Trump envoy Steve Witkoff meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel

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US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday for talks over the future of the war in Gaza as international pressure grows to alleviate the humanitarian disaster in the strip.

A US official said the special envoy, who is making his first trip to Israel since May and is a close confidant of President Donald Trump, would be discussing “next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza” with Israeli officials.

The visit comes after ceasefire talks with militant group Hamas broke down last week and Israel faced a wave of international criticism over spreading starvation in Gaza.

A slew of countries, including the UK, France and Canada, have in recent days announced their intentions to recognise a Palestinian state by September in a strategy aimed at putting pressure on Israel to end the war.

Israel denounced recognition of Palestine as a “reward [for] Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”.

It has repeatedly rejected all calls to end its military offensive in Gaza until the militant group capitulates and releases the remaining 50 hostages seized during its October 7 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war.

People familiar with the negotiations said a deal to halt the war for 60 days and secure the release of roughly half the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, appeared to be close before stalling last week.

The US and Israel recalled their negotiating teams from Doha, with Witkoff blaming Hamas for “not acting in good faith” as the group increased its demands for a truce.

Hamas has consistently demanded guarantees that any temporary ceasefire leads to a permanent end to the war, which Netanyahu has refused to concede before the group is fully defeated.

Trump, who this week said “real starvation” was afflicting Gaza and that he was working on “various plans” for the enclave, wrote on Thursday that “the fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!”

Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul, who was also due to visit Israel on Thursday, warned that Israel was growing isolated on the global stage and “increasingly finding itself in a minority position”.

While Germany has not followed France and the UK in announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state, Berlin has sharpened its tone against Netanyahu’s government.

Wadephul said a peace process towards a two-state solution “must begin now” or Germany would “also be forced to respond to unilateral steps”.

While in the region, Witkoff was also reportedly due to travel to Gaza and visit an aid distribution hub run by the controversial Israeli and US-backed private entity, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Israeli media.

According to a person familiar with Israeli government thinking, Witkoff’s arrival was “a good start” in terms of the prospects for renewing ceasefire talks. “The delegations left Doha because Hamas was playing power games, not because the gaps were too wide to bridge,” the person said.

But the Netanyahu security cabinet this week also began discussions about alternative options if talks fully break down, including conquering the remaining 25 per cent of Gaza not under Israeli military control and potentially starting to annex swaths of the territory.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz on Wednesday threatened that “if Hamas does not announce the release of the hostages soon, it will pay a very heavy price”.

International outrage at conditions inside Gaza, where a UN-backed food security body this week said famine was “unfolding”, forced Netanyahu to reverse policy last weekend and relax restrictions on aid going into the blockaded territory.

Yet international humanitarian groups and local reports say chaos and insecurity is still widespread inside the territory, with much of the aid seized by desperate crowds and armed gangs.

Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Thursday that 111 people had been killed in the enclave in the previous 24 hours, 91 of whom while trying to get aid.

This included dozens of people reportedly shot dead by Israeli forces as they congregated near aid trucks in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to local health officials.

The Israeli military said that troops in the vicinity of the incident had “fired warning shots in the area, not directed at the gathering, in response to the threat posed to them” and was not aware of any casualties. The military said an investigation was ongoing.

Additional reporting by Abigail Hauslohner in Washington and Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper in Beirut