Peace Council Denies Trump Plan to Close U.S.-Run Civil-Military Coordination Centre Near Gaza

A Reuters report said the Trump administration is set to close the U.S.-run Civil-Military Coordination Centre near Gaza, describing it as a “latest blow to President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan” after repeated Israeli attacks and Hamas’s refusal to lay down its arms.

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Reuters said the centre’s closure would involve shutting the Civil-Military Coordination Centre in Israel, and that its aid and monitoring responsibilities would be handed to a U.S.-commanded international security mission meant to deploy to Gaza.

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The Reuters account named the location as Kiryat Gat in southern Israel and described the centre as a key element of Trump’s “20-point plan for Gaza,” built around a ceasefire meant to halt Israel-Hamas fighting and allow rebuilding after Israel’s two years of fighting.

In response, the Peace Council chaired by Trump denied the report, posting on X that “Any claim that the Coordination Center is about to close is false.”

The Peace Council also asserted that “food aid has tripled the number of beneficiaries,” that the share of aid theft has fallen “from 90% to less than 1%,” and that nutrition has “significantly improved according to the United Nations.”

The dispute, as framed by Reuters and echoed by multiple outlets, turns on whether the centre is being shut or whether it is continuing “its daily efforts to provide aid at an unprecedented level,” as the American Peace Council said in another X post.

Reuters reported that the Civil-Military Coordination Centre’s responsibilities would be transferred to an international security mission, described as the International Stabilization Force, with the transition framed by diplomats as an “overhaul.”

Reuters said seven diplomats familiar with the centre’s operations told the agency that the International Stabilization Force would in effect take over, ending the CMCC's role, and that the number of U.S. troops working at the revamped ISF would drop to 40 from around 190.

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Reuters also said the United States would seek to replace those troops with civilian staff from other countries, and that the diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Peace Council denial did not directly negate the troop-number claim, but it did insist that the centre “will remain crucial to our mission and our efforts,” while describing improvements in aid and nutrition.

Al-Jazeera Net similarly reported that Reuters quoted informed sources saying the U.S. plans to close the Civil-Military Coordination Center run by U.S. forces near Gaza, and it repeated the Reuters framing that closing the centre would be “the latest blow to Trump’s Gaza plan.”

Reuters further reported that once merged, the centre would be renamed “International Center for Gaza Support” and would likely be led by American Major General Jasper Jeffers, the White House-appointed ISF commander.

The Peace Council’s denial of closure leaned heavily on quantitative claims about aid delivery and diversion, asserting that “food aid has tripled the number of beneficiaries” and that “the share of aid theft has fallen from 90% to less than 1%.”

It also claimed that nutrition has “significantly improved according to the United Nations,” and it argued that “The ceasefire has withstood forecasts by so-called experts.”

In the Peace Council’s framing, the Coordination Center was “an essential part of this story,” and it would “remain crucial to our mission and our efforts,” while the council said “Simply put, the lives of people in Gaza are getting better day by day.”

Masrawy’s account repeated the same core figures, stating that “food aid has reached three times the number of previous beneficiaries” and that misrouting or looting of aid has fallen “from 90% to less than 1%,” while also citing “United Nations reports” for nutrition improvements.

Al-Jazeera Net, meanwhile, presented the Reuters counter-narrative that the centre faced criticisms for failing “to monitor the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to boost the flow of aid to the besieged Strip.”

Reuters also described the ceasefire as undermined by Israeli attacks and Hamas’s stance, saying the centre’s momentum faded as Israel pushed its armistice line deeper into Gaza and Hamas resumed governance along a coastal strip under its control.

Reuters tied the Civil-Military Coordination Centre to a broader ceasefire and rebuilding timeline, saying its establishment was a key element of Trump’s “20-point plan for Gaza” following a ceasefire meant to halt Israel-Hamas fighting and allow for rebuilding the territory after its “pulverization by Israel in two years of fighting.”

Reuters said dozens of countries, including Germany, France, Britain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, sent personnel including military planners and intelligence officials to the centre to influence discussions about Gaza’s future.

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It described how, with Israel continuing to carry out attacks and pushing its armistice line with Hamas deeper into Gaza, diplomats said the centre’s momentum faded, and it said some countries now send representatives as little as once a month.

Reuters also said Hamas “has also reassumed governance in a coastal slice of Gaza under its control,” and it reported that Israel says its attacks aim to stop threats from Hamas or people approaching the armistice line, while Palestinians say the attacks are a pretext to subsume more of Gaza.

The Cairo 24 account added a specific ceasefire structure, saying the White House announced transitional governance structures in Gaza, including the Gaza Peace Council, a Palestinian technocratic government, and an International Stabilization Force, as part of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Cairo 24 said the first phase took effect on October 10, 2025 and included a partial Israeli withdrawal inside the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli prisoners and the entry of a daily aid truck, while the second phase includes a broader Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction in exchange for the start of disarmament of the factions.

The stakes of the reported closure are presented differently across the sources, with Reuters emphasizing operational limits and implementation gaps while the Peace Council emphasizes claimed improvements and continuity.

“American Peace Council Denies Closing the Civilian-Military Coordination Center in Gaza”

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Reuters said diplomats viewed the CMCC as lacking authority “to enforce the ceasefire or ensure aid,” and it described uncertainty about whether folding it into the ISF would have practical effect on the ground.

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Reuters also said the ISF was supposed to deploy immediately to Gaza but had not yet done so, with only a handful of countries pledged troops and none committed to security roles, while Washington said U.S. troops would not deploy to Gaza.

In the Peace Council’s denial, the council insisted that “The Coordination Center has been an essential part of this story, and it will remain crucial to our mission and our efforts,” and it claimed that “food aid has tripled the number of beneficiaries” and that nutrition “significantly improved according to the United Nations.”

Al-Jazeera Net, while repeating the Peace Council’s X post that “Any claim that the Civil-Military Coordination Center will close is false,” also reiterated Reuters’ point that the U.S. administration declined to comment on the centre’s future.

The same Al-Jazeera Net piece added a broader war context, stating that “Israel has waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians” and “injured 72,000 others,” and it claimed “the destruction of 90% of the Strip’s infrastructure.”