STORY: :: Palestinians remain skeptical about the next steps in the U.S. Gaza plan as the first phase remains unfulfilled
:: Gaza City, Gaza
:: January 15, 2026
:: The U.S. announced the start of the second phase of Gaza's ceasefire plan and formed a Palestinian committee
"What second phase or first phase? They haven't even started the first phase yet, how can they start with the second? They've been bombing since this morning, they targeted Tuffah and Zeitoun. Houses are coming down. Which second phase? We don't want ink on paper, we want real action on the ground. We don't want it to be like every other time - just words on paper, and then things stay the same, or even get worse."
"It's all lies, all empty talk, opening the crossing and doing this or that - and what did they let through? Cola? Is Cola what we need? They let through some Cola - we want something that makes us happy, we've been suffering for two years and now starting the third - we are suffering from (a lack of) food and we are suffering from (a lack of) drink and we are suffering from high prices - we are suffering. People don't have any money, there is no money."
The first phase has been shaken by issues including Israeli airstrikes that have killed hundreds in Gaza, the failure to retrieve the remains of one last Israeli hostage, and Israeli delays in reopening Gaza's border crossing with Egypt.
By pressing on with phase two, the United States and its mediator partners will need to tackle the even more vexing challenges of disarming Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has refused to give up its arms, and deploying an international peacekeeping force.
Announcing the second phase in a social media post, President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said it "establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza" and would begin the process of disarmament and reconstruction.
The Palestinian body will have 15 members and will be led by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority who had been in charge of developing industrial zones, according to a joint statement by mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
