the troops already have begun arriving and will continue to travel to the region over the weekend to begin planning and efforts to establish the center.
A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the US troops will likely be stationed in Egypt, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the troops would be deployed to Israel.
It’s unclear how an Israeli-based command center would operate, though, given that the White House officials revealing the plan said that Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish troops would also be involved in the effort, making Egypt a more practical host country, as Israel does not have normalized diplomatic relations with Qatar and its ties with Turkey are rocky at best.
The officials’ remarks provided some of the first details on how the ceasefire deal would be monitored and that the US military would have a role in that effort. After Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a Trump administration plan to halt the fighting, a litany of questions remain on next steps, including Hamas disarmament, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a future government in the territory.
Along with helping monitor implementation of the ceasefire agreement, one of the officials said the new team will the transition to a civilian government in Gaza.
No formal timetable was given for when the center would be fully operative, but in a show of readiness, Cooper told mediators during the negotiations in Egypt that he could have the command post up and running in the next two and a half weeks.
Cooper earned praise from Trump during a cabinet meeting Thursday, saying he had worked alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Cooper — I hear he’s been fantastic,” Trump said.
Trump announced Wednesday that the breakthrough deal to halt the fighting was reached after the United States and mediators in the region pressured both Israel and Hamas to end the two-year long war sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
That push sealed an agreement on a first phase that would free the remaining living Israeli hostages within days in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a pullback of IDF troops in Gaza.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.