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America said it is 200 soldiers are being sent to “monitor” the ceasefire agreement In GazaWhich is widely considered to be the first step towards the creation of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to bring peace to the besieged Palestinian Territory.
Is part of section 15 of ISF Donald Trump’s 20-point planWhich stipulates that the United States will cooperate with Arab and international partners to establish a temporary force in Gaza to train Palestinian police, secure the borders, and support reconstruction, while serving as a “long-term internal security solution.”
But there are conflicting reports about where the troops will be deployed, including whether they will be sent to Egypt or not. israelWhile experts have raised doubts over how they will monitor the implementation of the deal.
“As it often happens trump White House, the details are somewhat vague,” said Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (KAABU) and an expert on Middle East affairs. Independent“What exactly will these 200 US troops be deployed for?”
US officials told US media that US Central Command, led by Admiral Brad Cooper, will establish a civil-military coordination center in Israel to provide security and humanitarian assistance.
US troops with expertise in transportation, planning, security, logistics and engineering will join troops from countries in the region, including Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
Israeli media, citing US officials, reported that the troops were intended to “help create a joint control center and then integrate all other security forces that go there to reduce conflict with the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces)”. A source familiar with the matter said israel time That he would possibly be deployed to Egypt.
One statement that has remained consistent in reports is that no US troops will be sent to Gaza.
According to the report, the Israel-based center will coordinate humanitarian aid, logistics and communications between countries and organizations involved in the reconstruction and security of Gaza.
But it is unclear how the center would operate, as Israel has no formal diplomatic ties with Qatar and relations with Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are complex.
The US has been criticized over its past efforts to get aid into Gaza, with high-profile announcements and expensive initiatives that aid agencies argue have done nothing to ease the suffering of Palestinians.
This includes a $230 million floating pier in Gaza installed under the previous Biden administration, which broke in rough seas and storms. It was a huge effort that took about 1,000 American troops to execute, but it was destroyed in July last year after only 20 days of operation.
Aid groups also criticized the US military and others for dropping air aid into Gaza, saying it was insufficient to meet the scale of need and was merely a symbolic gesture. He also warned that aerial drops pose a danger to civilians on the ground, who often run toward falling packages.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organization created by Israel in February with US support to distribute aid in Gaza, was accused of causing mass casualties as desperate Palestinians were killed by firing, mobbing and stampedes at its distribution centres.
The GHF was described by UN experts as “an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be used to pursue covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious violation of international law”.
“The entanglement of Israeli intelligence, US contractors and shadowy non-governmental entities underlines the urgent need for stronger international monitoring and action under UN auspices,” UN experts warned in August.
Mr Doyle described these efforts to get aid into Gaza as “fig leaf operations”, saying: “The Israelis should have kept the borders open, that was the only way to deliver aid on a large scale, not through dangerous ferries and dangerous air drops.”
He was equally critical of the ceasefire plan announced this week and the subsequent announcement that 200 US troops would be sent to monitor it.
When asked if the plan offered any guarantees of stability in Gaza, he replied: “No, none, nothing.”
“American soldiers are not neutral actors,” he said. “The United States is a party to this conflict, given that it has given so much military aid to Israel.
“I think aid agencies will have an issue – as they had an issue with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – with anything that looks like it would compromise their neutrality and independence. I think there’s going to be an aversion to anything that looks like militarized, securitized aid.”
Aid organizations have cautiously welcomed the news that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of a Gaza peace plan. As of October 2023, the process remains slow and bureaucratic, with access to humanitarian aid being a major challenge.
A spokesperson for Médecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said of the ceasefire agreement, “It does not mark the end of suffering.”
“While access to humanitarian assistance should never be dependent on a peace agreement, humanitarian assistance must be immediately and massively scaled up to meet the enormous medical, psychological and material needs in devastated Gaza following any ceasefire.”