US to close its flagship Gaza mission as Trump plan stalls

TEL AVIV: A U.S. military-run body near Gaza that critics say failed in its mission to monitor the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and boost aid flows to besieged Palestinians is set to be shut by the Trump administration, sources ​familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The closing of the Civil-Military Coordination Centre in Israel would mark the latest blow to President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, already undermined by repeated Israeli attacks since ‌the October truce and a refusal by Hamas to lay down its arms.

Diplomats said the move, which has not been previously reported, underscores the difficulties facing U.S. efforts to oversee the truce and coordinate on aid, as Israel seizes more Gaza territory and Hamas firms its grip in areas under its control.

The move could add to unease among Washington’s allies, whom Trump encouraged to deploy personnel to the CMCC and commit funds for his Gaza rebuilding plan, effectively on hold since the U.S. launched its joint war with Israel against Iran.

TRUMP-LED BOARD DENIES CMCC IS ​CLOSING

According to the sources, seven diplomats familiar with CMCC operations, the U.S.-led body’s aid and monitoring responsibilities would soon be handed to a U.S.-commanded international security mission that is meant to deploy to Gaza.

U.S. ​officials have privately described the move as an overhaul, but diplomats said the International Stabilization Force would in effect take over, ending the CMCC’s role.

A diplomat briefed on ⁠the U.S. plan said that the number of U.S. troops working at the revamped ISF would drop to 40 from around 190. The U.S. would seek to replace those troops with civilian staff from other countries, the diplomats ​said. All of them spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Diplomats say the CMCC lacked authority to enforce the ceasefire or ensure aid, making it unclear whether folding it into the ISF would ​have much practical effect on the ground.

The Board of Peace denied in a statement posted on social media after the Reuters story was published that the CMCC was closing, without addressing whether the ISF would take over its responsibilities.

Earlier, an official with Trump’s Board of Peace, set up to oversee Gaza policy, declined to comment on the CMCC’s future but said the centre plays a “critical role in ensuring aid deliveries and coordinating efforts” and advancing Trump’s plan.

The White House and the U.S. military’s Middle East command both referred requests ​for comment to the Board of Peace.

Once the CMCC is folded into the ISF, the body is expected to be rebranded as the International Gaza Support Centre, two of the sources said. It would likely be led by ​U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, the White House-appointed ISF commander.

The ISF was supposed to deploy immediately to Gaza to establish control and maintain security. But that has yet to happen with only a handful of countries having so far pledged troops, and ‌none of them ⁠have committed to security roles.

Washington has said U.S. troops would not deploy to Gaza.

The ISF has, however, established a walled‑off annex inside the CMCC, which has been operating from a warehouse in southern Israel, but access to the annex is tightly controlled by U.S. troops who, three sources said, regularly deny entry to representatives from allied countries.

ISRAELI ATTACKS CONTINUE DESPITE CEASEFIRE

The CMCC’s establishment was a key element of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, following a ceasefire meant to halt Israel-Hamas fighting and allow for rebuilding the territory after its pulverization by Israel in two years of fighting.

Dozens of countries, including Germany, France, Britain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, sent personnel including military planners and intelligence officials ​to the centre as they sought to influence discussions on ​Gaza’s future.

But with Israel continuing to carry out ⁠attacks and pushing its armistice line with Hamas deeper into Gaza, diplomats say the CMCC’s momentum faded. Hamas has also reassumed governance in a coastal slice of Gaza under its control.

Some countries now send representatives as little as once a month, one diplomat said. Another said only a handful of countries regularly showed up.

Israel says its attacks in Gaza ​aim to stop threats from Hamas or people approaching the armistice line. Palestinians say this is a pretext to subsume more of Gaza in a bid to ​force them from land they seek ⁠for a future state.

More than 800 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire, meant to halt a war that started with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

During the fighting, Israel reduced much of Gaza to rubble, displaced nearly the entire 2 million population and ruined infrastructure needed for water distribution, sanitation and electricity.

The CMCC was intended to help ensure aid was delivered to Palestinians in need. Diplomats say aid levels have remained largely stagnant despite an ⁠influx of commercial ​goods entering Gaza, with Israel banning many items that it says can carry dual military and civilian uses.

Those items include poles needed for ​tents in displaced persons camps and heavy machinery needed to clear rubble.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, said that 80% of trucks entering Gaza daily carried commercial goods purchased in Israel but that they were intended to supplement humanitarian supplies.

The Board of Peace ​official said Gaza ultimately needs what they described as “a sustainable civilian administration to truly transform from the years of aid dependency and cycles of violence that have clouded its past.”