Channel 13 reported, citing a senior Israeli official who was not named, that "US Special Envoy Steve Wittkopf informed Israel and the mediators that the second phase of the Gaza agreement will begin in early January."
Israel doubts the ability of the international force slated for deployment in Gaza to disarm Hamas, noting that the force's structure and operational mechanisms remain unclear. It fears that Trump might push for a second phase without disarming Gaza, according to the channel.
In a related context, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a security delegation held meetings in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday, which focused on efforts to recover the remains of the last Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip.
A statement from Netanyahu's office said: "At the direction of the Prime Minister, the Coordinator for Prisoners and Missing Persons, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, left for Cairo this morning, where he met with senior officials and representatives of mediating countries," without specifying the individuals he met.
He added: "The meetings focused on the efforts and details of the operations to recover the late kidnapped (captive) Sergeant First Class Ran Goeli."
According to the statement, the Israeli delegation included officials from the army, the General Security Service (Shin Bet), and the Mossad (foreign intelligence), without mentioning their names.
Since the start of the first phase of the ceasefire on October 10, Palestinian factions have handed over 20 living Israeli prisoners and the remains of 27 others, while the remains of Ran Goeli remain, whose remains Hamas continues to search for.
Israel is conditioning the start of negotiations to launch the second phase of the agreement on receiving the body of Gweili, while Hamas asserts that it may take time to retrieve him given the massive destruction in Gaza.
With American support, Israel began a genocidal war in Gaza on October 8, 2023, which left about 71,000 martyrs and more than 171,000 wounded Palestinians, most of them children and women.
Since the ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, and sponsored by US President Donald Trump, Israel has violated it daily, resulting in the deaths of 406 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
