Ahead of Doha talks, Witkoff says ‘deadlines’ key for deal on ceasefire’s next phase
Trump envoy says all on the table if Hamas agrees to disarm and leave Gaza; Israeli delegation heads to Doha with Witkoff proposal on the agenda; Hamas says it’s showing ‘flexibility’
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday said that deadlines were needed on a deal for the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and that “all things are on the table” if the terror group agrees to demilitarize and leave the Gaza Strip.
Speaking on Fox News a day before he is slated to fly to Qatar for talks with Israel and Hamas, Witkoff said the terror group has “no alternative” other than disarming and leaving Gaza.
“If they leave, then all things are on the table for a negotiated peace, and that’s what they’ll need to do,” said Witkoff.
“We need deadlines” for an agreement on the next phase in a deal, Witkoff said, adding that the conditions the hostages are being held in are “unacceptable” and “deplorable.”
Witkoff also praised Qatar for its “outstanding” mediation efforts, adding that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also been helpful.
Channel 12 news reported earlier in the day that the so-called Witkoff outline — which the US backed, but did not claim credit for — is up for discussion in this week’s negotiations. The framework would see Hamas release 10 living hostages, including American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in exchange for a further 60 days of ceasefire.
An Israeli official familiar with the negotiations told AFP that the country’s team had left for Doha on Monday. Media reports said the delegation was led by a top official from the Shin Bet security service.
Ahead of the delegation’s departure, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded the government give negotiators a “full mandate” to ensure the remaining 59 hostages — 58 of them kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7 massacre — would be returned in a single phase.
“An agreement including the return of all hostages is possible and is the duty of the Israeli government to its citizens that remain in Hamas tunnels,” the forum said in a statement.
Hamas said Monday that it is showing “flexibility” in the talks with mediators and is awaiting the outcome of efforts from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States in negotiations with Israel.
“We dealt flexibly with the efforts made by mediators and [US President Donald] Trump’s envoy, and we await the results of the upcoming negotiations and oblige [Israel] to agree and go to the second phase,” the terror group said.
Hamas said negotiations are focusing on ending the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and reconstruction of the Strip.
The first phase of the three-phase hostage-ceasefire deal agreed to in January ended on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.
Talks regarding terms of a potential second phase were supposed to have begun on February 3, but Israel has largely refused to engage in them.
Hamas has repeatedly demanded a move to the second phase of the deal, which would include the release of the 24 remaining presumed-living hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war. A further 35 bodies are still held by the terror group — 34 of those taken captive on October 7 and the remains of one soldier killed in 2014.
Israel and the US have sought some arrangement that would extend the first phase of the truce and see the release of further hostages without initiating a permanent end to the war against Hamas.
Israel ‘held discussions’ with White House over Boehler comments
Meanwhile, Israel “held discussions” with White House officials in the wake of US hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s interviews on US and Israeli TV on Sunday, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
Boehler on Sunday defended his direct talks with officials in the Hamas terror group, pushing back against private but intense criticism from Jerusalem. Some of Boehler’s remarks further annoyed senior Israeli officials, who told The Times of Israel they were surprised to hear the envoy comment that the US is “not an agent of Israel.”
Some Israeli officials believe that Boehler went on television to send a pointed message to Israel.
After his evening interviews on Israel’s leading TV outlets and the Israeli conversations with Washington, Boehler issued a post on X clarifying some of his statements.
Among a number of missteps Sunday, Boehler sometimes appeared to refer to Palestinian security prisoners as hostages; called Israeli hostages “prisoners”; talked about the “human elements” of Hamas leaders; critiqued Israel for accepting the term of the ceasefire deal with Hamas; stressed that the US is “not an agent of Israel”; and intermittently contradicted himself.
Boehler has been involved in separate, direct talks with Hamas that, while broadly aimed at ending the war without the terror group in power, are specifically focused on freeing Edan Alexander as well as securing the release of the bodies of four slain Americans still held by the group.
Boehler told CNN Sunday a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure the release of all remaining hostages, not just the five dual US-Israelis.
He added that a “long-term truce” was “real close,” but later Sunday he told Israel’s Channel 12 that Washington would back any Israeli decision, including a return to war.
