OK, hello everybody. Good afternoon. As you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu is on his way to the white House. He will be here shortly and so, we wanted to make available to you today the Special Envoy to President Trump for the Middle East, who has done a lot of great work on this front, obviously, Steve Witkoff and, of course, our National Security advisor, Mike Waltz.
We just ask that you keep the questions to the topic of the day, foreign policy and the ongoing situation in Israel and Gaza. I make myself available, as you know, to answer questions on other subjects going on in this building. So, please be respectful of their time and they're happy to answer your questions.
All right.
Hi. Hi, Mr. Witkoff -- displacing Gazans with the Prime Minister -- I had a quick question, has Prime Minister Netanyahu committed to Phase 2 of the cease fire agreement from the conversations you've had with him?
We're in Phase 2 now. So, this is Day 17 of Phase 2.
Come on, Mike --
Oh, I'm sorry. We're in Phase 2 now. So, we're in Day 17 of Phase 2. Uh, the national security adviser and me with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ron Dermer last night went over guidelines and parameters pursuant to which we're going to be engaging on the policy talks. I'll be meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed from Qatar on Thursday, late afternoon in Florida, and we'll be going over all these things with him as well.
So, we are, uh -- we're -- we're dug in.
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Just a quick follow-up on that. Does that mean that he said he will end the war and withdraw troops from Gaza, that's part of Phase 2?
Well, Phase 2 is -- Phase 2 has its own protocol attached to it and that's what we're observing and that's how I would answer that question.
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Prime Minister, what's your level of confidence?
I don't know.
What's your level of confidence -- Mr. Witkoff --
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-- said he will -- he will work on -- -- all of the hostages will be released in a time certain?
Well, first of all, we're focused -- we're focused on making sure that Phase 1 completes exactly as it should complete, that all the hostages who are a part of that deal come home including bodies, because there are plenty of families here who don't get their loved ones back but they just want to be able to bury them and have certainty and have an anniversary date that they -- where they can say a prayer for their -- for their children who they've -- who have died.
Mr. Witkoff --
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-- say that -- Palestinians say -- Palestinians say that they want to go home to Gaza, Mr. -- President Trump has spoken about cleaning out Gaza. So, what does that look like? Would there be a situation where you could forcibly remove people from Gaza?
Well, I would -- so, I would push back on the characterization of cleaning out Gaza. I think President Trump is looking at this from a humanitarian standpoint. You have these people that are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordnance in piles of rubble. You know, at some point, we have to look realistically, how do you rebuild Gaza?
What does that look like? What's the timeline? I think we -- a lot of people are looking at very unrealistic timelines. We're talking 10, 15 years, not the five years, and so that is what -- uh, that's what we have to work through. That's part of what we'll work through with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Would they be able to go back to Gaza? So, so -- so, let me -- So, let me -- Let me just expand on what the national security advisor said, because we talk about this all the time. In a -- in any city in the United States of America, if you had damage that was 100th of what I saw in Gaza, and I went there at the direction of the president and the national security advisor, so we would know right up hand -- right -- you know, right -- very specifically what was going on, nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes, that's how dangerous it is. This 30,000 unexploded munitions, it is -- buildings that could tip over at any moment.
There's no utilities there whatsoever, no -- no working water, electric, gas, nothing. God knows what kind of disease might be festering there. So, when the President talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable and this is a long range plan. They've dug tunnels underneath there that have basically degraded the stone that you make -- that would form foundations.
We have to examine that. You do it with borings, you do it with subterranean, um, surveys. How long would that take?
And this guy knows real estate.
It's years on top of years. The disposal effort on, in, Gaza is we estimate three to five years just to dispose of all the things before you can look down beneath the surface of the soil and then before you get a master plan done. And the president is intent on getting it all done correctly. So, to me, it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years.
That's just preposterous.
And he's just taking a common sense approach.
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Yeah, thank you. Can you direct traffic? Yeah, thanks.
Let's act like adults here. They are generously offering their time to answer your questions. You don't need to scream at them like a bunch of schoolchildren. Weijia, go ahead.
