US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, senior advisor and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, reportedly canceled a planned visit to Israel on Tuesday, according to Israeli media outlet Channel 12.
No official reason was provided and neither US nor Israeli authorities have confirmed the report.
The trip, scheduled for Tuesday, was expected to include meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to coordinate strategies amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.
The war erupted on Feb. 28, when US and Israeli forces launched a coordinated pre-emptive strike on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, missile bases, naval installations and Iranian leadership.
The operation killed more than 1,200 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tehran retaliated with drone and missile attacks on Israel and US military assets across Gulf countries, while Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi forces in Yemen escalated regional hostilities.
Total casualties now exceed 2,000, with hundreds of thousands displaced, fueling a mounting humanitarian crisis.
Witkoff, a longtime Trump ally and real estate developer, has served as US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace since late 2024, brokering Gaza ceasefires and mediating hostage releases.
Kushner, an architect of the Abraham Accords, continues advising on Middle East policy, focusing on economic incentives, post-conflict reconstruction and normalization between Israel and Arab states.
Previous trips to Israel proceeded amid tensions in Gaza and Lebanon, but the scale of the current Iran conflict, involving direct strikes and widespread regional fallout, likely influenced the cancellation, according to sources familiar with US-Israeli relations.
The war’s economic impact is immediate.
Israeli airstrikes on Iranian oil facilities on sunday8 pushed crude prices above $120 per barrel, raising global recession fears.
International reactions are mixed: European leaders question the legality of the strikes under international law, China watches cautiously and US domestic debates over executive war powers intensify.
