The Trump administration’s envoy to the Middle East made a rare visit to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to a White House official, aiming to reinforce a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that has allowed thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
The envoy, Steven Witkoff, who is the most senior U.S. official to visit Gaza in many years, also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday, the eve of another round of hostage releases.
An Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject said that while in Gaza, Mr. Witkoff had visited the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects the enclave, where American security contractors have been enlisted to help handle the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who have been streaming north this week, many on foot.
High-ranking U.S. officials have stayed away from Gaza for years, both because of security concerns and because of the official American no-contact policy with Hamas.
Another Israeli official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Witkoff arrived in Israel to meet with Mr. Netanyahu and several of his top aides on Wednesday. Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, was also at the meeting, according to a third Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the minister’s schedule.
Before the American envoy went to Israel, he had discussions on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia about a broader Middle East peace plan, one of the Israeli officials said. The White House official said Mr. Witkoff had met Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Two Palestinian officials who requested anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting said Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, was also at the meeting.
Mr. Witkoff’s visit to the region comes as the Trump administration seeks to broker a wider Middle East peace agreement that would include normalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a deal that President Trump sought during his first term. But that pact largely hinges on plans for Gaza’s future.
Mr. Witkoff said in a Fox News interview last week that he planned to visit both the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza and the Philadelphi Corridor, which is farther south and on the border with Egypt, during the trip. But the timing was unclear as travel schedules are usually closely held to ensure security.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem declined to comment on Wednesday.
In the early days of the 15-month war, the Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee south. For months, Israeli soldiers patrolled the Netzarim Corridor, in part to prevent Palestinians from heading back north.
But under the terms of a 42-day cease-fire agreement reached this month, Israeli troops withdrew on Monday from the two main roads along the Netzarim Corridor to allow Gazans to head north. By Tuesday, more than 376,000 people had reached northern Gaza, according to the latest data from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The American firm Safe Reach Solutions is expected to oversee the operational management of the corridor, according to a person familiar with the plan, while two other firms — one American and one Egyptian — will handle the inspections of those heading north.
The Philadelphi Corridor, as it is known in Israel, is a roughly eight-mile border strip between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli troops currently maintain control of the area, but they are expected to withdraw during the second phase of the cease-fire, the details of which are still being negotiated. Mr. Netanyahu has called the corridor a “lifeline” for Hamas’s smuggling operations.
Mr. Witkoff played an important role in brokering the initial cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, teaming with officials from the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt in the days before the Trump inauguration.
His visit comes a day before Israeli legislation targeting the operations of the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees goes into effect in East Jerusalem. The laws would require the agency, UNRWA, to cease its activities in East Jerusalem and bans any Israeli government contacts with the agency. UNRWA says the laws would hobble its operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, told ambassadors at the United Nations on Tuesday that curtailing the agency’s operations would “undermine the cease-fire.”
“It will sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition,” he said.
Dorothy Shea, the Trump administration’s interim representative to the U.N., on Tuesday dismissed the agency’s claims as exaggerated and said the United States supported “Israel’s sovereign decision” to close UNRWA’s offices on its soil.
Israel and UNRWA have long been at odds. Last year, Israel claimed that UNRWA employees participated in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. A U.N. investigation found that nine employees might have been involved in the attack, and the agency said they had been fired.
Mr. Witkoff’s visit also comes ahead of the third round of hostage and prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas that is expected on Thursday. An Israeli soldier, Agam Berger, and two Israeli civilians — Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses — are to be released on Thursday, along with five Thai citizens, said Omer Dostri, the prime minister’s spokesman.
David Mencer, a government spokesman, said three more hostages would be released on Saturday. Under the cease-fire deal, 33 Israeli hostages were to be released in the first phase in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Seven captives have already returned home, and eight of the remaining hostages are no longer alive, according to Israeli officials.
Mr. Netanyahu has been invited to meet with Mr. Trump on Feb. 4 at the White House.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with the foreign ministers of Egypt and Qatar to discuss continued cooperation in Gaza. That would include “post-conflict planning to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again,” according to a State Department readout of Mr. Rubio’s call with the Egyptian foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty. Though Hamas has been weakened, the militant group survived the war in Gaza and remains the most powerful Palestinian party in the territory.
Mr. Trump has also called on Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza, and “clean out” the territory, he told reporters this past weekend. That has been roundly rejected by both countries, and on Wednesday, Mr. al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, spoke with Mr. Abdelatty to reaffirm Egypt’s dismissal of Mr. Trump’s proposal.
“Ways to consolidate the cease-fire and provide humanitarian aid were discussed, and support for the Palestinian people to remain on their land and the absolute rejection of their displacement were emphasized,” Mr. al-Sheikh said on social media.
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