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Israeli operatives are conducting widespread surveillance of US forces and allies stationed at a new US base in the country’s south, according to sources briefed on disputes about open and covert recordings of meetings and discussions.
The scale of intelligence gathering at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) prompted the US commander of the base, Lt Gen Patrick Frank, to summon an Israeli counterpart for a meeting to tell him that “recording has to stop here”.
Staff and visitors from other countries have also raised concerns about Israel recording inside the CMCC. Some have been told to avoid sharing sensitive information because of the risk it could be collected and exploited.
The US military declined to comment when asked about Israeli surveillance activities. The Israeli military declined to comment on Frank’s demand to halt recording and noted that conversations inside the CMCC are unclassified.
“The IDF documents and summarises meetings in which it is present through protocols, as any professional organisation of this nature does in a transparent and agreed upon manner,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
“The claim that the IDF is gathering intelligence on its partners in meetings which the IDF is an active participant is absurd.”
The CMCC was set up in October to monitor the ceasefire, coordinate aid and draw up plans for Gaza’s future under Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to halt the war. Giant copies of that document are on display around the building.
Soldiers stationed there were tasked with supporting an increase in essential supplies into Gaza, which formed part of the agreement.
Israel has regularly restricted or prevented shipments of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods into Gaza. A complete siege this summer tipped parts of the territory into famine.
When the CMCC began operations, US and Israeli media reported that Israel was ceding authority over what entered the territory to the US military.
Two months into the ceasefire, Washington has considerable leverage but Israel retains control of Gaza’s perimeter and what enters the territory, according to one US official.
“We didn’t take over [aid],” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It is an integration. It is hand in glove. They ([The Israelis] remain the hand, and the CMMC have become the glove over that hand,” the official said.
Among the US forces deployed to the CMCC were logistics experts experienced in navigating natural disasters or trained to find supply routes through hostile terrain.
They arrived keen to boost flows of aid but soon discovered that Israeli controls on goods entering Gaza were a bigger obstacle than engineering challenges. Within weeks, several dozen had left.
Diplomats say discussions at the CMCC have been essential in persuading Israel to modify lists of supplies barred or restricted from entering Gaza on the grounds they are “dual use”, or could be repurposed for military as well as humanitarian purposes. They include basics such as tent poles and chemicals needed for water purification.
The Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel, said he was briefed at the CMCC about “one of the dual-use barriers that was being lifted as a result of the conversations [there]”.
Other items, such as pencils and paper needed to restart schools, have been banned from shipment into Gaza without explanation
Palestinians excluded
The CMCC brings together military planners from the US, Israel and other allied countries including the UK and the United Arab Emirates.
Diplomats posted to Israel and occupied Palestine and humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza have also been invited to join discussions on aid supplies and the territory’s future.
Trump’s plan recognises Palestinian aspirations to a state and commits to giving Palestinians seats in a temporary administration, but they are comprehensively excluded from the CMCC.
There are no representatives of Palestinian civilian or humanitarian organisations, or the Palestinian Authority, stationed there invited to join discussions.
Even efforts to bring Palestinians into talks through video calls were repeatedly cut off by Israeli officials, sources involved in or briefed on discussions said.
US military planning documents seen by the Guardian avoid any use of the words Palestine or Palestinian, instead referring to the residents of the territory as “Gazans”.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has presented the CMCC as a purely bilateral project. In a statement issued after visiting the base last month he described the centre as a “joint Israeli-American effort”, and did not mention other partners, and official photos of the visit showed only Israelis and Americans.
An Israeli military source said the visit was organised outside working hours for security reasons and the US military decided which counterparts should attend.
Dystopian startup
The CMCC is based in a multistorey building in the industrial zone of Kiryat Gat, a nondescript town about 12 miles (20km) from the border with Gaza.
It was previously used by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose food distribution sites became death traps for hundreds of Palestinians. Some branded products from the now-disbanded GHF are still piled up in the basement.
Israelis and Americans have a floor each, and there are offices for key allies.
The inside has the feel of a dystopian startup. A cavernous, windowless main hall has been carpeted with astroturf, and clusters of whiteboards divide the floor space into informal meeting areas where soldiers mix with diplomats and aid workers.
The language of corporate America has arrived with the country’s troops. Palestinians in Gaza are sometimes referred to as “end users”, and blithely insensitive mnemonics are used to help some teams direct their efforts.
“Wellness Wednesdays” focused on restoring Gaza’s hospitals, which have come under relentless attack, and schools that have not operated for two years.
“Thirsty Thursdays” are for public services, in a place where children have been killed trying to collect water and the lack of sanitation is spreading disease.
Many diplomats and aid workers are deeply wary of being at the CMCC.
They are concerned the centre may break international law, excludes Palestinians from planning their own future, operates without a clear international mandate and mixes military and humanitarian work.
But they also fear staying away would leave discussions about Gaza’s future solely in the hands of Israel and the newly arrived US military planners, who have very little knowledge about Gaza or the broader political context they are trying to influence.
“We are really unsure how much time and energy to invest,” said one. “But this is the only chance we have of [the Americans] listening to us”.
The CMCC’s role may already be waning, as dozens of US military personnel sent there in October have returned to home bases after their remit was officially completed, sources said.
Designing an abstract future for Gaza in a political vacuum that excludes Palestinians appears to have been far more straightforward than past attempts to negotiate. It is unclear how much of the planning done in the CMCC will be tested in Gaza.
Israel says the ceasefire will not move to a next stage until Hamas has been demilitarised, and neither the US nor its allies have a plan for how to achieve something that Israeli troops could not manage despite two years of brutal attacks.A UN commission of inquiry found earlier this year that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, as have numerous humanitarian organisations.
Asked about a timeline for implementing plans drawn up at the CMCC, the US official declined to provide one. “The US military is not at the heart of this,” he said. “It falls more into the political world.”
