As Trump envoy pushes Gaza ceasefire, Persian Gulf states eye postwar role

As Witkoff, a longtime real estate developer, ramps up U.S. diplomacy in the region, he will need buy-ins from oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf to see through the more ambitious plans. The Arab monarchies here could bankroll the rebuilding in Gaza, diplomats say, but they also want to ensure that the postwar period includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.

“Our position has always been clear … that the two-state solution is the only course forward in order to solve the Palestinian issue,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, said Tuesday.

He said the country, which helped mediate the ceasefire, was “engaging fully with the Trump administration and with envoy Witkoff,” but added that Qatar doesn’t always “see eye to eye on a lot of things with all our allies.”

Trump in recent days has told reporters that he wants to forcibly displace the population of Gaza, saying Saturday that the United States and others should “just clean out” the territory, which he described as a “demolition site.” Late on Monday, he doubled down on the proposal, adding: “When you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell.”

The remarks were criticized by Egypt and Jordan in particular, after Trump suggested the two countries take in more Palestinians from Gaza. But in the gulf, where analysts said the comments caused “a lot of concern,” other officials and diplomats said they had not yet altered the general mood of “cautious optimism” around the ceasefire.

So far, Hamas has released seven Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s widespread bombing has stopped, aid is flowing into the territory and on Monday, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza, which was sealed off from the rest of the enclave for most of the war.

The conflict started when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others hostage. The Israeli military responded with a brutal campaign that destroyed much of Gaza and killed at least 47,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.

The initial ceasefire, which began Jan. 19, is supposed to last for 42 days, after which Hamas would release the remaining hostages and Israel would withdraw all of its troops from Gaza. Only then is when the reconstruction can begin — along with negotiations over Gaza’s political future.

“The ceasefire was the necessary first step. Now there’s a lot of jockeying going on,” said Hussein Ibish, a scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He said countries are unlikely to commit to specific roles for postwar Gaza until the ceasefire has reached the second phase. “For now, no one wants to overcommit,” Ibish said.

But before Persian Gulf states open their coffers, they want, at the very least, a legitimate Palestinian political authority to be in charge in Gaza. Hamas ruled the territory for 17 years before the war — but Israel has said it will not accept a role for the militant group in governing the territory.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi businessman with close ties to the royal family, said Saudi Arabia is committed to its demands that postwar plans in Gaza be tied to a political road map for Palestinian statehood.

“It would have to be something that has teeth to it, not vague wording,” Shihabi said of the kind of commitment Saudi Arabia wants to see from Israel.

“The signals we are getting from the Trump administration are very positive. Trump is willing to put his weight behind asks,” he said, adding that the president’s willingness to pressure Israel to accept the ceasefire bodes well for future administration efforts in the region.

For the gulf’s Arab countries, postwar Gaza provides an opportunity to expand their regional influence, filling the vacuum left by Hamas, which was backed by Iran. But for the United Arab Emirates in particular, which has also discussed playing a security-focused role in Gaza, it offers a chance for a diplomatic redemption of sorts.

In 2020, the UAE was one of four countries that normalized relations with Israel under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords — and it came under enormous pressure during the war to cut ties.

But if the UAE assists with security or reconstruction, it would allow Abu Dhabi to “demonstrate the value of the Abraham Accords to the Arab world,” said an individual familiar with the thinking of senior Emirati officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations.

Security in Gaza, where law and order broke down because of the war, will also be a key focus of Witkoff’s trip to Israel, said Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, an Israeli think tank.

“Witkoff will be going on a fact-finding trip to Gaza … to understand Israel’s complex security challenges going forward,” he said, describing Witkoff’s planned visit to the enclave as “a reflection of America’s deepening involvement in security measures in the Gaza Strip.”

Egypt and Qatar are also monitoring the deal’s implementation, with Doha stepping in over the weekend to help negotiate a dispute that led to Israel pausing the ceasefire for several hours Saturday. Israel refused to allow Palestinians to travel to northern Gaza after Hamas failed to hand over Arbel Yehud, 29, a female civilian hostage held by Islamic Jihad, the group’s militant allies.

Qatari officials say international pressure is essential to keeping the agreement on track.

“The monitoring mechanisms this time are also more robust. We’re monitoring every detail of the agreement,” said Ansari, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman. He said the operations room is “more sophisticated,” communications are faster and a second operations room was established in al-Arish near Egypt’s border with Gaza to monitor aid going in.

Mediators had many “lessons learned” from the initial ceasefire deal, he said.

“What caused the talks to collapse, what was not implemented, why it was not implemented, all that went into the negotiations for this agreement,” he said.

“All of us have to work collectively, and I can’t stress this enough. The international community can’t take this deal for granted,” he said.