US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel last night and urged him to move to the second phase of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by the Associated Press, citing a statement from the Israeli prime minister's office.
Netanyahu met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law - Jared Kushner, the statement said.
A US official, who wished to remain anonymous, told the AP that the envoys had worked closely with Netanyahu to return to Israel the remains of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza Ran Gwilyi and on the upcoming steps for the demilitarization of the strip. The information was also confirmed by the local publications “Times of Israel“ and “Jerusalem Post“.
Last week, Witkoff announced the start of the second phase of Trump's plan to end the conflict in Gaza, which includes the disarmament of the Palestinian group “Hamas“ and a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza.
The head of the US-backed technocratic National Committee for the Management of Gaza (NCG), Ali Shaat, said on Thursday that the “Rafah“ border crossing between the Palestinian enclave and Egypt - in fact the only way in and out of the Gaza Strip for almost all of its inhabitants - about 2 million people - will be opened next week.
The committee will operate under the leadership of the Peace Council, chaired by Trump, as well as with the support of Bulgarian diplomat Nikolay Mladenov in his capacity as High Representative for Gaza, with a mandate to rebuild the institutions of the Gaza Strip and restore basic governance functions.
The High Representative for Gaza in the Peace Council, Nikolay Mladenov, discussed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelati the situation in the Gaza Strip and efforts to support the second phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan.
This was stated in a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry published on the government's website on Saturday.
The two diplomats also touched on the deployment of international security forces in the Gaza Strip under the terms of the agreement for a ceasefire, the opening of the Rafah crossing and the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Minister Abdelati noted that the implementation of the commitments of the second phase of the Trump peace plan is essential for launching a process of rapid recovery in Gaza and starting reconstruction through an approach based on the real needs of the population.
Mladenov and Abdelati agreed to continue their coordination and strengthen consultations regarding the development of the situation in Gaza in support of efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region, the Egyptian ministry said.
Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov, who took on the role of High Representative of the Peace Council for Gaza and a member of the Executive Council, is a diplomat with extensive experience in the Middle East. In 2013, he was appointed Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), and from 2015 until the end of 2020, he was the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.