Witkoff Leads Urgent Mediation Effort Amid Looming Gaza Occupation

Aug. 10—President Doland Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is leading what sources call "a full court press" to work out terms for a new peace deal for Gaza before the Butcher of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu can unleash a new escalated genocide as he initiates a full Israeli occupation of the Strip, starting with the sacking of Gaza City.

Witkoff is in discussion with Qatari and Egyptian mediators on a plan that would release all the hostages at once—a total of 50, of which 20 are still believed to be alive—in exchange for release of Palestinian prisoners, and a full withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Gaza, sources report. In order to get Israeli agreement to this, there will be a full demilitarization of all Palestinian groups, including the forced exile of many Hamas leaders. Hamas will have no role in a new Gazan government, which will be created from Palestinians, as supervised by the mediators.

Ceasefire and Humanitarian Aid Under U.S. Supervision

These sources report that there would also be an immediate ceasefire, that would also allow for the massive influx of food and humanitarian aid that would be distributed by the UN and other international agencies with experience in these matters, which would be supervised and facilitated by the United States, as personally directed by President Trump. Israel would have no control over these efforts. 

It remains unclear what role the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the American organization whose distribution sites have been turned by its security personnel and the IDF into killing grounds, that have claimed the lives of thousands of starving people, while wounding thousands of others, would play in this effort. Sources say that despite support from Trump's Christian Zionist ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the GHF would be phased out of the new relief effort.

Military Resistance and Political Fallout in Israel

Sources close to the White House say Witkoff and mediators want to have this plan ready to submit to Hamas and the Israeli by tomorrow if possible.

They say that there is already enormous pressure for both Hamas and Israel to accept the new deal, as the plan for Gaza occupation by Israel approved by the Security cabinet Oct. 8 has been universally denounced and is not supported by the IDF leadership, including its chief Lt. General Eyal Zamir, who has warned that it would cause Hamas to kill the remaining hostages and cost the lives of many IDF soldiers. The IDF, he has said, putting a time-delay on the process, lacks the forces to implement that plan and will need to conscript 200,000 soldiers and it will take three months for the IDF to get ready for occupation. Zamir says he will follow orders from the civilian government but says that the effort will take "a couple of years" and cause thousands of casualties and further lower the standing of Israel and its armed forces in the eyes of the world.

Any new peace deal, while popular with the Israeli population, will cause the messianic lunatics Bezalel Smotrich (Finance Minister) and Itamar Ben-Gvir (National Security) to quit, collapsing Bibi's coalition. But sources say that it may give him a slim chance in elections, which could be delayed until next year.

Trump’s Shift After Gaza Briefing

"Bibi would kill all the Palestinians if he could get away with it," said a source close to the White House. "And for a while, it appeared that Trump was going to let him have his way. But Trump was briefed by Witkoff on the starvation and inhuman conditions he saw on a recent tour of Gaza. He was told it looked like the Israelis had dropped an atomic bomb, and people were starving, no matter what Bibi and the GHF said, and dying trying to get scraps.

"Trump and his wife were outraged. He confronted Netanyahu on this on a phone call and Bibi claimed it was all Hamas propaganda. Trump went ballistic and told him 'stop fucking lying to me. You are killing these people.' He had a similar response when Bibi ordered the IDF to operate near a Catholic Church, which was later shelled. So, there is a shift here. Steve has Trump's backing on this, Bibi be damned."

Public Outcry and Hostage Families Lead Protests

The New York Post and other media report that Israeli leaders have signaled their willingness to make a deal with Hamas as brokered by the Witkoff-led mediation. Whether that is true remains to be seen, but sources close to the White House believe that there is a lifesaving deal out there to be made. Much of that depends upon the Hamas leaders. "Hamas is history," said the source. "It has never been popular with the Gazans. It ruled because Bibi gave it money and weapons, as his choice instead of the Palestinian Authority. It had the guns. Take away their guns and they have no power. They can fight on and die and cause many other people to die with them as part of what their former leader Yayha Sinwar called 'the million martyrs,' or they walk out of Gaza. But, their time is over."

This and other sources say that Bibi would do well to heed what is also happening in Israel. Led by the families of the hostages, who recognize that the proposed occupation will kill those loved ones still alive in captivity, they are now calling on the growing peace movement to shut down the government and the country.

In Tel Aviv, mass protests yesterday for the release of the hostages drew tens of thousands of people, as speakers urged Israeli soldiers not to carry out the Gaza City takeover, the Times of Israel reported.

Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest remains among the hostages, has called for people to protest the decision.

“It was decided to expand the war and conquer even at the cost of Matan’s life,” she wrote in a post on X. “And the silence is killing. Will you be with me when I call for everything to come to a stop, to strike?”

Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, spoke outside of Defense Ministry headquarters ahead of the protests. Addressing Netanyahu, she vowed that if the hostages were killed because of the approved military action, "we will go after you in the squares, in the elections and at any time and place."