US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff (L) and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (R).
Senior U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to discuss preparations for the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, as Israeli media reported friction over reopening the Rafah crossing and a possible Turkish role in Gaza’s future.
In a post on X, Witkoff described the talks as “constructive and positive,” saying the meeting focused on “implementation planning” for Phase two of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan.
He said the delegation included Kushner, senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
Israeli news site Ynet, citing an unnamed Israeli official, reported that Witkoff pressed Israel to reopen Rafah and raised the possibility of Türkiye playing a role in postwar Gaza.
The official was quoted as saying the move would bring “our big rival Turkey to the border” and warned the “clock is ticking” toward a confrontation.
The same source accused Witkoff of acting as a “lobbyist for Qatari interests,” Ynet reported.
The White House has said Phase two is built around a transitional framework led by a technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, alongside a Trump-chaired “Board of Peace” and an International Stabilization Force (ISF) tasked with security, aid delivery and “comprehensive demilitarization.”
Netanyahu has publicly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza’s postwar security architecture, as relations between Israel and Türkiye have sharply deteriorated since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has argued that any international mechanism in Gaza would struggle to gain legitimacy with Palestinians without Türkiye’s involvement.
