U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the International Stabilization Force for Gaza is already running, that more countries would join.
"I think that, in a form, it's already running," Trump said in the Oval Office. "More and more countries are coming into it. They're already in but they'll send any number of troops that I ask them to send."
The Trump-brokered cease-fire for Israel’s two-year war on the Gaza Strip calls for a U.N.-authorized International Stabilization force to help keep peace.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military forces in the Middle East, will host a conference in Doha on December 16 with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza.
Trump also said his administration was examining whether Israel breached the cease-fire by killing a Hamas leader over the weekend.
The White House sent “stern” private messages to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressing that the Israeli strike that killed Raed Saad, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing, along with three others in Gaza City on Saturday, constituted a violation of the cease-fire agreement Trump brokered.
U.S. officials reportedly said the Israeli government did not notify or consult Washington ahead of the attack.
In a televised speech, Hamas chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya confirmed that Saad lost his life in the Israeli attack.
Saad was the target of several Israeli assassination attempts until he lost his life in an airstrike on Saturday.
The attack came despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10.
The Israeli army has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 391 Palestinians and injuring 1,063 others since the deal.
Israel has killed more than 70,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,100 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have continued despite the truce.
