(Special Envoy to Israel) All of Donald Trump's diplomatic efforts in the Middle East are aimed at preventing the ceasefire in Gaza from being broken and again bloody fighting between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.
In this context, official negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Jerusalem to hold meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu and his top advisors with the aim of strengthening the truce and moving toward the second stage of the agreement.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance will join the delegation led by Witkoff and Kushner to demonstrate that the Republican administration supports the peace initiative that ended two years of war in the Strip.
The situation between Israel and Hamas is fragile and complex : the terrorist group has not yet fulfilled the full delivery of the 28 bodies of the Jews kidnapped on November 7, 2023, and the Israeli state in retaliation has still not allowed the Egyptian border with Gaza to be opened to multiply humanitarian aid.
Last Sunday, despite the ceasefire, there were clashes in Gaza and Trump and negotiators from Qatar, Turkey and Egypt had to intervene to preserve a peace agreement that is in perpetual jeopardy.
The agreement between Israel and Hamas has a logic of permanent quid pro quo. When the terrorist organization fulfills its part, the Israeli government executes its own. And all monitored by the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey.
From this perspective, since Hamas did not hand over the 25 bodies, Israel did not allow the Rafah crossing, which connects Gaza to Egypt, to be opened. The opening of Rafah would allow Palestinians to enter and leave Gaza, and the United Nations to increase humanitarian aid to the Strip.
The terrorist organization claims it does not know the location of the remaining bodies, and in response, the Israeli government maintained that it was able to provide the necessary information to fulfill this phase of the agreement.
In the coming days, humanitarian organizations will carry out successive excavations in Gaza to find the bodies of Jewish hostages killed by Hamas and buried in the Strip.
Witkoff and Kushner—Trump's son-in-law—have a formal agenda in Israel related to the second phase of the agreement. This stage of the proposal, which depends on the delivery of the bodies still being held by the terrorist organization, aims to achieve the following objectives:
- The complete disarmament of Hamas and the destruction of its tunnels and logistics in Gaza.
- The creation of an provisional government through a “Palestinian, apolitical, technocratic committee, with international oversight by the ‘Board of Peace,’ headed by Trump and figures such as Tony Blair ,” charged with financing reconstruction until the Palestinian Authority can assume control.
- The establishment of an International Stabilization Force, which will be deployed immediately in Gaza to train local police and cooperate with Egypt and Israel on border control.
Witkoff and Kushner's most difficult task is to contain Netanyahu in the face of Hamas's resistance to surrender his weapons, allow the destruction of his military logistics and abandon Gaza for the West Bank, Qatar or Egypt.
While Kushner and Witkoff maintain that “so far” Hamas has acted in “good faith”, the Israeli prime minister distrusts the terrorist group and is preparing for a possible military offensive in Gaza, in the face of a systematic obstruction of negotiations.
The participation of Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey is key to maintaining the truce. These countries have represented Palestinian terrorists against Israel, and their political clout should help accelerate the delivery of the weapons Hamas is hiding in Gaza.
Vance, Witkoff and Kushner are betting on returning to Washington with all the hostages killed en route to Israel, and on starting the second stage of the agreement with a tentative date to access the arsenal that the terrorist organization has in Gaza.
