Vice President J.D. Vance confirmed on Sunday that President Donald Trump is not planning to deploy “boots on the ground” in Israel or Gaza following the historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
During a Sunday interview appearance on an episode of “Meet The Press” on NBC News, Vance clarified the Trump administration’s plans to have U.S. Central Command monitor the fulfillment of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas after a report cited anonymous U.S. officials on Thursday, claiming that the United States was preparing to deploy up to 200 troops to Israel to provide stability to the region.
“We’re not planning to put boots on the ground. What we already have is a U.S. Central Command. We already have people in that region of the world,” Vance said during Sunday’s interview. “They’re going to monitor the terms of the ceasefire. They’re going to monitor, ensure the humanitarian aid is flowing.”
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“We have people in that region of the world who are going to monitor parts of this peace proposal, but the president is not planning to put boots on the ground in Israel,” Vance added.
Asked if any U.S. troops would ever be deployed to Gaza, Vance explained that Trump was “not planning to put boots on the ground in Gaza or Israel.”
“We’ve actually had – and this is one of the great successes of the president’s diplomacy from Indonesia to the Gulf Arab states – we’ve had a number of Muslim majority countries offer to step up and have them put troops on the ground to secure Gaza,” the vice president stated. “It’s not going to be necessary for American troops to be in Gaza.”
Vance’s comments on Sunday came after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that the report regarding U.S. troops being sent to Israel to support the peace deal between Israel and Hamas was “NOT true” and was being “taken out of context.”
Leavitt noted that up to 200 U.S. personnel already stationed at U.S. Central Command would be tasked with “monitoring” the peace agreement in the Middle East and would “work with other international forces on the ground.”
