U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met in Jerusalem on Thursday with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri to discuss the implementation of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal.
Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, after landing in Tel Aviv via a direct private flight from Saudi Arabia.
Witkoff traveled to Riyadh on Tuesday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Axios, which cited a U.S. official. The men are said to have discussed advancing an agreement to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Witkoff also met with Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas.
Following his arrival in Israel, the U.S. envoy first traveled to the Netzarim Corridor, which divides northern from southern Gaza, to review the implementation of the truce and inspect Palestinian vehicles driving northward.
On Sunday, Witkoff described the agreement he helped broker between Israel and Hamas as “the most worthy thing I could ever do in my life.”
Speaking alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the official opening of the Altneu Synagogue in New York, Witkoff said he would be visiting Israel to ensure that the deal was implemented “in a correct way.”
“Hopefully we’ll get to phase two as well, and we’ll get everybody out who is alive, back to their families, and bodies, because there are many families who are waiting for the bodies of their children. They can’t bury them,” he added. “So we’ve got to get those bodies out too, and that’s just as important.”
