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WASHINGTON — US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is leading a delegation into Cairo to begin talks with Israeli and Hamas negotiators to wind down the nearly two-year war in Gaza, starting with “the immediate release of all hostages,” according to multiple reports.
“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Egypt later today to finalize the technical details of the hostage release and discuss the lasting peace deal,” a White House official told Axios on Saturday.
The summit will kick off the first phase of President Trump’s 21-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip, which has received qualified endorsements from both sides in the conflict after he gave the terror group until Sunday at 6 p.m. to agree to it — or watch “all HELL” break loose.
The 48 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be still alive, could be released “within a few days,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 12 news on Saturday, as the Jewish state’s military withdraws from Gaza and officials release Palestinian prisoners amid a cease-fire.
Witkoff, the envoy to the Middle East, has already led negotiations that have resulted in the release of the all the living US hostages. Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, was the top Middle East envoy during President Trump’s first term.
Kushner and his team brokered the 2020 Abraham Accords normalizing relations between Israel and key Arab nations in the region, considered one of Trump’s signal foreign-policy achievements in that administration.
“In light of the Hamas response [to the Trump peace plan], Israel is making preparations for the immediate implementation of the first phase of the Trump plan which is the immediate release of all of the hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said in a statement.
“We will continue to fully cooperate with the president and his team in order to end the war in accordance with the principles that Israel laid out and which are in line with President Trump’s vision.”
Trump said in a statement on Truth Social Friday that he believed Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE.”
“This is a big day. We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down and concrete,” he added in a separate video address. “Very importantly, I look forward to having the hostages come home to their parents.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close ally of the president, expressed skepticism that the terror group would abide by the peace plan’s terms.
“No disarmament, keeping Gaza under Palestinian control, and tying hostage release to negotiations, along with other problems,” Graham posted on X.
“This is, in essence, a rejection by Hamas of President Trump’s ‘take it or leave it’ proposal.”
Mousa Abu Marzouk, head of Hamas’ foreign-relations office in Qatar, told Al Jazeera on Friday, that Trump’s demands for the terror group to free all Israeli hostages within 72 hours of accepting the plan is “theoretical and unrealistic under current circumstances.”
Two Americans are among the dead hostages whose bodies are being held: Itay Chen, 19, and Omer Neutra, 21.
“We’re hopeful that this is the beginning of the end, that Hamas gave a serious answer, that the threats of President Trump have echoed and they understand they have to give the hostages back and they’re not going to start fooling around with ‘We can’t do this, we can’t do that’ later on,” Omer’s father Ronen Neutra said on Friday.
“But in general that’s the direction we hoped things would go, and we’re just going to sit and wait and hope for them to lay out the agreement together with Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.”
“And hopefully we can see our son back with the other 47 hostages,” he added.
Hamas said it would release the hostages once “field conditions are met,” meaning once Israel halted its military from moving deeper into Gaza City, but didn’t commit to disarmament or relinquishing power in Gaza to an international peacekeeping board led by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The peace framework also calls for an Arab-led stabilization force as the Israel Defense Forces withdraw from the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu’s office has instructed Israeli troops to reduce activity in Gaza City “to a minimum” and to limit ground operations to strictly defensive actions, according to Army Radio.
Although Abu Marzouk said Hamas had accepted the framework put forward by Egypt, he insisted that further negotiations were still needed.
“All details related to the peacekeeping force need understandings and clarification,” the Hamas rep said, adding that the terror group agreed in principle to hand Gaza’s administration to independents backed by Palestinian consensus.
“The priority is to stop the war and massacres,” Abu Marzouk added, while cautioning the terror group would not accept threats or dictates.
Reps for Witkoff, the White House and Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
