Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, announced that Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire deal will begin. If this does come to fruition it would be quite interesting because Phase 2 entails Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza. As we read in Haaretz, Witcoff stated: “Phase 2 is a little more complicated than Phase 1… But Phase 2 is absolutely going to begin.”

Witkoff flew to Saudi Arabia, alongside Mike Waltz, to partake in the peace talks over the Russian-Ukrainian War. He is planned to then to go to Doha, then to Cairo and then to Jerusalem.

Phase 2 of the plan, if it done, will see the release of all Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops. Israeli journalist, Chaim Levinson, has stated that the release of all the hostages is Netanyahu’s “chagrin,” since if all the hostages are released, then Netanyahu cannot use them as a justification to continue the war and all the Israelis who have been marching against him can then demand that he end the war and face his corruption trial. From what we can see, Witkoff wants phase 2 to happen, since the Trump administration wants to proceed with the US’s plan to deepen security ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran. Levinson writes how “Steve Witkoff appears to be unmoved by Netanyahu’s charm, and made it clear that the hostages must return – much to the PM’s chagrin… Witkoff, according to people involved in the diplomatic negotiations, is the only person in the U.S. administration who is immune to Netanyahu’s charm. It doesn’t interest him. He is interested in business only.”

Witkoff’s certainty about commencing Phase 2 connects with what he recounted in a Fox News interview in which he said that he spoken with the prime minister of Qatar and the director of Egyptian intelligence and “we had very, very productive and constructive calls this morning about the sequencing of [Stage] 2, setting forth positions on both sides, so we can understand … where we are today, and then continuing talks this week at a location to be determined so that we can figure out how we get to the end of [Stage] 2 successfully.”

Witkoff also stated that “Phase 2 contemplates an end of the war, but it also contemplates Hamas not being involved in the government and being gone from Gaza. So we’ve got to square those two things.” Phase 2 would entail a full withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. So, if there are no Israeli soldiers left in Gaza, this is going to anger the hardliners within Netanyahu’s coalition and provoke them to abandon Netanyahu, which would mean the end of his coalition government.

And what about Trump’s talk about deporting all the Gazans? According to Witkoff this was said to spur the other Arab countries to come to the negotiating table and propose a plan for the rebuilding of Gaza:

“As usual … comes out, says something new and unique, he gets attacked for it … But it also encouraged a lot of conversation. So now we have the Egyptians saying we have a plan. The Jordanians are saying we have a plan. And people are actually engaging in really important, cogent discussion about what ought to happen there. …Look at the discourse that’s now happening today. We’re actually engaging in a productive conversation around what is best for Gaza and how do we make people’s lives better.”

According to Levinson, the plan to rebuild Gaza “is the same one that has been discussed for months, but with more detail – having the Saudis and Emiratis rebuild the Gaza Strip with Gulf State money, a peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, serious Egyptian efforts to stop arms smuggling into Gaza, an Arab-Muslim committee to run Gaza, and a Hamas announcement that for the sake of Palestinian unity, it is giving up control of Gaza. To Smotrich’s dismay, this is the only plan that has been or will be on the table.”

If Netanyahu’s hardliner allies abandon him, it will spell the end of his coalition. But, if the ceasefire plan will actually be put into effect, there will be peace, albeit temporarily. In such a moment, Trump can claim that he is a peacemaker (unlike Joe Biden) and that he actually is the best thing for the Palestinians.