“Today, on behalf of President (Donald) Trump, we are announcing the launch of the second phase of the President’s 20-point plan to end the conflict in Gaza,” Witkopf said in a post on his X platform account. He noted that the second phase means “moving from a ceasefire to disarmament, technocratic governance, and reconstruction.”
He added that Washington expects Hamas to honor its commitments, including the return of the body of the last Israeli prisoner, warning of "serious consequences" if this is not done. He continued: "We are grateful to Turkey, Egypt and Qatar for their indispensable mediation efforts, which made all this progress (moving to the second phase of the Gaza agreement) possible."
Egypt, along with Qatar and Turkey, mediated indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which led to a ceasefire agreement whose first phase began on October 10, 2025.
On Wednesday, Palestinian factions and forces said they support the mediators' efforts to form the "Palestinian National Transitional Committee" to administer the Gaza Strip, while providing the appropriate environment for it to immediately assume its duties and responsibilities in the Strip.
This came in a statement following a meeting held in Cairo at the invitation of Egypt and under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as part of the efforts of mediators in Turkey, Egypt and Qatar to follow up on the implementation of the stages of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza according to the plan of US President Donald Trump, and to address the repercussions of the Israeli war on the sector, according to what was reported by the “Cairo News” channel.
With American support, Israel began a genocidal war in Gaza on October 8, 2023, which left more than 71,000 Palestinian martyrs and 171,000 wounded, most of them children and women, and caused destruction to 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure.
On a daily basis, Israel violates the ceasefire agreement, resulting in the martyrdom of 447 Palestinians. It also prevents the entry of the agreed-upon amount of food and medicine into Gaza, where about 2.4 million Palestinians, including 1.5 million displaced people, live in catastrophic conditions.
Israel is stalling on starting the second phase, making it contingent on receiving the remains of the last prisoner in Gaza, while Hamas says that searching for and extracting him may take time due to the massive destruction left by the war of extermination.
Earlier on Wednesday, a well-informed Palestinian source said that arrangements were being made for members of the technocrat committee from Gaza to travel to Egypt to hold their first meeting on Thursday or Friday.
This committee is one of the provisions of Trump’s plan for managing Gaza, which also stipulates a ceasefire, a prisoner exchange, the disarmament of Hamas, a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
In 1948, Israel was established on lands occupied by armed Zionist gangs who committed massacres and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Tel Aviv then occupied the rest of the lands and refuses to withdraw and allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.
