A multinational force overseeing the Gaza Strip that includes American troops is being considered as a post-war option for the Palestinian territory, it has been reported.
Israel and the U.S. are examining an arrangement in which oversight of the strip would be given to countries from the region, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with the support of troops from France, Germany, the U.S. and the U.K., Bloomberg reported.
The option is one of three under discussion if Israeli troops manage to oust Hamas from the strip where a ground operation is underway, the outlet said, citing unnamed sources.
Israel has been bombing Gaza since the attacks on October 7 that killed 1,400 people with 239 people kidnapped as hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 8,500 people have been killed since Israel’s bombardment began.
Israel has said that more than 11,000 targets in Gaza have been hit since the start of the war and that 11 of its soldiers were killed in ground fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, taking the total to 326.
Discussions about the options of what will happen to Gaza after the hostilities are at early stage but are complicated by Israel’s rejection of continued Hamas rule of the strip and the unlikelihood that the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, can step in.
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Ahead of a visit to Israel on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a Senate appropriations committee hearing that neither Hamas nor Israel can run Gaza after the war, “between those shoals are a variety of possible permutations.”
He added that “temporary arrangements” might be needed involving other countries in the region or “international agencies that would help provide for both security and governance.”
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told Bloomberg that sending US troops to Gaza as part of a peacekeeping force “is not something that’s being considered or is under discussion.”
Another post-war option for Gaza, according to the outlet would be to establish a peacekeeping force modeled on the Multinational Force and Observers group that operates around the Sinai peninsula and enforces a 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. A third option would be temporary governance of Gaza under a United Nations umbrella, which would give it international legitimacy, although Israel views this idea as impractical, Bloomberg reported.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. State Department for comment.
This news comes as the Gulf state of Qatar, which maintains ties with Israel and Hamas, mediated a deal between the two sides to allow critically wounded people and foreign passport holders out of Gaza into Egypt.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said strikes on Tuesday on Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander, as well as dozens of Hamas militants.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.