Witkoff's visit to Israel warrants close attention. After meeting with Netanyahu yesterday, he is scheduled to visit Gaza today.

The Gaza visit reflects the main purpose of his mission—in the immediate term, addressing the famine crisis in Gaza, and in the near term, ending the war in Gaza. Regarding the end of the war, attention should be paid to Topaz Luk's offhand remark yesterday on Army Radio, that they are examining the release of all hostages. In other words: the end of the war. This casual remark received reinforcement this morning with more explicit statements in Jerusalem, which, contrary to usual practice, should not be treated as spin but as a new trend.

There is disagreement between Israel and the United States regarding the famine—while Israel claims there is no famine, President Trump himself acknowledged there is famine, which forced Netanyahu to admit there is famine, but Israel's official messaging continued to claim there is no famine.

The reason Israel claimed there is no famine is that the Israeli public is unaware of the famine in Gaza because Israeli television does not show images from Gaza. This is a serious failure of Israeli media, and the media's role will have to come up for discussion when the government changes in Israel.

What controls Israeli policy are Netanyahu's coalition calculations, and at this stage "there is no famine" serves to maintain his disintegrating coalition, and if there is famine then "Hamas is to blame." Thus, the two themes leading the Israeli narrative in the Gaza crisis—"Hamas is to blame" and "there is no famine"—clash with each other, but due to the low level of Israeli politics, no one notices this contradiction.

Either way, under Trump's pressure, Israel began airdropping large quantities of aid and allowed Jordan and the UAE to resume aid through Kerem Shalom, and UN organizations through Zikim, and Witkoff will come to closely examine the best way to solve the famine problem.

It is now clear that the "American" fund for Gaza aid is a complete failure, and reports from Jerusalem that Witkoff will examine how to leverage the fund should be treated as more spin. The trend is to transfer aid to the UN and Arab states, not UNRWA for reasons we will detail in the office.

The timing of Witkoff's visit is related to the beginning of the Knesset recess, during which Netanyahu will be free to do as he pleases—a kind of dictatorship that is his heart's desire, but this dictatorship will be tested under Trump's eyes to see if Netanyahu keeps his word to finish the Gaza crisis and move to the peace phase with Saudi Arabia.

Trump is giving Netanyahu nice gifts like his trial, opposition to a Palestinian state, and silence regarding spins of intensive war in Gaza and renewed settlement activity, but he is waiting for Netanyahu's gift in return.

The Knesset recess is Netanyahu's ultimate test to keep his word to end the war and move forward. Trump has recorded the commitment, but he believes Netanyahu's word as much as the rest of the world—more or less—and he will be on guard to ensure that this time Netanyahu doesn't sting him.