Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who visited Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia over the weekend, said that the Gulf countries have yet to commit personnel to be directly involved in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, without which the next phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas cannot proceed.

Gottheimer visited Qatar and Bahrain alongside Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Jason Smith (R-MO) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX). Members of the delegation were photographed meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who also serves as the kingdom’s foreign affairs minister. 

“All the countries in the region who I’ve met with seem very eager to get to Phase 2. I think the question remains of which countries are willing to put boots on the ground and take the necessary steps to disarm Hamas,” Gottheimer said. “We’re all waiting for announcements on who that will be — that’s still the outstanding question … and what level of commitment.”

Building and staffing the ISF, he emphasized, is a “very important piece of the puzzle right now.”

Mullin briefly commented on the visit in a video posted to social media on Monday praising President Donald Trump for ordering the operation that deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last week. 

“I just got back from the Middle East. A little tired, but it was a good trip,” Mullin said from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “We have a lot of investments coming into the United States and we want to make sure that Oklahoma is part of that.”

Gottheimer continued on to Saudi Arabia and Israel without the rest of the group. He said that there was not much direct discussion during his meetings in Saudi Arabia about normalization with Israel, though he believes that the ceasefire deal is a necessary prerequisite to an agreement between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

“I was much more focused on … how do we actually get to Phase 2? What does that look like? How do you think that functions?” Gottheimer said.

Visiting Israel and meeting with members of the U.S.-led Civil MIlitary Coordination Center overseeing the ceasefire, Gotthiemer said he saw “a lot of very constructive plans,” a “ton of progress” in preparing the Israeli-controlled “yellow zone” in Gaza for a transition and rebuilding and that sufficient humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza. But he emphasized that it’s still unclear which countries will commit personnel on the ground to maintain order and disarm Hamas.

Gottheimer dismissed narratives that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he met on Monday in Jerusalem, is creating obstacles to moving forward with the ceasefire plan.

“I didn’t see that at all, both in talking to partners and in talking to the prime minister,” he said. “He was much more agreeable on the idea of getting to Phase 2, but the question of tactically how to disarm Hamas and who’s going to be on the ground to engage remains an elusive challenge.”

He said that partners, including Bahrain, are “eager to make it happen, but realize it’s challenging” because of the reluctance among Arab states to step forward.

In his conversation with Netanyahu, Gottheimer said that the prime minister highlighted that Iran’s “continued, aggressive ballistic missile posture … continues to be a significant issue.”

There has been increasing speculation in recent weeks that another round of conflict between Israel and Iran, and potentially the United States, could be on the horizon, with Iran making strides to rebuild its missile capacity.

According to a statement on the trip from Gottheimer’s office, he also discussed with Israeli officials Hezbollah’s failure to disarm, as required under the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal, its efforts to rearm and its continued threat to Israel.