BRITISH troops have been deployed to Israel as part of a US-led mission to monitor the Gaza ceasefire, the UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
It comes as Hamas returned the bodies of two more hostages to Israel amid fears that the Trump-brokered ceasefire could collapse.
The UK Ministry of Defence today confirmed that a senior commander alongside a “small number” of British troops was deployed in Israel.
Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain will play an “anchor role” in the efforts at the request of the United States.
“A small number of UK planning officers have been embedded in the US-led CMCC, Civil Military Coordination Centre,” the MoD said in a statement.
Healey said: “We can contribute to monitoring the ceasefire,” Healey said at an event in central London on Monday.
“We’ve also, in response to the American request, put a first-rate, two-star officer into the civilian and military command as a deputy commander. So, Britain will play an anchor role.”
It is understood that the British Major General will work as the deputy to a US commander, who is tasked with running a civil-military coordination centre.
Meanwhile, Israel said its security forces in the Gaza Strip received the remains of two hostages from the Red Cross returned by Hamas.
A statement from the prime minister’s office said: “Israel has received, through the Red Cross, the coffins of two hostages who were killed, which were handed over to an IDF and Shin Bet force inside the Gaza Strip.”
The statement added that the bodies would be transferred to Israel for identification.
Over the weekend, Hamas handed back the body of another Israeli hostage who died defending his home.
Tal Haimi, 41, was killed by Hamas outside his kibbutz on October 7, and his body was bundled into Gaza.
He and other members of the rapid response team battled Hamas terrorists at the entrance, but he was ultimately shot dead, reports The Times of Israel.
Hamas’s military wing said on Sunday it had found another body and would hand it over if “conditions on the ground allowed” – but in the end there was no transfer.
Tal’s body was eventually repatriated on Monday night.
Since the ceasefire began on October 10, the remains of 13 hostages have been returned to Israel.
After these latest remains arrive in Israel, another 13 still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over.
Meanwhile, the shaky ceasefire was on the brink of collapse over the weekend after both sides accused each other of deadly breaches.
Air strikes were reported to have claimed at least 45 Palestinian lives after a firefight in which two Israeli soldiers were killed by a Hamas rocket-propelled grenade.
Hamas leaders claimed they had lost contact with terror group fighters who launched the attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
But more fighting erupted early Monday after Israel claimed two groups of terrorists crossed the “yellow line” IDF troops withdrew to in line with Donald Trump’s peace deal.
Trump troubleshooters Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Israel yesterday in a bid to shore up the truce, which appeared to be in danger of falling apart after just nine days.
Meanwhile, Trump’s number two vice-president JD Vance also arrived in Israel today to further shore up the ceasefire amid warnings it was now on “life support” .
He called progress in Gaza’s fragile ceasefire better than anticipated but acknowledged during an Israel visit the challenges that remain, from disarming Hamas to rebuilding a land devastated by two years of war.
The outlook for Trump’s peace plan has darkened since he returned from a visit to Israel and Egypt on Monday.
Israel restricted aid into Gaza and kept the enclave’s border shut on Tuesday, while re-emergent Hamas fighters demonstrated their grip by executing men in the street.
Trump downplayed Hamas killing members of other gangs as it reasserts its grip on security.
But he said he had communicated to Hamas that the terrorist group must disarm, or it will be forced to.
“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said during a meeting at the White House with Argentine President Javier Milei.
