Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy of the Trump administration, has announced hopeful prospects for expanding the Abraham Accords, suggesting that countries once considered unlikely to normalize relations with Israel may soon join the historic peace agreements.
In a recent CNBC interview, Witkoff revealed that the White House expects “big announcements” soon about new countries entering the Abraham Accords — the groundbreaking 2020 agreements that initially brought the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan into diplomatic relations with Israel. Collaborating closely with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US State Department, Witkoff’s team is actively pushing for normalization with more nations.
“We are hoping for normalization across an array of countries that people never would have contemplated,” Witkoff said, emphasizing the role such developments would play in stabilizing the region.
Witkoff hinted that these announcements on additional countries normalizing with Israel will be coming soon, while not naming the countries expected to join the accords.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the outcome of Israel’s war with Iran presented opportunities for peace that his country must not waste.
In a statement, Netanyahu said: “This victory presents an opportunity for a dramatic widening of peace agreements. We are working on this with enthusiasm.
“Alongside the freeing of hostages and defeat of Hamas, there is a window of opportunity that must not be missed. We cannot waste even a single day.”
Earlier in the day, Israel Hayom newspaper, quoting an unnamed source, said Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call this week on a rapid end to the war in Gaza, perhaps within two weeks.
Israel Hayom said the deal could expand the Abraham Accords with Israel’s Arab neighbours to include Saudi Arabia and Syria.
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It said that under the deal, Israel would support a future two-state solution conditioned on reforms in the Palestinian Authority.
The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the Israel Hayom report. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reports from The Times of Israel indicate that Netanyahu and President Donald Trump agreed in a recent phone call to aim for a rapid end to the Gaza conflict within two weeks, following US strikes on Iran. The plan reportedly includes joint governance of the Gaza Strip by four Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, effectively replacing Hamas. The leadership of Hamas would be exiled, and all hostages released.
However, the report clarified that Arab states would not take on Gaza’s governance unless the Palestinian Authority is also allowed to participate in ruling the Strip.
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Witkoff also stressed that nuclear enrichment and weaponization by Iran remain red lines for the US, warning that such actions would destabilize the entire region and provoke an arms race.
“We can’t have weaponization,” he said. “That will destabilize the entire region. Everyone will then need a bomb, and we just can’t have that.”
