The United States has started taking a more direct role in coordinating and monitoring the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, in cooperation with Israel, as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.
The move is seen as a significant shift in the way humanitarian assistance is managed in the war-torn enclave, coming amid growing international concern over the dire shortage of aid to civilians.
Washington to Lead through the CMCC
According to reports first published by The Washington Post, a new U.S.-led body — the Civil-Military Coordination Center, or CMCC — has just been established to facilitate the delivery of food, medicine, and other essentials into Gaza.
The CMCC, which started its operations in southern Israel at the end of last October, is likely to play the lead role within the overall ceasefire framework for coordination of logistics, aid transparency, and regional stability.
While some early reports had suggested that the CMCC would supplant Israel altogether in controlling access to aid, Israeli officials insist that Tel Aviv remains very much a part of the decision-making process.
“Israeli security services are still involved in supervision, policy and monitoring,” said one Israeli security official. “Decisions are made jointly, with integration of the CMCC already underway.”
Officials at both the U.S. embassy in Israel and the CMCC have yet to comment publicly on the matter.
The Ceasefire Framework and Its Challenges
The coordination effort comes after the first phase of a ceasefire plan brokered last month between Israel and Hamas that temporarily halted more than two years of brutal conflict in Gaza. The war began after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks that triggered one of the bloodiest chapters in the region’s history.
Under the plan, both sides agreed to cease hostilities, release hostages and prisoners, and allow a large-scale humanitarian relief operation led by the international community and overseen by the U.S.
According to U.S. CENTCOM, the CMCC’s mission is to help facilitate the distribution of aid while maintaining security coordination among international agencies, Israel, and regional partners.
Aid Flow Still Far Below Critical Levels
Even with the ceasefire in place, humanitarian organizations warn that aid deliveries remain grossly insufficient for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, most of whom have been displaced and are facing acute shortages in food, water, and medicine.
According to the UN and humanitarian NGOs, only a fraction of the aid needed is making its way into Gaza every day, as many trucks have been held up by inspections, logistical bottlenecks, and continuing disagreements over what constitutes “dual-use” materials – items serving both civilian and military purposes.
“Too little aid is getting in,” several agencies said in a joint statement last week, as the humanitarian situation remains “catastrophic”.
Israel insists that it is fulfilling the agreement to allow an average of 600 aid trucks per day. The aid officials say that actual deliveries fall far short of that target, and that most Gazans are still left without basic necessities.
Washington’s Expanding Humanitarian Role
The U.S. administration reportedly is reviewing new proposals to accelerate the pace of humanitarian delivery by expanding logistical corridors and using regional partnerships with Egypt, Jordan, and the UAE.
Under the new framework, the U.S. will take a greater lead in international coordination to ensure transparency of aid and security vetting, but access for some non-governmental organizations and certain materials which Israel judges to be security-sensitive will continue to be restricted.
Israeli officials say that coordination led by the U.S. will make operations more efficient without giving Hamas an opening to seize military advantages from the shipments of aid – a crucial determinant in past negotiations.
Humanitarian Crisis Deepens Despite Ceasefire
While the ceasefire brought temporary calm to Gaza after years of devastating bombardment, conditions on the ground remain dire.
Conditions of famine in Gaza were confirmed by the U.N. as early as August, and large swaths of the enclave have been reduced to rubble. With nearly 2.3 million people displaced, aid agencies warn of a looming public health disaster if food and medical supplies do not increase rapidly.
“The integration of the CMCC may help streamline aid,” one humanitarian coordinator told Reuters, “but unless the restrictions ease and the volume of trucks increases, the crisis will continue.”
A Delicate Balance Between Security and Survival As Washington deepens its involvement in Gaza’s humanitarian operations, this presents a very delicate balancing act: how to ensure transparency in the flow of aid while maintaining the security priorities of Israel. With the CMCC now in place, the world waits to see if this U.S.-led model for coordination will ease the desperate plight of Gaza’s civilians, or if bureaucratic and political divisions continue to stand in the way of those most in need.
