Trump envoy calls Gaza rebuilding timeline in Israel-Hamas truce 'preposterous'

AP , Tuesday 4 Feb 2025

President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy said Tuesday that a three to five-year timeline for reconstruction of Gaza, as set out in a temporary truce agreement, is not a viable post-war plan for the battle-torn territory.

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (L) and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (R) speak to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, DC. AFP

 

The renewed call by the Trump administration on Arab nations to relocate displaced Palestinians comes as Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House later Tuesday.

“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters. “That’s just preposterous.”

Egypt and Jordan, as well as other Arab nations, have flatly rejected calls by Trump to relocate the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians during the post-war rebuilding of the territory.

But senior administration officials continue to press the case for relocation of Palestinians.

“At some point we have to look realistically. How do you rebuild Gaza," said White House national security adviser Mike Waltz.

"What does that look like? What’s the timeline? These people are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordnance in piles of rubble.″

The White House's focus on reconstruction comes as the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.

The Israeli prime minister is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining captives home and for the 15-month war to end.

Trump, meanwhile, remains guarded about the long-term prospects for the truce, even as he takes credit for pressuring Hamas and Israel into the captive and ceasefire agreement that went into effect the day before he returned to office last month.

“I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold," Trump told reporters Monday.

The leaders' talks are expected to touch on a long-sought Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization deal and concerns about Iran's nuclear program. However, hammering out the second phase of the captive deal will be at the top of the agenda.

Since returning to office, Trump has proposed "cleaning out" the Palestinians from the war-devastated Gaza to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II have rejected it.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League have joined Egypt and Jordan in rejecting plans to displace Palestinians from their homeland in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and stressed their commitment to rebuilding the strip and pushing for an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 borders.

Netanyahu goes to Washington!
 

Netanyahu and Witkoff began the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement on Monday.

 

He said in a statement that the meeting with Witkoff and Waltz was “positive and friendly.”

The Israeli prime minister, wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Israel's genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, said he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue indirect talks with Hamas that are being mediated by the Gulf Arab country, the first confirmation that those negotiations would continue.

Netanyahu also said he would convene his security Cabinet to discuss Israel’s demands for the next ceasefire phase when he returns to Israel at the end of the week.

The Israeli PM is under intense pressure from hard-right members of his governing coalition to abandon the ceasefire and resume fighting in Gaza to "eliminate Hamas."

Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu’s key partners, vows to topple the government if the war isn’t relaunched, a step that could lead to early elections.

Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release captives in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among the captives, called on Trump to use American leverage to keep Netanyahu committed to the agreement.

Matan, 24, is among those who are expected to be included in the second phase of the deal, when all remaining living captives, including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers, are to be exchanged for a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian prisoners.

The second phase is also expected to include the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

“I want President Trump to know there are certain extreme elements from within Israel who are trying to torpedo his vision,” said Zangauker, who travelled to Washington from Israel to join a planned Tuesday rally outside the White House.

“We are representative of the vast, vast majority of Israel. The ultra-extremists are blackmailing the prime minister to do their bidding.”

 

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