(Headline USA) President Joe Biden is reportedly holding “secret” talks with Israeli officials about stationing U.S. troops in Gaza after Israel completes its ground invasion, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. has told Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it needs a plan for how to govern the Gaza Strip after Hamas is driven out of the region. Israel has said it does not want to occupy the region unilaterally, and has proposed a multinational force, which would include U.S. troops, to keep the peace.
The multinational option would give regional countries temporary oversight of Gaza, backed by troops from the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany and France.
Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would likely also be involved, sources told Bloomberg, although both nations are due to join the anti-Western BRICS alliance in January.
Another option being considered, which Israel is reportedly against, is granting temporary governance to the United Nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has argued that in the long term the Palestinian Authority should control Gaza.
“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” Blinken said, adding that “whether you can get there in one step is a big question.”
The Biden administration has denied it plans to put U.S. troops on the ground. However, last week Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put a significant number of U.S. troops on stand-by to be “ready to deploy.”
The memo came just days after a special operations Marine Corps unit was sent to Israel to “advise” Israeli officials and provide “medical support.”
Also this month, the U.S. sent the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to “deter any actor seeking to escalate the situation or widen this war,” according to U.S. Command Central.
