The United States is reportedly planning to establish a major military base near Israel's border with Gaza, Israeli sources as well as Bloomberg are reporting.

Israeli officials familiar with initial discussions said the facility would serve international forces stationed in Gaza to help uphold the current Trump-brokered ceasefire and could accommodate several thousand troops. The site would be big enough to host a significant American military presence and support future international stabilization operations, and would be a significant extension of Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat.

But unlike the current coordination center, this would support many thousands of international forces and not just the few hundred staffing the CMCC currently.

The proposed base would have the aim of strengthening American influence on the ground, allowing Washington to manage developments in Gaza more independently, the Israeli reports say.

However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not acknowledged any such planning, suggesting these ideas are just at the conception phase, amid speculative reports.

Bloomberg says it would host 10,000 people and would be established "near Gaza", while Responsible Statecraft says it would be a half-billion dollar endeavor:

The proposed base, which would reportedly cost $500 million and be capable of housing thousands of U.S. troops, would dramatically expand the American military’s presence in Israel. The plan also bolsters speculation that the Trump administration hopes to play a hands-on role in the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza following reports about Washington’s growing contributions to aid provision and even housing development in the war-torn region.

The local Palestinian population would without doubt see this as another act of US hegemony in the Middle East, and as a way the bolster Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. They would also be wary of Trump's so-called Gaza Riviera plans floated early in the administration.

Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute has weighed in following the reports, point out that "Trump ran successfully on ending the forever wars in the Middle East."

Stark images of Gaza lying in rubble after two years of Hamas-Israel war...

However, "Building a U.S. military base in historic Palestine is antithetical to the America First foreign policy he was elected to implement," Sheline said. She noted too this could endanger American troops and increase "the possibility that the US will take over Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, potentially bogging us down in the region indefinitely."

The Trump White House has consistently pledged 'no boots on the ground' in Gaza amid the peace deal, but a large US base would certainly be a big step closer to violating that promise. Such mission and scope creep is an unfortunate pattern of US actions in the Mideast, spanning decades.