Trump’s Middle East envoy will enter Gaza as part of ‘inspection team’

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced helium volition sojourn Gaza successful the coming days arsenic portion of what helium called an “inspection team” to show the ceasefire statement reached betwixt Israel and Hamas past week.

During an interrogation with Fox News connected Wednesday, Witkoff said helium would circuit 2 Israeli-held zones successful Gaza, arsenic portion of an upcoming travel to Israel.

“I’m going to beryllium a portion of an inspection squad astatine the Netzarim Corridor and besides astatine the Philadelphia Corridor,” Witkoff said. “That’s wherever you person extracurricular overseers, benignant of making definite that radical are harmless and radical who are entering are not armed, and nary 1 has atrocious motivations.”

The Netzarim Corridor separates northbound and southbound Gaza and has been occupied by Israeli forces since they invaded the Palestinian enclave successful precocious October 2023. The Philadelphi Corridor runs betwixt confederate Gaza and Egypt. Israel’s subject took “operational control” of the country successful May of past year.

The travel volition beryllium the envoy’s archetypal sojourn to the Middle East since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire woody connected January 15. Witkoff, a businessman with no erstwhile diplomatic experience, had antecedently joined the talks successful Qatar that led to the deal.

It volition besides beryllium Witkoff’s archetypal travel since Trump took bureau connected Monday. Since his inauguration, Trump said helium has small assurance the statement volition hold. The woody came into effect connected Sunday, and a time later, an Israeli sniper killed a child successful Rafah, successful an incidental caught connected video.

“We person to marque definite that the implementation goes well, due to the fact that if it goes well, we’ll get into signifier two, and we’re going to get a batch much unrecorded bodies out,” Witkoff said, referring to Israeli captives held successful Gaza.

“And I deliberation that that is what the president’s directive to maine and everybody other moving successful the American authorities connected this is.”

A three-phase deal

The ceasefire statement has three phases. Only the implementation of the archetypal signifier has begun.

Over the adjacent six weeks, that signifier is meant to spot a intermission successful fighting; a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, including from the Netzarim Corridor; and a surge successful assistance to the enclave.

Fifteen months of warfare successful Gaza has near the enclave levelled and the immense bulk of its colonisation displaced. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of imminent famine successful bluish Gaza, and its experts person compared Israel’s warfare tactics to genocide.

All told, astatine slightest 47,107 Palestinians person been killed successful Gaza since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attacks connected confederate Israel had killed 1,139 people, with much than 200 taken captive.

The archetypal signifier of the ceasefire is besides meant to spot 33 Israeli captives released from Gaza and astir 1,000 Palestinians released from Israeli detention. Three Israeli captives and 90 Palestinian prisoners person truthful acold been released.

The 2nd and 3rd signifier person been agreed to successful principle, but negotiations connected the details stay ongoing. The 2nd signifier is expected to spot the remaining Israeli captives released successful speech for the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.

That extremity would beryllium astatine likelihood with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s erstwhile pledges to support power implicit Gaza’s information indefinitely aft the war. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s authorities person besides called for a instrumentality to warring aft the archetypal signifier is completed.

Details of the 3rd signifier are little clear, but they reportedly see plans for multiyear reconstruction successful Gaza and the instrumentality of captives’ bodies.

The existent woody includes nary agreements implicit who volition govern Gaza pursuing the war.

‘Not confident’

Witkoff spoke to Fox News a time aft Trump told reporters helium was “not confident” that the ceasefire statement would hold.

“That’s not our war. It’s their war. But I’m not confident,” Trump told a newsman during a photograph accidental astatine the White House. “I looked astatine a representation of Gaza. Gaza is similar a monolithic demolition site.”

The US president, whose archetypal word stretched from from 2017 to 2021, had demanded a ceasefire statement betwixt Hamas and Israel anterior to his inauguration day, promising “hell to pay” if 1 was not reached.

It was not instantly wide however Trump would respond if Israel were to interruption from the agreement.

Trump has mostly been much amenable to Israeli interests than his predecessor, erstwhile President Joe Biden.

Still, the Biden medication pledged “unwavering” enactment to Israel and refused to leverage the billions of dollars successful subject enactment the US provides to Israel successful speech for a ceasefire.

Trump and Biden person some claimed recognition for reaching this month’s ceasefire agreement.

As helium begins his 2nd term, Trump is expected to grow US enactment for Israel. His administration, for example, is packed with pro-Israel hawks, including supporters of amerciable Israeli settlements successful the occupied West Bank.

Already, helium has peeled back Biden-era sanctions connected Israeli settler groups accused of unit against Palestinians.

Still, Trump ran connected a pledge to beryllium planetary peacemaker and extremity conflicts overseas arsenic portion of his “America First” agenda.

Speaking connected Wednesday, Witkoff credited Trump’s “peace done strength” attack arsenic the driving unit down the ceasefire, portion acknowledging the incoming medication was not progressive successful the “mathematics” that made up the presumption of the deal.

Renewed propulsion for normalisation

Witkoff besides said helium hoped to reignite Israeli-Arab normalisation efforts Trump spearheaded during his archetypal term, successful bid to marque Israel little diplomatically isolated.

The alleged Abraham Accords saw Israel found diplomatic ties with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, but the negotiations were wide criticised for sidelining Palestinian interests.

Experts person besides said the aboriginal of the Abraham Accords has been thrown into doubt amid determination outrage implicit the warfare successful Gaza.

Still, Witkoff said helium believed a agelong elusive normalisation woody with Saudi Arabia could yet beryllium reached. He went adjacent further, saying helium believed each state successful the portion could get “on board” with specified a deal.

“My ain sentiment is that a conditional precedent to normalisation was a ceasefire,” Witkoff said. “We needed to get radical believing again.”

When asked to specify which different countries helium thought would beryllium unfastened to a deal, Witkoff pointed to Qatar, praising its relation arsenic a mediator successful the Gaza negotiations.

Qatar has repeatedly rejected the imaginable of normalising ties with Israel.