U.S. envoys Kushner, Witkoff in Israel for talks on Gaza: U.S. official

Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff were due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official said and were working to “determine what are the right next steps, so that we can keep the ceasefire and turn it into a long and enduring peace in Gaza”.

Israeli media reports said that U.S. CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper was also visiting Israel on Saturday (January 24).

“Yes, I can confirm a meeting is taking place today,” Shosh Bedrosian, spokeswoman for Mr. Netanyahu’s office, told AFP when asked whether Mr. Witkoff and Kushner would meet the Israeli leader in Jerusalem.

Israeli media reported that the talks would also focus on the return of the remains of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza.

Of the 251 people seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, only the body of Ran Gvili remains in the Palestinian territory.

“We ask that the Prime Minister of Israel make clear to the respected American envoys that anyone who truly seeks to advance the rehabilitation of Gaza and peace in the Middle East must first and foremost bring Rani home,” the family of Gvili said in a statement on Saturday (January 24).

Earlier this week, U.S. officials, including Mr. Trump himself, presented their vision for a “New Gaza” during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“I’m a real estate person at heart… and I said, look at this location on the sea. Look at this beautiful piece of property. What it could be for so many people,” Mr. Trump said.

His son-in-law Mr. Kushner said, “In the Middle East, they build cities like this, you know, for two or three million people, they build this in three years”.

He called for investments of at least $25 billion to rebuild Gaza’s destroyed infrastructure and public services.

A U.N. and World Bank-backed estimate from February 2025, when the war still had six months to run, put the cost of reconstruction at $53 billion, while the U.N. Trade and Development agency in November said it could cost $70 billion and take decades.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October 10 and entered its second phase earlier this month.

However, both Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the agreement.

On Saturday (January 24), Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas authority, said Israeli forces killed two teenagers in a drone strike.

The Israeli military said its forces had killed two “terrorists” who were planting an explosive device near troops.