Israel Weighs Expelling British, German and Italian Officials From Gaza Ceasefire Monitoring Center

Israel is considering expelling British representatives, and possibly officials from Germany and Italy as well, from the multinational center in southern Israel that monitors the Gaza ceasefire, the Financial Times reported Thursday, in a move that would follow Israel's expulsion of Dutch officials from the same body two days earlier. The reports mark the sharpest escalation yet in a widening rupture between Israel and its European partners over settlement policy and the Gaza war, playing out inside the American-run body meant to oversee the fragile truce.

The Civil-Military Coordination Center, known as the CMCC, sits in the town of Kiryat Gat in southern Israel and was stood up by U.S. Central Command last October to help implement the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Britain currently fields the second-largest delegation at the center after the United States, and a British officer serves as deputy to the American general who commands it, making any expulsion a far more consequential rupture than the removal of the smaller Dutch and Spanish delegations that preceded it.

What happened

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that the Israeli government has discussed removing British representatives from the CMCC "in light of Britain's conduct in recent months," with some of the same sources saying Israel is weighing similar action against Germany and Italy. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the FT report independently, and neither the Israeli, British, German nor Italian governments had issued a public response as of Thursday morning.

The report followed just two days after Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, announced on social media that he had ordered the immediate removal of Dutch personnel from the CMCC, giving them one week to leave Israel. Sa'ar said the decision, taken with the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was a response to "a series of anti-Israel measures" by the Dutch government.

"Our message is clear: Those who act against Israel will have no foothold in the region. Israel will not allow measures to be taken against it without a response," Sa'ar said.

The numbers

The dispute centers on a Dutch decree, adopted by the Dutch cabinet in May and formally published in July, that bars the import, sale and purchase of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights. The Dutch government confirmed the ban takes effect on September 22 and will remain in force for three years, covering both direct imports and any intermediary trade in settlement goods by Dutch companies operating abroad.

• 2 Dutch representatives ordered out of the CMCC within one week, following Israel's Tuesday decision
• 2 countries, Spain and now the Netherlands, have already been expelled from the center since it opened last October
• Up to 3 more delegations, Britain, Germany and Italy, are reportedly under consideration for removal
• September 22, 2026 is the date the Dutch settlement-goods ban takes effect
• 50 partner nations and organizations were represented at the CMCC as of its one-month milestone, according to U.S. Central Command

How we got here

The CMCC was established in October 2025 under the U.S.-brokered plan to end the Gaza war, tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, coordinating humanitarian aid deliveries and helping shape post-war stabilization policy for the territory. It has never deployed American troops into Gaza itself; instead, personnel from dozens of countries work from an operations floor in Kiryat Gat, tracking ceasefire violations and aid flows in real time.

Even as the center grew to include representatives from roughly 50 nations and organizations, it became an arena for a separate and escalating fight between Israel and European governments over settlement policy in the West Bank. Israel expelled Spanish representatives from the CMCC in April, with the Israeli foreign ministry at the time citing what it called the "anti-Israel obsession" of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government. The Netherlands became the second country removed this week, days after finalizing its own settlement-goods ban, which Dutch officials say targets roughly a third of all such goods entering the European Union.

The dispute has deepened alongside a broader deterioration in Israel's relations with several European capitals over the conduct of the Gaza war, settler violence in the West Bank and continued Israeli settlement expansion. Sa'ar's statement linked the timing directly to the Dutch measures; the Financial Times report suggests Israel now views the same European policy trend, a wave of settlement-goods restrictions gaining traction across the continent, as grounds to reconsider Britain's and other allies' presence at the coordination center as well.

Who is affected

A British expulsion would carry far greater weight for the CMCC's day-to-day operations than the departures of Spanish or Dutch personnel. Britain's delegation is the second-largest at the center after the United States, and a British officer holds the deputy command position under the American general in charge, meaning any removal would touch the center's actual chain of command rather than a peripheral national delegation.

Beyond the CMCC's own staffing, the dispute reflects a wider split opening between Israel and the group of European governments moving toward restrictions on settlement trade. Britain has itself been reported to be weighing its own ban on settlement goods within weeks, a step opinion polling has shown majority public support for, while Germany has separately worked to block a European Union-wide version of the same measure. Italy's position on a settlement-goods ban has not been reported in the same detail.

The roughly 600 people who staff the CMCC day to day, drawn from partner militaries, foreign ministries, aid agencies and private-sector logistics firms, are also affected in a more practical sense: each expulsion forces the center's American leadership, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Patrick Frank and Ambassador Steven Fagin, to redistribute liaison duties that departing delegations had held, at a moment when the center is still tracking daily ceasefire violations and aid deliveries into Gaza.

Reaction and what happens next

Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen called Israel's move against his country's representatives unnecessary, telling Dutch media he regretted the step and linking the timing to Israel's own domestic politics. "I regret this step by Israel, which in my view is unnecessary," Berendsen said, adding that he viewed the expulsion "in the context of the elections in Israel." He said the Dutch settlement-goods ban would go ahead regardless, unaffected by Israel's response. Israel is due to hold a general election on October 27, the first since the war in Gaza began, a backdrop Berendsen's remark suggests is shaping Dutch officials' reading of why Israel escalated the dispute now.

Neither the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office nor the German or Italian governments had commented publicly on the FT report by Thursday morning, and Reuters' inability to independently confirm the account leaves the British, German and Italian expulsions, unlike the Dutch one, still unconfirmed by Israeli officials themselves. Whether Israel follows through will likely hinge on how quickly Britain and the other European governments named in the report move on their own settlement-trade measures, and on how far Israel is willing to let the dispute affect a body that both Washington and Israel have promoted as central to sustaining the Gaza ceasefire.