Scoop: Secret White House meeting on Gaza raises hopes for ceasefire deal
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White House envoy Steve Witkoff. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty
Senior U.S., Israeli and Qatari officials held secret talks at the White House on Tuesday that focused on the key remaining sticking point for a long-sought ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, two sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.
The big picture: President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice in the last 48 hours as he presses both Israel and Hamas to finalize a deal. White House envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday that three of four areas of disagreement had been resolved in recent days.
- That sticking point, sources tell Axios, is the lines to which the Israel Defense Forces would withdraw during the 60-day truce.
- A tense debate on that issue in the previously undisclosed meeting on Tuesday helped produce clear progress on that front, the sources say.
Behind the scenes: Shortly before Trump and Netanyahu met on Tuesday evening, Witkoff met with a senior Qatari official and with Netanyahu's top adviser, Ron Dermer.
- Two sources with direct knowledge say the meeting focused on the redeployment of IDF forces as part of a ceasefire deal.
Friction point: Both sources said Witkoff and the Qatari official made it clear to Dermer that the map proposed by Israel — which involves a far narrower redeployment than the one the IDF carried out during the previous ceasefire — is a nonstarter.
- The Qatari official told Dermer Hamas would likely reject the proposal and the talks could even collapse over the issue — going so far as to ask that Israel and the U.S. not blame Qatar, which is mediating the talks, if that happens.
- Witkoff told Dermer that a redeployment map that looks like a "Smotrich plan" and includes an ongoing Israeli occupation of large parts of the Gaza Strip is a no-go for the Trump administration. He was referring to Israeli ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is pressing Netanyahu to demand that the IDF remain in large parts of Gaza.
The other side: Dermer argued that Netanyahu faces a lot of pressure within his coalition not to make major concessions, a source with direct knowledge said.
- He stressed that Netanyahu cannot make such decisions unilaterally and must obtain Cabinet approval.
- However, the sources said that as a result of the meeting, Israel later presented a new map that includes a wider IDF withdrawal.
State of play: One source familiar with the issue said that the new map led to significant progress in the talks and raised the chances of a deal significantly.
- A second source said, "There are still some gaps remaining, but we are in a positive trajectory at the moment."
- The deal on the table involves the release of 10 live hostages held in Gaza and the remains of 18 deceased hostages during the 60-day pause.
Update: Asked about Axios' reporting, Trump said it was "very possible" that the meeting led to progress in the negotiations.
- "We are getting very close to a deal. I don't know if it's secret or not secret. ... Secret is fine if it gets us to where we want to be," Trump said of the meeting.
The latest: Hamas said in a statement that it was working toward a deal despite Israeli "intransigence."
- The group said the issues still under discussion were "the flow of aid, the withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the provision of genuine guarantees for a permanent ceasefire."
- Netanyahu said after meetings on Capitol Hill that he and Trump had a "common goal" in Gaza and there was no "pressure or coercion" coming from the White House.
- "Israel has security requirements and we are working together to achieve it. Anything else that you hear and are being briefed on is false," Netanyahu said.
What to watch: Netanyahu could have another meeting with Trump before his planned departure from Washington on Thursday evening.
