Top US military commander visits Gaza, reaffirms no US troops to be deployed there
Israeli soldiers carry out maintenance on tanks positioned in southern Israel, on the border with the Gaza Strip on Oct 11, 2025. (File photo: AFP/Menahem Kahana)
WASHINGTON: The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday (Oct 11) he visited Gaza to discuss post-conflict stabilisation and insisted no US troops will be deployed to the Palestinian territory.
Admiral Brad Cooper wrote on X that he just returned from a trip to Gaza to discuss the creation of a CENTCOM-led "civil-military coordination centre" which will "support conflict stabilisation".
An initial deployment of 200 US troops is set to arrive in Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel under President Donald Trump's peace plan.
The US military will coordinate a multinational taskforce which will deploy in Gaza and is likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
"America's sons and daughters in uniform are answering the call to deliver peace in the Middle East in support of the Commander in Chief's direction in this historic moment," Cooper wrote on X.
"This great effort will be achieved with no US boots on the ground in Gaza," Cooper wrote.
Cooper was appointed in early August to lead CENTCOM, the US military command responsible for the Middle East.
