Trump Plans to Appoint a U.S. General to Lead the International Force in Gaza

The website Axios reported, citing American and Israeli officials, that President Donald Trump’s administration intends to appoint a U.S. general to lead the stabilization force in Gaza.

A United Nations Security Council resolution adopted on 17 November grants a mandate to the Peace Council and the states cooperating with it to establish a temporary international stabilization force in Gaza.

According to Axios, Mike Waltz, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, who visited Israel this week, informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials that the Trump administration will assume leadership of the international stabilization force and appoint a general to command it.

Axios adds that this appointment will increase the United States’ responsibility for securing and rebuilding Gaza, turning the operation into the largest U.S. political-civil-military project in the Middle East in more than two decades.

Earlier, the United States had established a civil-military headquarters in Israel to monitor the ceasefire and coordinate humanitarian assistance.

However, White House officials maintain that no American troops will be deployed on the ground in Gaza, according to the report.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the names of world leaders who will join the Peace Council for Gaza are expected to be announced early next year.

The UN Security Council resolution, drafted by the United States, describes the Peace Council as a transitional administration tasked with setting the general framework and coordinating the necessary funding for Gaza’s reconstruction, in line with Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip.