Witkoff, Kushner meet with Netanyahu in Israel as clashes test Trump’s Gaza peace deal

The fragile peace deal President Trump spearheaded between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appeared on Monday to have survived serious threats over the weekend. The top U.S. officials who helped negotiate the ceasefire and hostage release agreement — senior envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — were back in Israel on Monday to help ensure it does not unravel.

Israel struck multiple targets inside Gaza after a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers. Hamas has rejected Israel’s claim that it was involved in that attack.

On Monday, the skies over Gaza were quiet again in the wake of the gravest threat since the ceasefire there came into effect on Oct. 10. Hamas and Israel accused each other of violating the terms of Mr. Trump’s peace plan over the weekend, but both sides recommitted to the process on Monday.

For a couple tense days, however, war was back in Gaza. Local health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said 45 people were killed in Israeli strikes. 

Speaking Monday in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had dropped almost 169 tons of bombs in Gaza over the weekend. 

“One of our hands holds a weapon, the other hand is stretched out for peace,” he told lawmakers. “You make peace with the strong, not the weak. Today Israel is stronger than ever before.”

The Israel Defense Forces said it launched the attack after two soldiers were killed when Hamas operatives opened fire with an RPG.

As mediators raced to get the peace process back on track, President Trump said the situation would be “handled toughly, but properly,” and added that in his view, the ceasefire remained in effect.

Over the weekend, Palestinian families had come out to enjoy a quiet moment at a seaside café in Gaza, when cameras captured the moment that an Israeli strike shattered the peace.

Many feared the blood-soaked scenes left in the wake of the explosions were a sign that two years of relentless violence had resumed after just a week.

“We were drinking tea,” said Salih Salman, “when suddenly people were bombed.”

Once again Gaza’s crippled hospitals filled up with dozens of injured in the wake of multiple Israeli strikes.

The IDF said it was targeting Hamas forces responsible for ceasefire violations, and it provided video purportedly showing armed Hamas fighters moving toward Israeli troops.

A media center in central Gaza was among the locations bombed, with the strike killing a cameraman and an engineer, and wounding three other people.

“We are all journalists here,” protested Ajeb Mohamed at the scene. “No-one else can even enter here.”

More than 220 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war started, according to the international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

Amid the renewed fighting and accusations over the weekend, an Israeli official said all humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza would be suspended. On Monday, however, COGAT, the Israeli government agency that handles affairs in the Palestinian territories, told CBS News that the Kerem Shalom border crossing was open for aid to transit.

The United Nations and a number of humanitarian aid agencies have called repeatedly since the ceasefire came into effect for Israel to open all of the border crossings into Gaza to allow far more food, water, medicine, building materials and other essential items in.

The ingress of aid — which under the U.S. peace plan should be maximized under the ceasefire — is likely to be among the key issues as Witkoff and Kushner meet with Israeli officials this week to ensure the process stays on track. Vice President JD Vance is also due in Israel this week, and set to meet with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu met Monday with Witkoff and Kushner to discuss “developments and updates in the region,” Shosh Bedrosian, a spokeswoman for Netanyahu’s office said Monday. 

She added that Vance and his wife were also expected in the country “for a few days and will be meeting with the prime minister,” but neither she nor the White House have confirmed the Vances’ arrival date.

Witkoff and Kushner were entrusted by Mr. Trump to broker the peace deal, and in an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, they said an apology phone call from Netanyahu to Qatar’s leader, about unprecedented airstrikes on the U.S. ally’s capital, Doha, and a moment of personal connection between Witkoff and Hamas’ top negotiator marked two key turning points that led to the ceasefire.