Protests between the Israeli army and American command in Kiryat Gat

An Israeli channel revealed on Wednesday evening that clashes were recorded between the Israeli army and officers at the headquarters of the American command in Kiryat Gat (south), near the Gaza Strip.

On October 21 last year, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the opening in Israel of the Civil-Military Coordination Center, aimed at monitoring the implementation of the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement to cease fire in the Gaza Strip, which is part of a comprehensive plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end the war in the sector.

CENTCOM stated in a statement at the time that the center was designed to support stabilization efforts and that US military forces would not be deployed inside the Gaza Strip, but would contribute to facilitating the flow of humanitarian, logistical, and security aid from international partners into the sector.

Recently, clashes were recorded between the Israeli army and officers from the American command, after Israel refused their request to hold a series of security discussions on operational and sensitive issues.

Quoted from unnamed senior Israeli officials: These are sensitive issues discussed since the beginning of the war. Israel does not need the United States to start discussing them.

The officials said that the American command headquarters sometimes interferes excessively in security issues that Israel handles independently and well, and its policy is clear on them, without further details.

However, at the beginning of December last year, a British newspaper reported that intelligence agencies in Israel carried out surveillance and eavesdropping operations on American forces and forces from allied countries within the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat.

According to the newspaper, the volume of public and secret eavesdropping operations during discussions in the center prompted the commander of the American base, Patrick Frank, to summon a senior Israeli official and demand an immediate stop to the recordings.

In October last year, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper said that the Civil-Military Coordination Center would oversee the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, through an operations room that allows the crew to assess developments in Gaza moment by moment, according to the same statement.

A stabilization force supported by the US, headquartered at the aforementioned center, is supposed to ensure security in the Gaza Strip, as part of US President Donald Trump's plan.

It is worth noting that on September 29 last year, Trump announced a peace plan and ceasefire in Gaza consisting of 20 points, including: the release of Israeli prisoners, ceasefire, disarmament of Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from the sector, formation of a technocratic government, and deployment of an international stabilization force.

On October 8, 2023, Israel began a genocide in Gaza that lasted two years, with casualties exceeding 71,000 martyrs and 171,000 injured Palestinians, alongside massive destruction affecting 90% of the civilian infrastructure, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at about 70 billion dollars.