Witkoff says Hamas may have tricked him into thinking it was game for deal

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says Hamas may have “duped” him earlier this month, as he initially thought the terror group had agreed to his bridge proposal to extend the ceasefire in Gaza, only for it to pull back.

“I thought we had an acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from Hamas. Maybe that’s just me getting duped. I thought we were there, and evidently we weren’t,” Witkoff tells ‘Fox News Sunday,’ reflecting on his March 12 visit to Doha where he presented his bridge proposal

The bridge proposal would have seen the ceasefire extended through April 19 and have Hamas release five living hostages in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian security prisoners. Israel says it accepted Witkoff’s proposal, but said it would have freed 11 living hostages.

Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the deal, which was supposed to begin its second phase at the beginning of March. For a month, though, Israel refused to enter talks on the specific terms of phase two, as the stage’s general framework requires it to fully withdraw from Gaza and agree to a permanent end of the war.

In submitting his bridge proposal earlier this month, Witkoff accepted Israel’s aversion to phase two.

Hamas on March 14 offered to release the last living American hostage and the bodies of four other US citizens, but Witkoff called the response a non-starter. Four days later, Israel resumed fighting in Gaza, collapsing the ceasefire after two months.

“This is on Hamas. The United States stands with the State of Israel. That’s a 100% commitment,” Witkoff tells Fox. “We’ve expressed that Hamas had every opportunity to demilitarize, to accept the bridging proposal that would have given us a 40- or 50-day ceasefire where we could have discussed demilitarization and a final truce. There were all kinds of opportunities to do that, and they elected not to.”

“This (war) becomes the alternative, and it is unfortunate,” he adds.

Witkoff clarifies that the US would still be “amenable” if Hamas reached out again. “I certainly hope we get everybody back to the table and get the hostages home,” he says.

On Friday, though, Witkoff told Tucker Carlson that the parties were already “talking,” after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza.

Asked about Iran, Witkoff reiterates what he told Carlson’s podcast on Friday about US President Donald Trump’s letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Al Khamenei

“Our signal to Hamas and to Iran, is. ‘Let’s sit down and see if we can through diplomacy get to the right place.’ If we can, we’re prepared to do that. If we can’t, the alternative is not a great alternative,” Witkoff says.

He adds that Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.