President Trump’s new foreign policy team managed to stabilize two fragile ceasefire agreements and prevent Middle East escalation on its first weekend in office.
Why it matters: Maintaining the ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon and implementing the deal to release hostages held by Hamas are the main foreign policy priorities for the Trump administration in the Middle East right now.
The White House over the weekend got what it needed more than anything else: time to settle in, formulate policies and set a strategy.
But, Trump’s comments calling for ‘cleaning out’ Gaza and moving Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan also alarmed many governments in the region.
The Palestinian presidency, the Jordanian foreign minister and the Egyptian foreign ministry all publicly rejected Trump’s idea.
Driving the news: Less than a week after Trump took office and hours after being sworn in, the White House’s Middle East team members —some of them not yet having offices or desks — were thrown into the brewing Middle East crisis.
Several minutes before the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was to set to expire at midnight local time on Sunday, the White House announced an extension of the agreement until February 18.
It took an intense mediation effort by the Trump administration, most of it taking place over the phone, Israeli officials and sources briefed on the issue told Axios.
Shortly before the extension of the ceasefire in Lebanon was announced, the Qataris and Egyptians solved the standoff that erupted on Saturday after Hamas’ didn’t release an Israeli civilian woman as part of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
As part of the agreement reached over the weekend, Hamas will release twice as many hostages this week than originally planned, including the woman who wasn’t released.
Behind the scenes: As the crisis escalated on Saturday, the Israeli government asked Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to intervene and demand the Qatari and Egyptian mediators press Hamas to adhere to the deal, Israeli officials said.
They added that Witkoff spoke to Qatar’s prime minister and pressed him to solve the problem.
‘Prime Minster Mohammed did an amazing job as he has throughout this entire process. It’s a good day for the hostages … we had some blips and we managed to get through it with good dialogue,’ Witkoff told reporters in New York on Sunday.
What’s next: Witkoff will next travel to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a U.S. official said.
On Wednesday, Witkoff will visit Israel and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the implementation of the first phase of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal and the beginning of negotiations over the second phase, the U.S. envoy said on Sunday.
‘The execution of the agreement was important, the first step, but without the correct implementation, we’re not going to get it right, we’re going to have a flare-up,’ Witkoff said during a speech at a New York synagogue.
What to watch: Netanyahu is planning to travel to Washington next week for a meeting at the White House with Trump, three Israeli and U.S. sources said.
If the visit happens, Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader invited to meet with Trump at the White House.
Israeli and U.S. sources said the current plan is for Netanyahu to arrive in Washington on Sunday or Monday and leave on Thursday. Netanyahu’s advisers and White House officials are still trying to lock down the exact date for the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump, an Israeli official told Axios.
Israeli officials said Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington depends primarily on whether his health following a recent prostate surgery will allow him to take a 12-hour flight and conduct meetings.
In a statement submitted to the court by Netanyahu’s lawyers last week, they claimed the prime minister has difficulty sitting or standing for extended periods of time due to his medical condition, and therefore requested the number of hearings in his trial be reduced and the duration of each hearing be shortened.