ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Israel on Thursday ahead of a government vote on a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The two envoys arrived in Tel Aviv after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, reported the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

A Gaza ceasefire agreement was announced at dawn on Thursday following four days of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, with mediation from Türkiye, Egypt, Qatar, and the US.

On Sept. 29, Trump unveiled a 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza that includes the release of all Israeli captives in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire, and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip.

A second phase of the plan calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza without Hamas’ participation, the formation of a security force comprising Palestinians and troops from Arab and Islamic countries, and the disarmament of Hamas. It also stipulates Arab and Islamic funding for the new administration and the reconstruction of the Strip, with limited participation from the Palestinian Authority.

Arab and Muslim countries have welcomed the plan, but some officials have also said that many details in it need discussion and negotiations to be fully implemented.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.