Witkoff heads to Israel in effort to advance hostage deal, survey Gaza aid, source tells 'Post'
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday as part of an effort to advance negotiations for a hostage deal and to assess the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post.
Witkoff's visit comes as Israeli officials warn that if there is no progress in the coming days on a deal to release the hostages, Israel may be forced to take further action on the ground.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a closed-door meeting with a small group of ministers to discuss potential next steps. Among the options raised were annexing parts of the security perimeter in Gaza, dividing and conducting a siege in the Gaza Strip, and expanding military operations into areas where hostages are believed to be held.
Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on Wednesday that "Israel is making extraordinary efforts to secure the release of the hostages, while applying heavy pressure on Hamas in Gaza. If Hamas does not soon announce the release of the hostages, it will pay a very heavy price."
According to two sources who spoke with the Post, Hamas has informed mediators that it will not enter negotiations with Israel until the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves.
Meanwhile, Israel has issued a formal response to a position paper sent by the terrorist organization several days ago. Israeli officials made it clear they reject Hamas's demand to release live terrorists in exchange for the bodies of hostages.
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Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Plan to take over Gaza City receives approval from Israeli security cabinet
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced early Friday his security cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, further ramping up Israel's devastating offensive on the besieged territory which has already killed over 60,000 Palestinians and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City in another escalation of its 22-month war with Hamas. The decision, taken after a late-night meeting of top officials, came despite mounting international calls to end the war and protests by many in Israel who fear for the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier outlined more sweeping plans in an interview with Fox News, saying Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza. Israel already controls around three quarters of the devastated territory. The final decision, which came after Israel's Security Cabinet met through the night, stopped short of that, and may be aimed in part at pressuring Hamas to accept a ceasefire on Israel's terms. It may also reflect the reservations of Israel's top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel's army after nearly two years of regional wars. The military 'will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,' Netanyahu's office said in a statement after the meeting. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighborhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today it is one of the few areas of Gaza that hasn't been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory. It's unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gaza's largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Palestinians were already anticipating even more suffering ahead of the decision, and at least 42 were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings on Thursday, according to local hospitals. 'There is nothing left to occupy," said Maysaa al-Heila, who is living in a displacement camp. 'There is no Gaza left." Read moreHumanitarian situation in Gaza still very severe, EU official says Asked in the interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would 'take control of all of Gaza,' Netanyahu replied: 'We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas (from) there.' "We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,' Netanyahu said in the interview. 'We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.' Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports on the closed-door Security Cabinet meeting. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive. Almost two dozen relatives of hostages set sail from southern Israel toward the maritime border with Gaza on Thursday, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers. Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, said from the boat that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to satisfy extremists in his governing coalition. Netanyahu's far-right allies want to escalate the war, relocate most of Gaza's population to other countries and reestablish Jewish settlements that were dismantled in 2005. 'Netanyahu is working only for himself,' Cohen said. Israel's military offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Read moreUN calls report on Israeli expansion of Gaza war 'deeply alarming' The United Nations and independent experts view the ministry's figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them without offering a toll of its own. Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The military zone, known as the Morag Corridor, is off limits to independent media. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks while heading to GHF sites and in chaotic scenes around UN convoys, most of which are overwhelmed by looters and crowds of hungry people. The UN human rights office, witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have regularly opened fire toward the crowds going back to May, when Israel lifted a complete 2 1/2 month blockade. The military says it has only fired warning shots when crowds approach its forces. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired into the air on some occasions to prevent deadly stampedes. Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity known by its French acronym MSF, published a blistering report denouncing the GHF distribution system. 'This is not aid. It is orchestrated killing, " it said. MSF runs two health centers very close to GHF sites in southern Gaza and said it had treated 1,380 people injured near the sites between June 7 and July 20, including 28 people who were dead upon arrival. Of those, at least 147 had suffered gunshot wounds — including at least 41 children. MSF said hundreds more suffered physical assault injuries from chaotic scrambles for food at the sites, and multiple patients with severely aggravated eyes after being sprayed at close range with pepper spray. It said the cases it saw were only a fraction of the overall casualties connected to GHF sites. 'The level of mismanagement, chaos and violence at GHF distribution sites amounts to either reckless negligence or a deliberately designed death trap,' the report said. GHF said the 'accusations are both false and disgraceful' and accused MSF of 'amplifying a disinformation campaign" orchestrated by Hamas. The US and Israel helped set up the GHF system as an alternative to the UN-run aid delivery system that has sustained Gaza for decades, accusing Hamas of siphoning off assistance. The UN denies any mass diversion by Hamas. It accuses GHF of forcing Palestinians to risk their lives to get food and say it advances Israel's plans for further mass displacement. (FRANCE 24 with AP)
Fox News
14 minutes ago
- Fox News
BREAKING: Israel Security Cabinet approves plan to occupy Gaza City
Israel Security Cabinet approves plan to occupy Gaza City DEK: Israel's Security Cabinet early Friday approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, marking an escalation in Israel's ongoing war against Hamas.
