Witkoff: Am confident all the hostages will return, Hamas ‘must unequivocally disarm’

US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterates the Trump administration’s commitment to returning all remaining bodies of hostages still held in Gaza.

“We will pursue the return of the bodies of the deceased until they all come home. And I’m confident they will all come home,” Witkoff says in remarks at an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington commemorating the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

Witkoff touts the integral role that US President Donald Trump played in securing a ceasefire last week that has seen the release of all remaining living hostages.

“President Trump understands something most leaders forget — that moral clarity without strength means nothing, and it is that combination of conviction and power that has saved lives,” the US envoy asserts.

In the final days of talks in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month, “the mediating countries managed to convince Hamas that keeping the remaining 20 hostages was no longer an asset. It was their liability, and they began to believe it,” Witkoff states.

He goes on to recall his two trips to Gaza over the past year.

“Each time I wear my black MAGA [hat], people come up to me on the Gaza side because they want peace too,” Witkoff continues.

“They want stability, opportunity, a better life for their children. A future for Gazans must include jobs, education, hope, aspirations — not just guns and violence,” he says.

“Israel should never have to live under the threat of rockets flying at its people or the fear of terrorist attacks. But Gazan people must be able to live a decent life as well or there won’t be a possibility for long-term peace.”

Witkoff reiterates that “Hamas must unequivocally disarm, and they can have no future in Gaza; no future as they have been” — appearing to leave open the possibility that the US would accept Hamas remaining in the Strip if it undergoes an ideological transformation.

“Only when extremism ends can prosperity begin. Peace in the region will save countless lives of Israelis and Gazans alike, and bring dignity to those who have suffered for far too long,” Witkoff says, pledging to quickly expand the Abraham Accords.