Trump envoy Witkoff: ‘Preposterous’ to think Gaza reconstruction will take only 5 years

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (L) and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz (R) speak to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (L) and US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz (R) speak to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House on February 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff criticizes the ceasefire and hostage release plan put together by former US President Joe Biden, which is currently in place, taking particular issue with the proposal’s envisioning of a five-year reconstruction period for Gaza.

“Part of the problem is that it wasn’t such a wonderful agreement that was first signed. That was not dictated by the Trump administration. We had nothing to do with it. Now we’re working within that rubric, and we’re figuring things out,” Witkoff tells reporters outside the White House.

“What [I] and the national security adviser are identifying — which, by the way, President Trump identified — is that phase three, the reconstruction, is not going to go the way that the agreement talks about, which is a five-year program. It’s physically impossible. We’re trying to be transparent with these people,” he says.

“In any city in the USA, if you had damage that was 1/100th of what I saw in Gaza… nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes. That’s how dangerous it is,” Witkoff explains.

“There are 30,000 unexploded munitions; there are buildings that could tip over at any moment; there are no utilities there whatsoever; no working water, electric, gas — nothing. God knows what kind of disease might be festering there,” he continues.

“If you go to Gaza today… you see people going there, picking up a tent, and in some circumstances, turning right around again, because there is nothing left there,” Witkoff says.

“When the president talks about ‘cleaning [Gaza] out,’ he talks about making it habitable. This is a long-range plan. They dug tunnels underneath there that degraded the stone that would form foundations. We have to examine that… You do it with subterranean surveys,” Witkoff says.

“We estimate that the disposal effort alone in Gaza [will take] three to five years… before… you get a master plan done. The president is intent on getting it all done correctly. To me, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. That’s just preposterous,” he adds.

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