Thank you, very much, Karoline. Steve, just to follow-up on that. Can you explain where they are supposed to go, considering Jordan and Egypt have been so adamant about the fact that they will not take these Palestinians who do not want to leave? And secondly, can you set some realistic expectations for a permanent ceasefire in this Phase 2 deal?
When might we start to work toward that?
Well as to where people will go, that's a -- that's a big issue and we have to solve that, and that's what we're here to do and that's what the president has tasked us with.
And we're looking -- we're looking to a number of our -- of our allies, partners in the region. We have to collectively solve this problem. Everyone's heart breaks for this war that Hamas started, uh, and what has happened to these people that Hamas was willing to sacrifice to turn, uh, global opinion against Israel.
But now we have to collectively come up with some problems, and I think the president has taken a very common sense approach.
Mr. Waltz -- Mr. Waltz --
The next question will go to Steve Holland from Reuters.
We've had -- we've been having discussions with Jordan and Egypt. Have they completely ruled it out or is it still a matter of negotiation?
King Abdullah is coming -- is coming to visit the president next week. We just had a call with President, Sisi, the -- President Trump is absolutely engaged on the issue and I think with his leadership, we'll be able to pull some solutions together. And of course, we have the Prime Minister -- Prime Minister Netanyahu here today.
So, uh -- the president, President Trump, is driving, I think, practical common sense solutions to what is, uh, admittedly a very, very difficult situation.
Mr. Waltz?
Go ahead.
Thank you, so much. Mr. Witkoff, I'd like to ask, Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming here today after the meeting you had with him last night. We already saw results right after your meeting with him. He said he will send his delegation to Doha for the negotiations. Um, he didn't do that before the meeting with you.
You made him do that after his work conversation. I'm wondering, what's going to happen if he will tell President Trump, I don't want to end the war and then, you know, the result is not getting all the hostages?
Well, first of all, I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu with Mike, our National Security Adviser, and we had a -- we had a long session and it was a good session. And so, you saw his statement that he's sending a team there. That's a team that's going there to negotiate, to discuss all of these issues that we're talking about.
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. So, now we're working within that rubric and we're figuring things out. We were able to get to the right place on Phase 1, we're hopeful we'll get to the right place on Phase 2, and what me and the national security advisor are identifying, which by the way President Trump identified, is that Phase 3, the reconstruction, can't -- is not going to go the way that agreement talks about, which is a five year program.
It's physically impossible. And so, what we're trying to do is be transparent to these people. If you go to Gaza today, I was there, I witnessed it. You see people going there, picking up a tent and literally in some circumstances, turning right around again, because there is nothing left there.
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Do you see -- new deal now, maybe some other arrangement, some other phases right now than what was not discussed before?
You know what, it's a -- you know, this is a complicated deal and there's -- there's a lot to be considered here. And if you talk to a person like Mike Waltz or a person like Donald Trump, what they're going to tell you is we need to level set the facts. Really understand the conditions right now in Gaza.
And I'm giving you a really granular view of the reality that exists there today.
And can we just -- and can I just add to that? Can I just add to that? There's -- rightly that our discussions will be focused on the future of Gaza, the destruction of Hamas and of course, getting our folks out. But there are so many opportunities now in the region, largely thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli leadership.
With Hezbollah destroyed, we have President Aoun that many people thought was an impossibility, now in charge in Lebanon. You have the dictator Assad, gone and in hiding in Russia. You have Iran really in many ways on its back foot. We need to handle and deal with the issues of the Houthis literally attacking international shipping.
That should be an international response, not all of the burden on the United States, and we're asking the Europeans to step up and help us with that issue. So, there's a lot of opportunity in the region and mostly there is real optimism and Steve saw this in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, there are massive murals of President Trump with families being reunited with their loved ones, thanking him for his leadership.
And I think we're on the precipice. We talked about the next round of the Abraham Accords. That's the goal. If we're talking in President Trump's term about rail projects, uh, fiber optics, data centers, energy and getting back to the piece that he had in his first term, then that is a transformative success that only President Trump could lead.
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You guys will hear from the president directly later this afternoon, so we'll see you there.
Thank you.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
Bye guys. Thank you very much. Thank you for stopping.