Preliminary talks are taking place in the Biden administration about ways to stabilize the peace in post-war Gaza, including a proposal for the Pentagon to fund a Palestinian peacekeeping team or a multinational option that would not include U.S. troops on the ground.
Officials from the Defense Department and government sources, speaking anonymously to Politico to discuss the negotiations, said that funding from the DOD would go along with assistance from other countries, and would supplement the needs of the peace force without adding U.S. soldiers to the mix.
The discussions are taking place with officials from the White House, Pentagon, and State Department, along with foreign counterparts about what a security force would entail, the sources confirmed.
“We are working with partners on various scenarios for interim governance and security structures in Gaza once the crisis recedes," an administration source said while declining to outline further specifics on the plan.
The source added there have been a "number of conversations with both the Israelis and our partners about key elements for the day after in Gaza when the time is right."
Approval for any plan concerning Gaza is likely weeks or months away because regional officials want a commitment to a two-state solution.
Further, there are questions about how to train a Palestinian-led force to keep order in Gaza, and Israel is the "long pole in the tent" when it comes to approving any plans.
"It would be one thing if the administration and the Israeli government were aligned on the way ahead, but that is just not the case," the source said.
Israel has been reluctant to join in the planning until Hamas is defeated and the hostages who were seized during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack are released.
One official from the DOD said that potential aid could be used in humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, and infrastructure in Gaza, which has been destroyed in Israel's efforts to end Hamas. Most of Gaza's population of 2.2 million has been displaced, leaving them with little access to medical care, food, and water.
Meanwhile, it is not clear who would train or equip a Palestinian-led peacekeeping team, which could potentially include about 20,000 security personnel that the Palestinian Authority has backed after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2006.
According to one of the DOD officials, the department started looking toward supporting a multinational stabilizing force for Gaza at around the beginning of the year. Regional partners have not confirmed if they will participate, as the plan has not been completed.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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