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US and Israeli officials are mulling an international peacekeeping force for Gaza should Israel successfully remove Hamas from power, Bloomberg has reported, suggesting that American troops could take part in the deployment.
As Israel escalates its ground assault, the two countries have been “exploring options” for the future of the Palestinian enclave, including several different peacekeeping arrangements, officials familiar with the discussions told the news agency on Tuesday.
“One option would grant temporary oversight to Gaza to countries from the region, backed by troops from the US, UK, Germany and France. Ideally, it would also include representation from Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates,” Bloomberg reported.
While the officials stressed that the conversations are still in an early stage, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at the issue in recent comments to lawmakers, suggesting Washington is deeply involved in the planning.
We can’t have a reversion to the status quo with Hamas running Gaza. We also can’t have – and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves – Israel running or controlling Gaza,” he said at a Tuesday Senate hearing. “Between those shoals are a variety of possible permutations that we’re looking at very closely now, as are other countries.”
Though Blinken did not elaborate on those possibilities, officials told Bloomberg that they also include the creation of a peacekeeping force modeled on the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, under which the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) monitor areas of the Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli government believes that idea is “worthy of consideration,” one official said.
Under a third arrangement, the United Nations would be granted “temporary governance” of Gaza, although Israeli officials are reportedly less enthusiastic about the plan, viewing it as “impractical.”
In announcing Israel’s ground operation in the Palestinian enclave, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the country was seeking to “destroy Hamas” and create a new “security regime.” He emphasized that Israel must not be responsible for “day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip,” suggesting it would seek to hand off governance to a third party.
US President Joe Biden is hesitant to place “even a small contingent of American troops in harm’s way,” and is still far from a final decision, according to Bloomberg. Though the White House has discussed the need to establish a sovereign Palestinian state after the current conflict, exactly how to achieve that goal “has barely featured in discussions” among US officials.
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