TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 27, 2026
Israel is considering expelling British officials from a US-led Gaza coordination center, with Italy and Germany reportedly also discussed.
Israel is considering expelling British officials, and potentially representatives of other European countries, from the US-led international center coordinating the postwar arrangements for Gaza, the Financial Times reported.
According to the FT, multiple people familiar with the discussions said the Israeli government had in recent weeks considered removing the UK from the International Gaza Support Center (IGSC).
The multinational center, previously known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center, was established to monitor the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
Similar measures have also been considered against Italy and Germany, according to some of the newspaper’s sources.
The prospect of further expulsions comes amid a sharp deterioration in Israel’s relations with several European governments over the genocide in Gaza, settlement expansion and escalating Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
‘Payback’ for Britain’s position
The FT reported that British officials appeared relatively unconcerned by the possibility.
One person familiar with the situation noted that Israel had already targeted Spain and the Netherlands and said it was therefore logical to anticipate some “payback” for Britain’s increasingly critical position.
Britain has considered tougher measures against Israel, including a potential ban on trade in goods originating from illegal Jewish settlements.
The UK also joined Germany, Italy and nearly 20 other countries, along with the European Commission, in condemning Israel’s decision to advance construction tenders for the E1 settlement project near occupied East Jerusalem.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband had said that “Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded that Britain should not “lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic homeland.”
Spain and Netherlands
The possible action against Britain would follow Israeli measures against other European countries.
Sa’ar announced this week that Dutch representatives would be expelled from the IGSC after the Netherlands moved to boycott Israeli products originating from settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Israel had previously expelled Spanish representatives from the center, accusing Madrid of “obsessive anti-Israel bias.”
Announcing the measure against the Netherlands, Sa’ar warned that “Israel will not allow measures to be taken against it without a response.”
The FT said these expulsions, and the prospect of further action against European representatives, underscore the growing rupture between Israel and some of its traditional European allies.
Italy, Germany discussed
Italy and Germany were reportedly among the countries considered for similar measures, although an Italian government official dismissed the suggestion that either country would be removed from the center.
Two people familiar with the issue told the FT that removing further international representatives could require approval from the US-led Board of Peace, established by US President Donald Trump to oversee Gaza’s postwar transition and reconstruction.
Another source disputed that interpretation, arguing that Israel had the sovereign authority to determine who could enter or remain in its territory.
The Board of Peace told the FT:
“We continue to engage our Israeli counterparts on ways to maintain and strengthen multilateral co-ordination and to accelerate progress on the president’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza.”
Gaza plan stalled
The IGSC operates from Kiryat Gat and is led by US military officers working alongside the Israeli military and military and diplomatic representatives from roughly 50 countries and international organizations.
But the broader US-backed process it was established to support has stalled.
Israeli forces continue to occupy more than half of Gaza and regularly carry out attacks inside the enclave, while reconstruction has yet to begin.
According to the FT, renewed efforts by Board of Peace officials this summer to secure both Hamas’ disarmament and an Israeli military withdrawal have also faltered.
Even a visit by senior US envoy Jared Kushner last week failed to break the deadlock. Several sources told the newspaper that his four-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had gone poorly.
(FT, Al-Mayadeen, TPC)
