After early news reports said that the US was sending more troops to Israel to keep an eye on the peace deal between Israel and Hamas, the White House rapidly rushed to clear things up on Friday.
Several news organizations had reported that about 200 US troops were going to Israel to help with the peace deal, citing unnamed officials. The sources also said that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) was setting up a “civil-military coordination center” (CMCC) in the country.
But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly responded to the stories on X by saying that the first reports were “not true” and had been “taken out of context.”
Leavitt said in her statement, “To be clear: up to 200 US personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be responsible for keeping an eye on the peace agreement in Israel and working with other international forces on the ground.” This made it clear that the men were being moved from their current CENTCOM postings, not sent as a fresh force from the US.
What the CMCC does
The US troops will be the main part of the CMCC. Officials told Reuters that this coordination center is likely to have military representatives from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and possibly the United Arab Emirates, among other international partners.
It was made clear that the US troops would only be there to watch and coordinate, and they do not plan to go into Gaza.
The accord being watched is the first part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement that Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday. This came after US President Donald Trump launched a 20-point peace plan the month before. The first step is to stop the two-year-long war and let the last hostages in Gaza go free in exchange for Palestinian inmates.
Officials hoped that the Gaza compromise would help calm tensions in the area and possibly lead to more talks about normalizing relations between Israel and other Arab countries.