US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday amid stalled Gaza ceasefire negotiations and as people are starving to death in the Palestinian territory due to the US-backed Israeli siege.
Neither side released a statement on the meeting, but the two officials were expected to discuss the status of negotiations with Hamas, which both the US and Israel quit last week. Hamas said on Thursday that it was willing to restart talks if the humanitarian crisis was resolved.
“Continuing negotiations while there is mass starvation empties them of content and meaning,” Hamas said, according to Haaretz. “The occupation [Israel] withdrew from talks last week without any justification.”
An Israeli official told Hebrew media outlets that the US and Israel have reached an understanding that they should pursue a “comprehensive deal” to free all remaining Israeli captives rather than a “partial deal” that would involve only a temporary ceasefire. But the official said that communication has broken down with Hamas and that there is “no one to talk to on the other side.” Other Israeli reports say that Israel is threatening to start annexing Gaza if Hamas doesn’t accept its terms for a deal.
Netanyahu, Witkoff, and President Trump have all blamed Hamas for the lack of a ceasefire deal, but The Atlantic reported on Thursday that Trump now believes the Israeli leader is purposely prolonging the genocidal war. “The president and some of his aides think that Israel’s military objectives in Gaza were achieved long ago, and that Netanyahu has continued Israel’s assault, which has claimed tens of thousands of civilian lives, to maintain his own political power,” the report says.
The report also stated that the White House believes Netanyahu has taken steps to interfere with a potential ceasefire deal. Despite reaching these conclusions, Trump is not considering altering his policy of full-throated support for Israel. Two US officials told The Atlantic that they “did not anticipate that Trump would hold Netanyahu accountable in any meaningful sense.”
Trump said on Thursday that in order for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to be resolved, Hamas must surrender, a break from his rhetoric in recent days when he said Israel bears responsibility for the starvation. “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The White House said on Thursday that Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will visit distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) inside Gaza on Friday. The GHF’s aid sites have become death traps for desperate Palestinians, and a former US Army Green Beret has blown the whistle on the operation, saying he witnessed the IDF commit war crimes at the sites.
The White House said Huckabee and Witkoff will “inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food” as well as meet with locals “to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground.” Trump has said he will be involved in providing more aid for Palestinians in Gaza, but it’s unclear through what mechanism, and the support for the GHF suggests the US may double down on the deadly aid model.
Since the GHF began operating in Gaza at the end of May, more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to get aid. The majority have been killed near GHF sites, while hundreds of others have been killed while attempting to reach UN aid trucks.
