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President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy expressed confidence Wednesday that a breakthrough in Gaza negotiations could emerge within days, following the administration's presentation of a comprehensive peace proposal to regional leaders.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's roving ambassador and longtime real estate associate, told attendees at the Concordia summit that the president had shared what officials are calling the "Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza" during Tuesday meetings with Arab and Islamic nations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
"We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza," Witkoff said. "I think it addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbors in the region."
Speaking at the summit on the UN General Assembly sidelines, Witkoff projected unusual optimism about the prospects for resolving the conflict that has devastated Gaza for nearly two years.
"We're hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we'll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough," the envoy declared.
The confident assessment from Witkoff and Trump's repeated pledges to end the war contrast sharply with more cautious recent remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who struck a more somber tone during his trip to Israel last week as the country launched a massive new offensive to seize Gaza City.
The nearly two-year war in Gaza has claimed thousands of lives and displaced much of the territory's population. Trump and his team have made resolving the Middle East crisis a central foreign policy priority since returning to office, with Witkoff emerging as a key figure in the administration's regional diplomacy efforts.
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