Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the joint U.S.-Israeli command center in the northern Negev city of Kiryat Gat on Wednesday. The center was established to oversee the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The premier spoke with U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Adm. Brad Cooper and Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank, commander of the U.S. Army in Central Command (U.S. Army Central).
According to an Israeli statement, Netanyahu was “impressed by the joint Israeli-American effort to advance and implement President [Donald] Trump’s framework.”
Netanyahu was accompanied on the visit by his chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) Director David Zini, Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, IDF Coordination Command head Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf and other senior military officials.
The Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) opened on Oct. 17, days after a U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza took effect. The three-story structure houses some 200 U.S. service members working with Israel and international partner nations.
“I am pleased to host our American friends here in Kiryat Gat. They are working together with us on a plan to achieve a different Gaza, a Gaza that will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” said Netanyahu.
“The first component, of course, is security, and the security responsibility for maintaining our forces and our freedom of action. This is an accepted matter, and we are doing it. It is important; it is a fundamental component,” the prime minister continued.
“In the same measure, we want to bring it about that in the end, the goal that President Trump and we agreed on—the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza—will be achieved. We are working on this in stages, together with other components of the plan,” he said.
