Netanyahu meets Witkoff, Kushner as US pushes to salvage fragile Gaza ceasefire after fresh clashes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday met top US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, as renewed violence over the weekend threatened to derail a fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu met earlier today with special envoy Steve Witkoff and (US) President (Donald) Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner on the developments and updates in the region,” AFP quoted Shosh Bedrosian, spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office, as saying in a statement to journalists

She added that US Vice President JD Vance and his wife are expected to arrive in Israel for a multi-day visit and will also meet with the prime minister.

More from World

As Xi tightens grip, China holds ‘fourth plenum’ meeting to rubber-stamp his agenda Elon Musk mocks AWS outage, says X chat remains secure and unaffected

Israel and Hamas have reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire plan backed by US President Donald Trump, following Sunday’s escalation in which a Palestinian attack killed two Israeli soldiers, prompting retaliatory airstrikes that left at least 28 people dead in Gaza.

However, with repeated outbreaks of violence — including renewed clashes on Monday — even the early stages of the truce appear fragile, raising doubts over Washington’s ability to sustain pressure on both sides and maintain momentum toward ending the conflict.

Witkoff and Kushner were expected to focus on reinforcing the fragile truce and initiating discussions on the next, more challenging phase of the 20-step peace plan during their visit to the region.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

As Xi tightens grip, China holds ‘fourth plenum’ meeting to rubber-stamp his agenda

Elon Musk mocks AWS outage, says X chat remains secure and unaffected

Their presence highlights the intensity of high-level US diplomacy, with further talks scheduled later Monday between American officials and Hamas representatives in Egypt. The push reflects the importance President Trump places on securing the ceasefire, having declared last week “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

Meanwhile, tensions on the ground persisted.

Palestinian medics reported that three more people were killed on Monday by Israeli tank fire near the so-called “yellow line,” which marks the Israeli military’s pullback from Gaza’s main population centers.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted militants who had crossed that line.

Residents in Gaza City expressed confusion over the boundary’s location, noting that while electronic maps have been circulated, clear physical markers have yet to be established along much of the route.

“The whole area is in ruins. We saw the maps, but we can’t tell where those lines are,” Reuters quoted Samir, 50, who lives in Tuffah, as saying.

Israel’s defence minister on Monday published video showing bulldozers towing yellow blocks into place to mark out the line.

Witkoff and Kushner’s visit to Israel, aimed at discussions on the next phase of Trump’s complex ceasefire plan, was scheduled before Sunday’s flare-up in violence, according to US and Israeli sources.

Trump said the ceasefire he brokered was still in place. Hamas leadership, he said, may not be involved in the violations. “We think maybe the leadership isn’t involved in that,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Israel is unlikely to publicise any progress in the talks until the remains of more hostages are returned, and it believes Hamas could hand over up to six more bodies immediately out of the 16 still in Gaza. Other bodies may be hard to recover because of destruction in the enclave.

Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing on Monday said it would return  the body of a hostage recovered the day before as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said it “will hand over the body of an Israeli prisoner, which was exhumed yesterday in the Gaza Strip, at 8 pm Gaza time (1700 GMT)”.

If the handover takes place, it will be the 13th deceased hostage returned by Hamas since the ceasefire took effect on October 10.

With inputs from agencies