President Trump to lead White House meeting to end war in Gaza

President Trump will chair a meeting at the White House aimed at breaking the impasse on negotiations between Israel and Hamas and mapping out a postwar plan for Gaza, three officials said.

The meeting will focus on creating a “comprehensive plan” to rebuild war-torn Gaza, according to special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s lead negotiator for the peace talks between Israel and Hamas.

“I think many people are going to see how robust it is and how well meaning it is, and it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives here,” Witkoff told Fox News host Bret Baier. 

Witkoff shared with Baier that the Trump administration expects to see a resolution to the nearly two year conflict “one way or another, certaintly before the end of this year.” Trump himself shared that he expects the Gaza war will reach a “conclusive ending” in just the next couple of weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it explicitly clear that Hamas must completely give up power in Gaza with Israel maintaining “security control” within the region in order for the conflict to end. 

Baier asked Witkoff if he agreed with Netanyahu’s sentiment that Hamas should be “completely destroyed.” In response, Witkoff said it was not his call to make, and instead pivoted to how important it is for the return of the remaining hostages taken on October 7, 2023.

“There needs to be hostages sent home,” Witkoff said. “Every time we see a hostage released, we see jubilation on both sides, and Hamas understands that they can have nothing to do with the government going forward, those are terms of the Israelis, and they’re terms of President Trump as well.”

“We’ll have a negotiation if they want, as to what next day looks like in Gaza after this is all done and what the definition of Hamas is,” Witkoff said. ” We can talk about those things, but we adamantly want, and I’m following the President’s direction here, when I say this, all of those hostages home.”

He also noted that Hamas has signaled it is open to a settlement with the Israelis, and the Israelis is opened to continued discussions with Hamas. Nearly 2 years after the October 7th terrorist attacks and Israel’s subsequent response, there is nearly universal global pressure to end this war.

While there is a sense that this war is winding down, Israel is unlikely to take any peace deal that would go against their interests, just for the sake of ending the war. So while the end of the war is in sight, it is not necessarily imminent.