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US diplomatic envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel Saturday in an effort to push forward the tenuous Gaza peace deal.
Witkoff and Kushner were joined by senior US official Josh Greenbaum during their trip to the Jewish state, where they discussed returning the final slain hostage, Ran Gvili — whose body remains in Gaza — the continued demilitarization of Hamas and “what needs to be done to ensure that the ceasefire turns into a long-term peace in Gaza.”
“The administration is working closely with Netanyahu and his team to recover the body of Ran Gvili, and we are in close coordination on this matter,” US officials said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The meeting also reportedly touched on the heighten tensions with Iran, the outlet reported.
As part of the framework toward peace, the head of the transitional Palestinian committee which is backed by the US announced that the Rafah border crossing, the sole route in or out of Gaza for the 2 million Palestinians that live there, will reopen next week, The Times of Israel reported,
Its reopening marks a step toward normalization in the decimated Strip.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Trump administration further detailed their plan Thursday to rebuild “New Gaza” from the decimation launched by the Israeli Defense Forces following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack.
The reconstruction calls for developers to turn Gaza into a futuristic “Riviera of the Middle East” with high-rise buildings and luxury amenities, which Kushner boasted could be built in as little as three years.
However, the US group has maintained that no reconstruction will be able to take place until Hamas is fully disarmed.
“Without security, nobody is going to make investments,” Kushner said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.
“We want to use free market economy principles — a lot of what President Trump spoke about that he’s doing in America,” Kushner said during his speech in front of world leaders.
“We want to bring this same mindset, the same approach to a place like Gaza to give these people the ability to thrive and have a good life.”
The meeting in Israel comes just two days after Trump established the “Board of Peace,” which is designed to push forward the peace plan — inked on October — between Hamas and Israel which effectively ending the war in Gaza.
Witkoff, Kushner, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair are founding members of the initiative’s executive board.
So far 35 world leaders have committed to joining the Board of Peace, including representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt and NATO members Turkey and Hungary.
English (US)