Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is scheduled to travel to Europe this week for meetings on a wide range of issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, and will continue pushing for a ceasefire and peace deal, according to a U.S. official.
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In a briefing with reporters Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce suggested Witkoff could soon go to the Middle East, but declined to provide details about his itinerary.
“When it comes to the specific location of the envoy, I do not have that,” Bruce said.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are ongoing, according to an Israeli official, and the Israeli government expects to soon receive Hamas’ response to an offer made last week.
So far, there have been no breakthroughs as they attempt to broker a 60-day ceasefire, initially proposed by the U.S., in the 21-month war. Doha, Qatar, hosted indirect talks between the two parties earlier this month.
Witkoff, according to two diplomatic sources, was expected to travel to the Middle East if negotiations progressed and a deal could potentially be closed. He met last week with Qatari officials at the White House just before President Trump hosted the Qatari prime minister for a dinner that stretched late into the night. It took place as diplomatic efforts were reaching a critical moment in the pursuit of a deal to release the 20 living Israeli hostages, free some Palestinian detainees, allow the entry of much needed food and aid to civilians in Gaza, and bring about a cessation of violence and repositioning of Israeli Defense Forces.
A U.S. official and a regional source familiar with the diplomacy told CBS News that Israel last week proposed a new map with new locations where the IDF would potentially withdraw within Gaza. The demarcation of these proposed withdrawal zones has been a sticking point in the ongoing diplomatic efforts to broker a deal acceptable to both Hamas and the Netanyahu government. The international mediators — Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. — planned to transit the Israeli proposal to Hamas for consideration.
The two sources indicated that the Trump administration is cautiously optimistic about the possibility of an impending break in the Gaza negotiations that could lead to a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington in early July to discuss the deal with the Trump administration but a sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce. Israel wants to keep forces in what it says is an important land corridor in southern Gaza, but Hamas views the presence of Israeli troops on that strip of land as an indication that Israel intends to continue the war once a temporary ceasefire expires.
The Knesset goes into a three-month summer recess next week, on July 27, which would give Netanyahu more political flexibility in ceasefire negotiations.
In the meantime, Israel has continued to carry out military operations in Gaza, and on Sunday, it issued new evacuation orders to include an area that has been somewhat less hard hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians further south.
In a social media post published Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces warned Palestinians that it was operating “with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure” in the central city of Deir al-Balah, “as it expands its activities in this region to operate in an area it has not operated in before.”
Officials from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza also said more than 80 people were killed trying to access emergency food supplies on Sunday.
