The officials said the U.S. troops’ exact location had yet to be decided. But they would develop a joint control center and integrate other security forces that will work in Gaza to coordinate with Israeli forces to avoid clashes.
“No U.S. troops are intended to go into Gaza,” said one of the officials.
Senior Egyptian officials told their US counterparts that they want the International Stabilization Force outlined in Trump’s 20-point peace plan to be modeled on the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) that deployed to Sinai after the peninsula was returned to Egypt from Israel in 1982.
The US has led the MFO since its inception, supplying hundreds of troops as a buffer and reassurance force.
The airport, called El Gora, is usually largely inactive but used by the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), the peacekeeping organisation that monitors the security provisions of the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in the Sinai. It is the closest airport to Gaza outside of Israel.
A U.S. Air Force Beech C-12V Huron plane arrived in Egypt on 23 August and has been flying daily flights in the region since. A Black Hawk helicopter also started flying from the airport on 9 September. It is believed that the planes are operating under the MFO mandate, which does not include the war in Gaza, because their callsign includes that acronym.
But Deep Dive has found evidence the planes are being used by the Trump administration to spy close to, and possibly over, Gaza.
The US Beech C-12V flew its first mission on 31 August and transponder data shows it spent an hour circling just 10 miles off northern Gaza after taking off from Hatzor military base in Israel, which has been used to gather intelligence over the Palestinian territory.