President Trump will meet Israeli officials at the White House on Wednesday to discuss postwar plans for the Gaza Strip, as negotiations with Hamas on securing a ceasefire have stalled and Israel pushes forward with an expanded military operation.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, said on Fox News Tuesday night that Trump will chair a “large meeting” to discuss a “comprehensive” plan for a day-after scenario in Gaza.
“We’ve got a large meeting in the White House tomorrow, chaired by the president, and it’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together on the next day that I think many people are going to be, they’re going to see how robust it is and how well-meaning it is,” Witkoff said
“And it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives here.”
A White House official confirmed the meeting on Wednesday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is also scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department on Wednesday afternoon.
The meeting comes as Qatar and Egypt are criticizing Israel for not responding to a ceasefire proposal that Hamas accepted, which hews closely to a previous U.S. proposal.
Netanyahu said that it is looking for a deal in which Hamas would hand over about 20 living and 30 deceased hostages it kidnapped from Israel during its Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack, for Hamas to demilitarize and abdicate power in Gaza.
Witkoff on Tuesday night said Trump backs Netanyahu’s conditions that hostages must be released in one transfer, as opposed to being spread out over a period of weeks.
“That’s President Trump’s official position,” Witkoff said on Fox News.
“I think that he has said to himself, you don’t need to keep those hostages. We’ll have a negotiation if they want as to what next day looks like in Gaza after this is all done, and what the definition of Hamas is. We can talk about those things.”
