White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to the Middle East on Sunday night to follow up on the implementation of the deal to end the war in Gaza, a US official and a source with knowledge of the trip told Axios on Friday.
While the first phase of the agreement has seen partial success with 20 living Israeli hostages having been released, tensions have escalated over Hamas’s delaying of the return of the bodies of hostages.
Hamas returned only nine out of 28 bodies and claims it must conduct search efforts to locate the remaining victims. Israeli officials say Hamas is lying and deliberately creating a crisis.
US President Donald Trump spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss the issue. According to a senior Israeli official quoted by Axios, Trump called Netanyahu during a meeting with top security advisers. Netanyahu urged the US and other mediators to pressure Hamas to return the remaining bodies. Trump reportedly acknowledged the problem and said he is working on it.
The White House declined to comment.
"We think Hamas is holding between seven to ten bodies that it can return at any minute. They choose not to do it and are creating a crisis," the Israeli official said.
While Trump’s advisers assured Netanyahu and the families of the deceased hostages that the US is committed to retrieving all the bodies, the White House emphasized that this effort should not delay the next steps in the agreement.
Witkoff is expected to visit Egypt and Israel, and may also enter Gaza, according to Axios. In addition to pressing Hamas to return more bodies, he is expected to continue work on establishing an international stabilization force (ISF), which under the Trump plan would deploy in parts of Gaza and facilitate further IDF withdrawal.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)