US sending 200 troops to Israel to monitor ceasefire

US officials said that the troops, under U.S. Central Command’s Adm. Brad Cooper, would not enter Gaza.

By World Israel News and JNS

The United States is set to deploy up to 200 troops to Israel in support of the ceasefire agreement, according to two senior White House officials who briefed reporters on Thursday.

The officials explained that the troops, commanded by U.S. Central Command’s Adm. Brad Cooper, will remain outside of Gaza.

“He’ll initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations-incursions. Everybody’s worried about the other side,” one of the senior officials said.

“Much of this is going to be oversight. Embedded within his team of 200 people will probably be a bunch of people from the Egyptian armed forces who will help, the Qatari armed forces who will help, as well as the Turks and probably the Emiratis,” the official added.

This will not be the first time American forces have been deployed to Israel. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. troops operated Patriot missile batteries, and in 2024 they helped defend Israel against Iranian missile attacks. For decades, Washington has also maintained a peacekeeping presence in the Sinai Peninsula to monitor the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

The 20-point plan released by the White House calls for the creation of a “temporary international stabilization force” that will “immediately deploy in Gaza” and “will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza.”

None of the countries the senior official mentioned has publicly committed to being involved in the force.

While it’s unclear how that step in the plan will be executed, the senior U.S. officials gave fresh details about how the initial days of the ceasefire-for-hostages deal might proceed.

“What should happen now is, hopefully, the Israeli cabinet approves, Israel will withdraw to the line, and then we do the exchange within 72 hours,” one of the officials said. “I think that will take a lot of the pressure off everybody.”

“Then what happens is we’re going to work with the Israelis and CENTCOM will be involved to set up a joint task force and then the international stabilization force will start building there,” the official told reporters.

“There’s been a lot of work done to put that together, but the international stabilization force will basically be able to hopefully replace the Israel Defense Forces on the yellow line, and then there’ll be discussions, and then we’ll see if there really is a true pathway for, I think we’re using a ‘decommissioning’ of the military installations in Gaza and the heavy arms in order to to get that going,” the senior official said.

The 20-point plan included a map of Gaza with a succession of lines depicting Israel’s current line of control in blue; a first phase of withdrawal in exchange for the hostages in yellow; and a second line of withdrawal in red during the transition to the stabilization force and a final Israeli withdrawal from nearly all of Gaza to a security buffer zone.

Just minutes after the press briefing concluded, Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the plan on Thursday.

U.S. special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner briefed the Israeli cabinet about the plan hours before the vote.