Washington, DC – US President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has announced that he will travel to Gaza in the coming days as part of what he called a “monitoring team” to review the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas last week. it's over.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Witkoff said he would visit two Israeli-occupied territories in Gaza, as part of a trip to Israel.
“I will be part of the management team for the Netzarim Corridor and the Philadelphia Corridor,” Witkoff said. “That's where you have outside patrols, making sure people are safe and people coming in are unarmed, and nobody has bad intentions.”
The Netzarim River separates the north and south of Gaza and has been occupied by Israeli forces since they conquered the Palestinians at the end of October 2023. The Philadelphi Corridor runs between southern Gaza and Egypt. The Israeli army took “occupational authority” in the area in May last year.
The visit will be the envoy's first visit to the Middle East since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on January 15. Witkoff, a businessman and no previous diplomatic experiencethey have already joined the talks in Qatar that led to the agreement.
It will also be Witkoff's first visit since Trump took office on Monday. Since its launch, Trump has said he has little confidence the deal will hold. The agreement went into effect on Sunday, and the next day, an Israeli sniper they killed a child in Rafah, in an incident that was captured on video.
“We have to make sure that the installation goes well, because if it goes well, we'll go into phase two, and we'll get more bodies out alive,” Witkoff said, referring to the imprisoned Israeli prisoners. Gaza.
“And I think that's what the president has told me and everyone else in the American government for that matter.”
A three-part agreement
The ceasefire agreement has said three parts. The implementation of the first phase has already started.
In the next six weeks, the unit must stop at war; the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, including from the Netzarim Corridor; and medical treatment at the hospital.
Fifteen months of war in Gaza has left the area uninhabitable and many people fleeing their homes. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of an impending famine in northern Gaza, and its experts have said compared the military methods of Israel to killing people.
All told, at least 47,107 Palestinians have been he was killed in Gaza as of October 7, 2023. Hamas attacks in southern Israel killed 1,139 people, and over 200 were taken into captivity.
The first phase of the ceasefire also aims to see 33 Israeli prisoners released from Gaza and around 1,000 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons. Three Israeli prisoners and 90 Palestinian prisoners have been released so far.
Phases two and three have been approved, but discussions on details are still ongoing. The second phase is expected to see the remaining Israeli prisoners freed in exchange for the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
That goal would be at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's earlier pledge to maintain control of Gaza's security indefinitely after the war. Right-wing members of Netanyahu's government have also called for a return to the war once the first phase is over.
The details of the third phase are unclear, but it is said to include a multi-year reconstruction plan in Gaza and the return of the bodies of the captives.
The current agreement does not include any agreement to govern Gaza after the war.
'Don't trust yourself'
Witkoff spoke to Fox News a day after Trump told reporters he was “not confident” the ceasefire would hold.
“That is not our war. It is their war. But I'm not confident,” Trump told reporters at a photo opportunity at the White House. “I looked at the picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a big dumping ground.”
The US president, whose first term runs from 2017 to 2021, wanted a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel before the inauguration day. promise “hell to pay” if one is not reached.
It was not immediately clear how Trump would respond if Israel were to withdraw from the deal.
Trump is generally more open to Israel than his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
However, the Biden administration pledged “unwavering” support to Israel and refused to spend billions of dollars in military aid that the US in forces Israel to end the war.
Trump and Biden both said they were indebted to them for reaching a ceasefire agreement this month.
As he begins his second term, Trump is expected to increase US aid to Israel. His leadershipfor example, it is full of pro-Israel hawks, including supporters of Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
He has already said that wipe back Biden-era sanctions on Israeli security forces accused of atrocities against Palestinians.
However, Trump has promised to create peace around the world and resolve conflicts abroad as part of “America First”.
Speaking on Wednesday, Witkoff praised Trump's “peace through strength” approach as the catalyst for the end of the war, while admitting that the incoming administration did not do the “mathematics” that created the deal.
A push for normalization
Witkoff also said that he hopes to resume the Israeli-Arabian negotiations that Trump spearheaded during his first term, to keep Israel out of the public eye.
The so-called Abraham Accords saw Israel establish diplomatic relations with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, but the talks were widely criticized for stalling Palestinian interests.
Experts have also said that the future of the Abrahamic Covenant is set thrown into doubt amid regional anger over the war in Gaza.
However, Witkoff said he believes a long-term, sustainable deal with Saudi Arabia can be reached. He went even further, saying he believed that every country in the region could “rise” with such an alliance.
“My opinion is that what was set up to stabilize is to end the war,” Witkoff said. “We needed people to believe again.”
When asked to name other countries that he thought could be involved in the deal, Witkoff pointed to Qatar, praising its role as a mediator in the Gaza talks.
Qatar has repeatedly rejected the prospect of establishing good relations with Israel.