American business person Steve Witkoff makes remarks next to US President-elect Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, January 7, 2025. Picture: Reuters, Carlos Barria
By Maayan Lubell and Nidal Al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO - US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid a push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu’s office said.
After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation which included the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar in order to "advance" talks to return hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.
The mediators are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on January 20. A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Families of Israeli hostages welcomed Netanyahu's decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as a "historic opportunity."
Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurances from Witkoff that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, Egyptian security sources said, though he did not give any details.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.
On Saturday, the Palestinian civil emergency service said eight people were killed, including two women and two children, in an Israeli airstrike on a former school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the strike had targeted Hamas militants who were operating at the school and that it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.
Later on Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said five people were killed and several others were wounded in two Israeli strikes. One of the two strikes killed three people in a house near the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant "in that area" at that approximate time.
- REUTERS