Arab States Quietly Deepened Military Cooperation With Israel During Gaza War, Leaked Files Show
Leaked U.S. military documents reveal that several Arab nations quietly expanded security cooperation with Israel throughout the Gaza war — even as they publicly condemned its conduct. The coordination, organized under the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), included joint meetings, intelligence sharing, and trainings on countering Iran and neutralizing underground tunnel networks used by Hamas.
The revelations come as Israel and Hamas agreed this week to the first phase of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, with a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of hostages. The United States said around 200 of its troops will deploy to support the agreement, joined by soldiers from some of the same Arab countries that took part in the secret cooperation framework.
According to five Centcom PowerPoint presentations obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and reviewed by The Washington Post, the program — called the Regional Security Construct — linked Israel with six Arab nations: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Kuwait and Oman were listed as “potential partners.”
The documents describe a three-year period of deepening ties, with joint planning meetings in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar. One of the most sensitive sessions, held in May 2024 at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, brought Israeli officers directly onto Qatari soil via military channels to avoid civilian exposure.
Iran’s missile program and its regional allies were described in the documents as the driving force behind the partnership, which included air-defense coordination and radar data-sharing among the participating states. By 2024, most partners had partial access to a shared regional air picture through U.S. systems, the files show.
The documents emphasize that the collaboration “does not form a new alliance” and that all meetings must remain confidential. Still, the initiative grew to include intelligence briefings on Syria, Yemen, and the Islamic State, as well as training in cyber operations and information warfare. Tensions flared after Israel’s Sept. 9 airstrike in Qatar targeting Hamas officials, which prompted a diplomatic crisis and an apology from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite the outrage, U.S. officials see the same network of Arab militaries as potentially crucial in monitoring Gaza’s ceasefire and supporting President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the territory.
(A damaged building in Doha, Qatar, following an Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas leaders on Sept. 9.)
Broader Context
The Regional Security Construct was conceived as a military complement to the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states beginning in 2020. When Washington transferred Israel into Centcom’s area of responsibility in 2021, it aimed to create a shared security network to contain Iran without requiring formal diplomatic ties among participants.
Under Trump’s second administration, that framework has evolved into a cornerstone of the White House’s Middle East policy. The 20-point Gaza plan, introduced at the UN General Assembly last month, calls for an international force — led by U.S. and Arab contingents — to oversee reconstruction and retraining of a new Palestinian police force. Arab governments including Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan have endorsed the plan’s outline, though they have avoided public commitments to troop deployments.
For many of those countries, the quiet cooperation with Israel represents a pragmatic balancing act. They rely on U.S. defense systems and intelligence sharing to deter Iran but remain wary of domestic backlash if military coordination with Israel becomes visible. Qatar’s participation, revealed in the leaked files, illustrates that tension most sharply: Doha condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocidal,” yet continued to host high-level Centcom meetings involving Israeli officers at its own air base.
