Witkoff confirms US pressuring Israel to grant amnesty to 100-200 Hamas terrorists stuck in Rafah in exchange for their arms

US special envoy Steve Witkoff confirms The Times of Israel’s reporting that Washington is leaning on Israel to grant safe passage to 100 to 200 Hamas terrorists in exchange for them giving up their weapons.

In an on-stage interview at a conference in Miami, Witkoff says the initiative focused on the Hamas fighters currently holed up on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line in Gaza will serve as a “model” for the broader decommissioning and amnesty program that Washington is hoping to see implemented in the Strip, as envisioned by US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war.

“We may see the model of what we’re trying to do here… with these 200 fighters who are trapped in Rafah and whether they’re going to be able to raise their hands, walk out, turn over their weapons. This will be one of the tests,” Witkoff says, adding that he has been on the phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has publicly pushed back against the idea of granting safe passage to the Hamas fighters, though a Middle East diplomat told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem has not ruled out the idea in private.

Still, Israel is arguing that at least some of the Hamas fighters will have to be taken into Israeli custody at the very least, as they’re responsible for attacks on Israelis, the diplomat said.

For its part, the US fears that allowing Israel to kill all of those Hamas fighters would risk collapsing the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

Witkoff says that if the US manages to “hold it together, then we’ll have even more credibility around the world. I’m very confident we will hold it together and we will complete the mission.”