US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha this week amid efforts to extend the ceasefire and release hostages between Israel and Hamas, Axios reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

The report comes after Israel confirmed that a negotiating team will leave for Qatar on Monday "at the invitation of US-backed mediators."

According to Axios, the Trump administration hopes to extend the first phase of the previously agreed-upon hostage deal, which expired last Saturday, through the end of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover.

This appears to be in line with an Israeli plan, so far rejected by Hamas, to pursue the terms of a possible second phase of the deal, which would require Israel to withdraw completely from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war in exchange for the remaining living hostages.

The talks in Doha with Witkov's attendance will be the first since US President Donald Trump took office on January 20, as the first phase of the ceasefire agreement was negotiated under his predecessor, President Joe Biden.

US President Donald Trump's envoy, Steven Witkoff, is also expected to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

According to Axios (citing US officials), Witkoff will try to "mediate a new deal to release the hostages and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas."

He also said that negotiators from Israel and Hamas as well as delegates from Qatar and Egypt are expected to begin ceasefire talks in Doha on Monday, before Witkoff arrives.

It remains unclear whether Trump's envoy, Witkoff, will meet with Hamas officials or only with Israeli negotiators and Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

Last week, the White House revealed that Trump's envoy for prisoner affairs, Adam Boehler, was holding direct talks with Hamas.

Witkov had rejected the Arab plan that emerged from the Cairo summit on March 4 for the future of Gaza, but on Thursday he somewhat backed down from his rejectionist position.

Shortly after the plan was presented by Egypt on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes issued a statement saying it did not address "the fact that Gaza is currently uninhabitable" and that US President Donald Trump stood by his plan to take control of Gaza.

But when asked about the Arab plan during a news conference outside the White House on Thursday, Witkoff told reporters that "there are a lot of compelling features in it."

"We need more discussion about it, but it is a good first step on the part of the Egyptians," he added.

“The important point is that what President Trump is talking about now in Gaza is now encouraging other people in the Middle East to come up with preemptive proposals for what we might consider,” Witkoff added, again noting that the goal of Trump’s plan to take control of Gaza was simply to push regional allies to come up with alternatives.

Asked if he accepted the Arab plan's idea that Gaza's reconstruction could take place while the Palestinians stayed, Witkoff replied: "We are now assessing everything there, and it is a bit early to comment."