Israel Hayom: Details of the Netanyahu-Witkoff meeting
The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Steve Witkoff’s envoy only touched on the Iranian threat, according to Israel Hayom (Israel Today) newspaper.
On Tuesday evening, Israel Hayom quoted a source familiar with the content of the meeting as saying, “The only topic discussed today in the meeting of the Israeli prime minister and senior security officials with Envoy Steve Witkoff was the situation in Iran”.
The source added, “Although the statement of the Prime Minister’s Office on the content of the meeting included several topics, most notably the situation in Gaza, this topic wasn’t discussed at all, and the meeting was limited to discussing the Iranian threat”.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu met with Witkoff with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Mossad David Barnea.
After the meeting, which lasted about three and a half hours, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement: “The meeting between the prime minister and Envoy Witkoff is over”.
The statement added, “The prime minister stressed his unequivocal demand to disarm Hamas, demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and complete the goals of the war before rebuilding the Strip”.
“The prime minister also made it clear that the Palestinian Authority won’t be part of the administration of the Gaza Strip in any way,” the statement said.
Netanyahu’s statement followed an attack by the Israeli opposition over the Palestinian Authority’s actual involvement in the management of the Rafah crossing, which was tentatively reopened on Sunday (in a limited manner and with tight Israeli restrictions) in both directions.
Regarding the Iranian issue, the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying that “before his (forthcoming) meeting with a representative of Iran, Envoy Witkoff made his position clear that Tehran has repeatedly proven that its commitments cannot be trusted”.
Israel says it wants the US-Iran talks to include Iran’s missile program and Iran’s support for organizations in the region, not just Iran’s nuclear program.
