The White House has sent Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to Israel to deal directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was reported on Oct. 18, prior to the Oct. 19 airstrikes on Gaza, by the Times of Israel that a U.S. official told them the White House may send Vance on Oct. 20 or 21, to push on the implementation of the next phase in the peace agreement. It is now reported that Vance and Witkoff are already on their way.
After differences between U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu on Israel’s narrative that the Hamas failure to return all 28 bodies of deceased hostages by Oct. 13, and a call between the two on Oct. 16, it was planned that Witkoff and Jared Kushner may need to go to Israel for in-person discussions. Then on Oct. 18, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported that Vance would upgrade the delegation there to discuss progress toward completing the initial phase of the ceasefire deal.
Israel’s Gershon Baskin, whose negotiations with Hamas were done in coordination with Witkoff, wrote on Oct. 19 (prior to the airstrikes) that Washington needed to push Netanyahu:
“Netanyahu is preventing the opening of the Rafah crossing. This is not only a substantive breach of the agreement, it prevents heavy machinery from entering Gaza to assist in the location of deceased Israeli hostages.
“According to media reports, Israel is preventing the entry of Turkish and Egyptian personnel who are coming to Gaza to assist in the location of the buried hostages.
