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Trump Reportedly Planning to Appoint US General to Command ISF in Gaza

A Palestinian man rides his bicycle through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A Palestinian man rides his bicycle through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Trump Reportedly Planning to Appoint US General to Command ISF in Gaza

A Palestinian man rides his bicycle through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A Palestinian man rides his bicycle through the rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

President Donald Trump is planning to appoint an American two-star general to command the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, according to two US officials and two Israeli officials.

Despite the claims, Axios quoted a White House official as saying there have been discussions around the composition of the ISF, the Board of Peace, and a technocratic Palestinian government, "but no definitive decisions have been made or communicated."

The October 10 ceasefire has enabled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza City's ruins. Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased.

But violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 383 people in strikes in Gaza since the truce. Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began, and it has attacked scores of fighters.

On Thursday, medics said at least one Palestinian woman was killed, and some other people were wounded in Israeli tank shelling in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military didn't offer immediate comment. Medics had earlier said two women were killed in the Jabalia incident.

The second phase of the ceasefire deal involves the Israeli army pulling farther back, the ISF deploying to Gaza, and a new governing structure coming into force, including the Trump-led Board of Peace.

The UN Security Council recently authorized both the ISF and the board.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that he's planning to announce the Gaza Board of Peace in early 2026.

According to Axios, two Israeli officials said US Ambassador Mike Waltz to the UN, who visited Israel this week, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials that the Trump administration is going to lead the ISF and appoint a two-star general as its commander.

"Waltz even said he knows the general personally and stressed he is a very serious guy," one Israeli official said.

The Israeli officials said Waltz stressed that having an American general in charge of the ISF should give Israel confidence it will operate according to appropriate standards.

Two US officials confirmed that the plan is to appoint a US general to lead the ISF.

The US has proposed that former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov serve as Board of Peace representative on the ground in Gaza, working with a future Palestinian technocratic government, sources with knowledge said.

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Arab World

Hezbollah Says Message from Iran Shows it 'Will Not Give up' on Group

Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Hezbollah Says Message from Iran Shows it 'Will Not Give up' on Group

Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Displaced residents wave Hezbollah flags, including one bearing a picture of its leader, Naim Qassem, as they pass rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Hezbollah said Saturday that a message from Tehran showed that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese militant group and that the Islamic republic's latest proposal to end the US-Iran war included a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which indicated that Iran "will not give up its support for movements demanding justice and freedom, foremost among them Hezbollah".

In Iran's latest proposal through Pakistani mediators aimed at achieving "a permanent and stable end to the war, the demand to include Lebanon in the ceasefire was emphasised", the statement added.

Arab World

South Lebanon Hospital Damaged in Israeli Strikes

Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
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South Lebanon Hospital Damaged in Israeli Strikes

Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)
Volunteers from the Lebanese Red Cross rescue a woman in the city of Nabatieh in South Lebanon (AFP)

Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon on Saturday, hours after overnight raids on the country's south and east, including one that damaged a hospital, its chief executive told AFP.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on around a dozen locations in the south on Saturday including one targeting an agricultural area, "wounding several Syrian workers".

The NNA said an overnight strike in the southern city of Tyre that targeted a site near the hospital caused "severe damage" to the facility.

An AFP correspondent saw shattered glass, ceiling panels blown out and damaged medical equipment at the multi-storey Hiram hospital.

The Israeli military late on Friday night had issued evacuation warnings ahead of strikes on two locations in Tyre, saying it would target "Hezbollah facilities".

Accompanying maps advised people to leave areas within 500 metres (yards) of the target buildings, with the Hiram hospital shown within the advised evacuation area.

The hospital's CEO Dr Salman Aydibi told AFP that around 40 patients were in the facility when the warning was issued, including seven in intensive care.

"We took the patients to a safer location" elsewhere inside the hospital, he said, adding that none were harmed but some 30 staff sustained minor injuries.

He said an evaluation of the damage was ongoing and that the hospital has remained operational, though the emergency department briefly closed.

He said it was the third strike near the facility since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.

Israel's army said Saturday that it had targeted "Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Tyre" overnight where operatives from the Iran-backed group worked to "plan and execute attacks" against Israeli soldiers.

"Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the issuing of advance warnings, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance," it added.

Another AFP correspondent saw heavy damage at both targeted sites in Tyre, with a man searching for his belongings among the debris at one location.

Israel's army also targeted east Lebanon overnight, saying it struck a "Hezbollah underground compound" used to manufacture weapons.

Lebanon's Hamas-aligned Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya and its armed wing the Al-Fajr Forces said Saturday in a statement that one of its members was killed in an Israeli strike in east Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire published by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

Arab World

Israeli Strike Kills Five Gaza Police Officers

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike at al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike at al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israeli Strike Kills Five Gaza Police Officers

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike at al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike at al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli strike killed five police officers in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, said a hospital and the Palestinian territory's police force, which operates under Hamas authority

"Five martyrs, all police officers, and a number of wounded -- one of whom is in critical condition -- arrived following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a police site in the al-Tuam area," said al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Also, in a statement, the Gaza police directorate, charged with maintaining ‌security in ‌areas of Gaza ​that ‌fell ⁠under ​Hamas control following ⁠a US-brokered ceasefire in October, said two missiles had hit a police post in the Tawam area, Reuters reported.
Hamas' nearly 10,000 police ‌officers have ‌emerged as a sticking point ​in talks ‌to advance US President Donald ‌Trump's plan for Gaza. Hamas wants them included in a new police force envisaged under the plan. Israel objects ‌to the involvement of any officers with Hamas affiliations.
Those talks ⁠have ⁠also been deadlocked over Hamas’ refusal to lay down its weapons, as well as near-daily Israeli attacks in the enclave, which health officials say have killed more than 880 Palestinians since the truce. At least four Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant ​attacks over ​the same period.