CNBC
35 minutes ago
- CNBC
Satellite images show Israel building up forces for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, sources say
Commercial satellite images show the Israeli military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery. The images show troop movements and formations that the four sources recognized as signs of an imminent major ground operation. It is not clear whether the Israelis really intend to begin a new offensive in Gaza or whether the move is a negotiating or pressure tactic. If there is a new military operation, it could include efforts to retrieve hostages held by Hamas and expand humanitarian assistance in areas outside the fighting, the three U.S. officials and a person briefed on Israeli discussions said. Israeli troops have been conducting ground operations in Gaza since Oct. 27, 2023, with pauses during two ceasefires. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday on Fox News that Israel intended to take control of all of Gaza. "We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel. That's what we want to do." Pressed again on that point, specifically on whether he meant Israel would "take control of the entire 26-mile Gaza Strip," Netanyahu said: "Well, we don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it." The troop buildup comes during a tense time in relations between the United States and Israel. On July 28, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump had a private phone conversation that devolved into shouting amid White House concerns over how the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, a U.S.- and Israel-backed relief effort, is working, according to a senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and a Western official who were briefed on the matter. The recent flare-up of tensions between Trump and Netanyahu began July 27. Appearing at an event in Jerusalem that day, Netanyahu said: "There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza." When Trump was asked about those comments the next day during a trip to Scotland, he contradicted Netanyahu. He said that he had seen images of children in Gaza who "look very hungry," that there is "real starvation" there and that "you can't fake that." Netanyahu then privately demanded a phone call with Trump, the senior U.S. official and the former U.S. official briefed on the call said. The two leaders were connected within hours, those two officials said. Netanyahu told Trump on the phone that widespread starvation in Gaza is not real and that it had been fabricated by Hamas, said the senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and the Western official, all of whom were briefed on the call. Trump interrupted Netanyahu and began yelling, they said, saying that he did not want to hear that the starvation is fake and that his aides had shown him proof that children there are starving, they said. White House officials declined to comment on the phone call. Israeli officials declined to comment. One of the former U.S. officials briefed on the call described it as "a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid" in which Trump "was doing most of the talking." "The U.S. not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it because of GHF," the former official said, referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. The phone call prompted a trip to the region last week by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, to find a unified path forward in the war. Israeli officials were pleased with Witkoff's visit, according to the Western official and the source briefed on Israeli discussions. The Israelis viewed everything from his body language to the questions he asked as indicators that they were able to effectively communicate the challenges Israel faces. The Israeli officials also addressed international criticism of GHF with Witkoff, explaining why, in their opinion, some critics want it to fail, the source briefed on Israeli discussions said. GHF has been working in Gaza since May. It operates only in specific designated distribution sites that are far away from some Palestinians who need food, leading to large crowds that Israeli troops — who are stationed nearby — have at times fired upon. As of late July, more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed while seeking food, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. GHF has been boycotted by the U.N., which has operated its own aid distribution network in Gaza. Witkoff pressed officials about whether current relief efforts can meet ongoing need or should expand further, according to the source briefed on Israeli discussions. Witkoff has since returned. He briefed Trump on his visit over dinner Monday night, according to a White House official. Their discussion included humanitarian aid in Gaza and Witkoff's meeting with Israeli officials and hostage families. Asked by reporters Tuesday whether he would support Israel's occupying Gaza, Trump said he is focused on getting people there food. As for a military occupation, he said: "I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel." White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC News: "We do not comment on the President's private conversations. President Trump is focused on returning all the hostages and getting the people in Gaza fed." A new Gaza ceasefire has proven elusive. Israel does not believe Hamas is motivated to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages, the source briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official said, and it believes a military offensive is the likeliest option. The international community has recently been heaping pressure on Israel, with the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others saying they may move to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September. "It seems like we are at a brick wall, with countries saying they are recognizing Palestine," said the person briefed on Israeli discussions. "Now all ideas are being exhausted." The Western official said an offensive remains a very dangerous prospect for the Israeli military because Hamas is very dug in and there is "no chance they can kill every fighter." The Western official added that there is concern that Hamas will kill hostages or put them in the way of fighting if it is threatened. Israeli forces know the general area where all the hostages are, said the person briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official, one of whom added that the belief is that area is in central Gaza. "Looking at the condition of hostages, it's clear that they don't have much more time," one of the sources added in reference to a recent video of an emaciated Israeli hostage inside a cramped Gaza tunnel digging his own grave.
