The United States will send a 200-person military team to the Middle East to help monitor and enforce the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, marking Washington’s most direct on-the-ground role in the conflict since the Gaza war began nearly two years ago.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, will lead the mission, which officials described as a “multinational oversight operation” designed to ensure both sides adhere to the terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage release deal announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump.

“Admiral Cooper will initially have 200 people on the ground. His role will be to oversee, observe, make sure there are no violations,” one senior official said. “The Israelis will obviously be in constant touch with them.”

The deployment, which includes Egyptian, Qatari, Turkish, and possibly Emirati military officers embedded within the U.S.-led team, represents a rare joint security mechanism linking Israel and Arab states — many of which do not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Jerusalem.

U.S. officials emphasized that no American troops will enter Gaza, describing the mission as strictly observational and logistical. “The notion is to make it collegial, if you will,” the official said, adding that the team’s presence in negotiations “gave a lot of confidence and security to the Arab countries.”

That confidence, officials said, was key to persuading Hamas to sign onto the deal. “It was passed on to Hamas that we were taking a very strong role — or rather, that the president was taking a very strong position — in standing behind his guarantees and commitments here,” a second senior official said.

According to the officials, the new team’s duties include helping establish a joint command and control center that will coordinate among the IDF and participating Arab militaries. The American contingent will consist of personnel with expertise in logistics, engineering, security, planning, and transport, with several members already en route to the region.

It remains uncertain where the oversight team will be based. A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the troops will likely be stationed in Egypt, near the Rafah crossing, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested they would be deployed to Israel.

The ambiguity reflects diplomatic sensitivities: Egypt is logistically and politically better positioned to host a multilateral coordination center that includes Qatar and Turkey — two nations with which Israel has strained relations.

Officials offered no formal timetable for the mission’s full operational launch, though Cooper reportedly told mediators in Cairo that he could have the command post functional within two and a half weeks.

During a Thursday cabinet meeting at the White House, President Trump hailed Cooper’s leadership and credited the admiral — alongside his special envoy Steve Witkoff, senior adviser Jared Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — for their roles in finalizing the Gaza deal.

“Cooper — I hear he’s been fantastic,” Trump said. “He’s done a great job making this plan happen.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)