Washington Seeks to Launch Gaza Reconstruction Process
Witkoff Visits Egypt and Israel Sunday to Advance Efforts to Implement Gaza Agreement
Washington's envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to the Middle East on Sunday to advance efforts to implement the agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, according to a senior US official and a source familiar with the visit's details. Witkoff's trip is expected to include Egypt and Israel, with possible field presence inside the Gaza Strip, according to the source.
In addition to seeking to push Hamas to return more hostage bodies, Witkoff will continue working to establish an "international stabilization force," which is expected to be deployed in areas of Gaza under the Trump plan, enabling the Israeli military to carry out further withdrawals.
The United States is seeking to launch a reconstruction process in parts of Gaza not under Hamas control, with a particular focus on the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, which Washington hopes will become a model for the post-Hamas Gaza Strip. This visit comes at a time when the agreement remains fragile, amid rising tensions due to Israeli accusations that Hamas is slow to hand over the remains of the hostages, further complicating ongoing mediation efforts.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Hamas must adhere to Trump's 20-point plan, warning that "time is running out." The statement continued, "Hamas knows where the bodies of the hostages are," referring to the movement's failure to hand over all of the bodies and its announcement that it needs special equipment to recover the remaining bodies.
Israel confirmed that Hamas knows the burial sites of several hostages, but "is not making sufficient efforts to retrieve and hand them over," according to an Israeli source quoted by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Kan). Meanwhile, Hamas urged mediators to press for the implementation of the next steps in the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including reopening the borders, allowing the entry of aid, beginning reconstruction, establishing an administration, and completing the Israeli withdrawal.
In a statement, the movement stressed "the need to immediately begin completing the formation of a community support committee to begin its work in governing the Gaza Strip." Hamas released 20 live hostages in exchange for the release of approximately 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, but it only handed over the bodies of nine of the 28 hostages who died in captivity.
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