President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday and pushed for a full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire deal, according to Israeli media reports on the meeting.
According to Haaretz, the US wants to ensure Netanyahu will move forward with the talks on the second phase of the deal, which is supposed to involve a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but many details need to be worked out.
Netanyahu is under pressure from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to quit the government if the genocidal war isn’t restarted after the 42-day ceasefire that’s part of the first phase.
Smotrich has claimed that Netanyahu guaranteed that military operations would resume after the first phase, but the Haaretz report said that the US wants Netanyahu to go through with the full deal despite the “political ramifications it could have for his government.”
The Netanyahu-Witkoff meeting came a day before Hamas is set to release three more Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals in exchange for Israel releasing 110 Palestinians from prison.
Witkoff also visited the Israeli-controlled Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, making him the first US official to enter the Strip in more than a decade. Palestinians returning to the ruins of northern Gaza have had to pass through the corridor, and vehicles are being inspected by a group of armed American contractors.
The ceasefire in Gaza is incredibly fragile as Israeli forces have continued to fire on Palestinians, killing more than 80 since the truce went into effect on January 19.
