Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff believes the long-awaited cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas is a step closer to normalization in the Middle East, and the administration has an opportunity to encourage “everyone” in the region on the idea.
“I think this is a tipping point,” Witkoff told “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday.
“I think you could attract everybody in that region. I think there’s a new sense of leadership there. Qatar has been a huge help in this. Sheikh Mohammed, a lot of his communication skills with Hamas have been necessary here, so I think the UAE is Egypt for us. has already been very helpful in these efforts.”
“I think we have a chance to win over everyone for a better future for the region – more opportunities, more hope,” he added.
NEGOTIATORS IN DOHA OFFICIALLY SIGNED THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS ON CESSATION OF FIRE
Prime Minister Netanyahu met with the special envoy of the newly elected US President Donald Trump for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. (Photo by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)
Witkoff, a former real estate tycoon, is credited with being President Trump’s go-to man during attempts to broker a complex deal that has so far led to the return of three female hostages.
Additional phases of the contract should have multiple releases, although President Donald Trump I doubt the ceasefire will hold as planned.
“I’m not convinced. It’s not our war, it’s their war,” Trump said from the Oval Office when asked by reporters if the truce would hold and last through the three planned phases. “I looked at the picture of Gaza – Gaza is like a massive place of destruction. That place, really, has to be rebuilt in a different way.”
‘LIES TO THE NATION’: TRUMP ORBIT BLAMES BIDEN FOR TAKING CREDIT FOR THE CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, January 20, 2025. Trump said he was “not convinced” the ceasefire deal would hold as he had hoped. (JIM WATSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Witkoff said he disagreed with Trump and that the “implementation” of the deal was likely to be more of a challenge than its “execution.”
“That was a big step… We had to do it, and we succeeded, thank God, and now we have implementation [it]” he added, saying he would travel to Israel to work on implementing a ceasefire that would hopefully lead to further hostage releases.
“Actually I will be going to Israel. I will be part of the inspection team in the Netzarim Corridor and also in the Philadelphi Corridor. You have outside monitors there making sure that people are safe and that the people coming in are not armed and that nobody has bad motives, but we have to make sure that the enforcement is going well.
“If it goes well, we’re going to go into phase two, and we’re going to get a lot more bodies out, and I think that’s the president’s directive to me and everybody else who’s working in the U.S. government on this [is]and that’s what we’re going to do.”
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