Witkoff to meet with Dermer in Abu Dhabi early next week to discuss hostage talks

By Jacob Magid

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4 April 2025, 8:13 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC on March 6, 2025 (Mandel NGAN / AFP)

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff is slated to meet with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer early next week in Abu Dhabi to discuss the ongoing hostage talks, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

If there is a breakthrough in the currently stuck talks, Witkoff will travel to either Doha or Cairo, whose governments are mediating between Israel and Hamas along with the US.

Witkoff met yesterday in Washington with a group of families whose loved ones are still being held in Gaza, Axios reports.

US and Israeli officials are hoping that the IDF’s renewed offensive against Hamas and the protests in Gaza against the terror group will lead Hamas to further compromise in the hostage talks, though, that has yet to take place.