US Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday that talks on Phase 2 of the hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas are slated to begin this week.
“Phase 2 is absolutely going to begin,” Witkoff said.
In response to the interview, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement announcing that the security cabinet will convene Monday to discuss the deal.
“In coordination with US Presidential Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the negotiations team to leave for Cairo tomorrow in order to discuss the continued implementation of the first stage of the deal,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“Following tomorrow’s Security Cabinet discussion, the team will receive instructions for the continuation of the negotiations regarding the second stage.”
Witkoff characterized his conversations on Sunday with Netanyahu, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt’s director of intelligence, Major General Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, about the sequencing of the next phase of the deal, as “productive and constructive.” The envoy was clear, however, that talks on the next phase of the agreement will be difficult.
“Phase 2 includes 19 IDF soldiers – we believe all of them are alive – and some others too, as well,” Witkoff told Fox News. “It includes Idan Alexander, who of course we’ve been pressing for because he is an American and Israeli citizen as well.
It also includes getting back the bodies of [deceased hostages] to their families … so that they can be able to mourn for them, today and in the future,” he said.
“It just is a little bit more intricate and complicated in terms of how we bring the two sides together on this,” Witkoff added. “Phase 2 contemplates an end of the war, but it also contemplates Hamas not being involved in the government and being gone from Gaza. So we’ve got to square those two things.”
Witkoff said the talks will be held “at a location to be determined.”
The envoy also confirmed during the interview that he was traveling Sunday night to Saudi Arabia together with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz for talks on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“We’ll be having meetings at the direction of the president and hopefully we’ll make some really good progress,” he said.
