Media: Washington developing plan to deploy international force in Gaza Including Arab troops

The United States is developing a plan to deploy an international force in Gaza within weeks, according to reports by Al Arabiya on October 31. 

The proposed mission would include both Arab and foreign contingents and aims to stabilise the war-torn enclave following months of conflict.

Sources told the broadcasters that the U.S. plan also envisions training Palestinian police units to assume security control over Gaza at a later stage. The initiative appears to align with Washington’s broader push to create conditions for a sustainable ceasefire and a post-war governance framework for the territory.

In a related report, it was noted that Washington had offered Hamas fighters a safe passage, allowing them to relocate from areas under Israeli control in Gaza to those still held by the group. According to the officials, the proposal seeks to consolidate the ceasefire and clear parts of the enclave now occupied by Israeli forces.

The development follows the White House’s disclosure on September 29 of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a 20-point document outlining a temporary external administration and the deployment of an international stabilisation force. Trump later announced, on 9 October, that Israeli and Hamas representatives had reached an initial agreement on the first phase of the plan during talks in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Al Arabiya correspondents reported that Israeli forces carried out extensive demolitions and heavy artillery fire early on October 31, targeting eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Witnesses said tanks and drones remained active over several parts of the city, and gunfire was directed towards tents housing displaced Palestinians near Shuja’iyya and Jabalia.

The Israeli government also confirmed the identification of the remains of two hostages, Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch, whose bodies Hamas had returned earlier in the week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the families were notified following confirmation by Israel’s national forensic institute.

Hamas has so far returned 16 of 28 bodies of hostages killed during the conflict, under a ceasefire brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar that took effect on October 10. In exchange, Israel has released around 2,000 Palestinian detainees and recently returned the remains of 30 Palestinians to Gaza through the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel accused Hamas of violating the truce, with Netanyahu ordering “strong airstrikes” on the enclave. Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that the militant group would “pay a heavy price.” Gaza’s civil defence reported that the latest strikes killed at least 104 people, including 46 children, the highest toll since October 10.

By Aghakazim Guliyev