Behind the scenes: White House envoy Steve Witkoff is hosting the meeting. Mossad spy chief David Barnea will represent Israel and a senior Qatari official will also join, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Flashback: On Sep. 9, Israeli jets conducted an unprecedented strike against Hamas leaders in Doha. Hamas' top leaders survived, but a Qatari security guard was killed.
On Tuesday, Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel and fired at Israeli troops, killing one, according to the IDF. The Israelis declared that a violation of the ceasefire and launched massive airstrikes that killed more than 100 Palestinians, among them women and children, before resuming the ceasefire. Hamas claimed it didn't order that attack and had lost contact with militants who were left behind in the IDF-controlled areas.
Sadly, but with a certain sense of inevitability, every day since then has shown the precarious nature of that ceasefire. The past weekend brought the biggest test to this brittle absence of war, rather than any real sense of peace. Allegation and counter-allegation of ceasefire breaches were swiftly exchanged as a deeply war-weary people in Gaza suffered profoundly yet again.
I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,
But Trump has also grown tired of Netanyahu's unwillingness to stop a war that Trump himself wants credit for bringing to a close. Last week, in Washington, Trump pressured Netanyahu into accepting a deal that would trade the approximately twenty remaining Israeli hostages for some two thousand Palestinians currently held in Israeli jails, and call for Hamas fighters to disarm in exchange for amnesty.