White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fumbled a bizarre attempt to fact-check Fox News over its reporting on the peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had “signed off on the first phase” of his 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, which involves releasing Israeli hostages in return for Palestinians jailed in Israel.
On Thursday evening, Fox News’ X account followed up with the latest update, posting, “BREAKING: US troops headed to Israel to support historic peace deal.”
Leavitt was evidently unhappy with how the Murdoch-owned network framed the news.
“This is NOT true and taken out of context,” the 28-year-old press secretary responded 20 minutes after Fox News’ post went up. “To be clear: up to 200 U.S. personnel, who are already stationed at CENTCOM, will be tasked with monitoring the peace agreement in Israel, and they will work with other international forces on the ground.”
CENTCOM, also known as the United States Central Command, directs military operations in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia.
Leavitt’s sharp rebuttal quickly stirred confusion in the comments, with users asking how her statement differed from Fox News’ report.
“Then it is true and you just provided more details,” one user wrote.
Another commented, “So in other words... US troops are headed to Israel because of the peace deal. That doesn’t seem to be out of context or not true.”
A third probed the semantics of Leavitt’s post, writing, “How can one thing be not true and be taken out of context at the same time?”
The Daily Beast understands that Leavitt was emphasizing that up to 200 troops will be tasked with monitoring the agreement, some of whom will be on the ground in Israel.
When reached for comment, Fox News referred the Daily Beast to a follow-up post from the network’s X account. The post came 45 minutes after Leavitt’s public rebuke and appeared to partially address her objections:
“BREAKING: The U.S. plans to utilize up to 200 troops already in the middle east to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team involving various nations, a senior official told Fox News.”
While it’s unclear what prompted Leavitt to forcefully push back against the Trump-friendly network, she may have been anxious to dispel any notion that U.S. troops are taking on a larger role in the Middle East, given MAGA’s “America First” stance against foreign entanglements.
The 200 troops who have been tasked with monitoring the ceasefire deal will set up a civil-military coordination center in Israel to provide security and humanitarian support, The New York Times reports, and are not intended to go into Gaza.
