The Biden administration and its Israeli counterparts have held secretive talks to station troops in Gaza once Hamas is defeated, according to a new report.
Haunted by the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US is reluctant to send troops back to the Middle East.
However, the US is mindful of its role as a security guarantor once Hamas is expelled from the territory.
One option on the table is to establish a multinational force that could include US troops, sources told Bloomberg.
Another mooted possibility would be to put the region under the auspices of the United Nations.
A National Security Council spokesperson denied the report.
Adrienne Watson told Bloomberg on Tuesday night that “sending US troops to Gaza as part of a peacekeeping force is not something that’s being considered or is under discussion”.
But the outlet’s sources insisted it was indeed something that was being considered.
The need to hammer out a peace plan is growing more urgent by the day.
A barrage of Israeli airstrikes levelled apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City on Tuesday, with rescuers clawing through the destruction to pull men, women and children from the rubble.
Israel said the strike, which targeted a senior Hamas military leader, destroyed a militant command centre and an underground tunnel network.
The toll from the attack in the Jabaliya camp was not immediately known.
The director of the nearby hospital where casualties were taken, Dr. Atef Al-Kahlot, said hundreds of people were wounded or killed, but he did not provide exact figures.
The Israeli military said dozens of militants were killed, including a key Hamas commander for northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have entered the war with Israel after it launched drones and missiles at the south of the country earlier in the day.
The Houthis are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” and have rallied behind Hamas since the October 7 attacks.
They have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2014 and control the capital city of Sana’a.
More than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters.
The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure. Palestinian militants also abducted around 240 people during their incursion and have continued firing rockets into Israel.
