The White House spokeswoman today denied the existence of plans to build a temporary US military base near the Gaza Strip, which according to the Bloomberg agency would house ten thousand soldiers to monitor the ceasefire.
“I have consulted with the highest levels of the United States (US) federal government. It is not something the US is interested in participating in. It is not something we are currently involved in or will fund“, said Karoline Leavitt, referring to news reported on Tuesday by Bloomberg that the United States Navy was requesting quotes from several construction companies.
In the same statements, the White House spokeswoman highlighted that US President Donald Trump “has been very clear in stating that he does not want troops on the ground in what is happening in the Middle East”.
Leavitt also criticized the fact that the article was based “on a consultation that someone made to the Department of the Navy about an idea” and that the media published it as if it were “official policy”.
The news in question cites a U.S. Navy request for information for a “temporary, self-sustained military operations base capable of supporting 10,000 people and providing 10,000 square feet of office space (about 929 square meters) for a period of 12 months.”
The same request for information identifies the location as “near Gaza, Israel” and was sent on October 31, according to Bloomberg.
An independent, non-profit Israeli investigative journalism platform, called Shomrim (“observers” or “guardians” in Hebrew), also reported on Tuesday that the United States is planning the construction of a military base and cited Israeli officials who stated that the base would be used by US and international forces.
The base would cost around 500 million dollars (around 431 million euros), according to the same source.
The ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which was promoted by the United States with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, has been in force since October 10.
The first phase of the agreement between Israel and Hamas includes the exchange of hostages and prisoners, the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave and the access of humanitarian aid to the territory.
The next stage, still to be agreed, foresees the continuation of the Israeli withdrawal, the disarmament of Hamas, as well as the reconstruction and future governance of the enclave.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, which caused more than 69,000 deaths, according to local authorities controlled by the Islamist group, the destruction of almost all of the territory’s infrastructure and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.