State Dept Appoints Career Diplomat to Lead Gaza Coordination Hub

The U.S. State Department on Friday appointed a career foreign service officer and the current ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, as the civilian lead for a new center working to implement a peace deal in Gaza and get humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, the department said in a statement.

The announcement came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel, and pledged that more U.S. diplomats would be joining the roughly 200 U.S. military personnel posted there.

"Ambassador Steven Fagin will serve as the civilian lead of the Civil-Military Coordination Center, which is supporting the implementation of the President’s 20 Point Peace Plan for Gaza," the department said.

The center was opened this week by the U.S. Central Command, with Lieutenant General Patrick Frank, commander of U.S. Army Central, appointed as its military lead.

Fagin has served as U.S. ambassador to Yemen since 2022, although he has performed the role from outside the country, which is controlled by the Houthi government not recognized by Washington.