It was Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, when Steve Witkoff, President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a stark message from his boss: It was time for a cease-fire deal in Gaza.

       Witkoff, a real-estate developer from New York, told the prime minister choices had to be made and Israel’s negotiators needed the authority to make decisions, a person familiar with his conversations said. If Netanyahu didn’t want to work that way, Witkoff said, everyone should just pack their bags and go home, the person said.

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