Witkoff says Hamas may have ‘duped’ him into thinking it was interested in deal
Trump envoy says resumption of war ‘is on Hamas’ for not agreeing to his ‘bridge’ offer; top security official Waltz says US wants ‘full dismantlement’ of Iran’s nuke program
US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said in an interview Sunday that 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 told ‘Fox News Sunday,’ reflecting on his March 12 visit to Doha where he presented his bridge proposal.
The 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-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four other US-Israeli citizens, but Witkoff called the response a non-starter. Four days later, Israel resumed fighting in Gaza, collapsing the ceasefire after two months.
Witkoff in sharp and clear statements: Hamas misled me. We are on Israel's side 100 percent. The aggressor here is Hamas. pic.twitter.com/bafYOxAdTV
— Spicy Sonal (@ichkipichki) March 23, 2025
“This is on Hamas. The United States stands with the State of Israel. That’s a 100% commitment,” Witkoff told 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 added.
Witkoff clarified 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 said.
On Friday, Witkoff had told Tucker Carlson that the parties were already “talking,” after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza.
Asked by Fox about Iran, Witkoff reiterated 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 said, adding that Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
In a separate interview also aired Sunday, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz clarified that Washington wants Iran’s nuclear program dismantled completely.
“Full dismantlement,” Waltz told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” after being asked to clarify the Trump administration’s position. “Iran has to give up its program in a way that the entire world can see.”
“All options are on the table, and it is time for Iran to walk away completely from its desire to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
Asked about the recent US strikes against the Houthis, Waltz claimed they have killed key members of the Yemen rebel group’s leadership.
“We’ve hit their headquarters, we’ve hit communications nodes, weapons factories, and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities just in the last couple of days,” he said.
Waltz also knocked the previous administration for not responding forcefully enough against the Iran-backed group, which he said continued to threaten key shipping lanes through the Red Sea.
“The last time one of our destroyers went through the straits there, it was attacked 23 times. Seventy-five percent of our US-flagged shipping now has to go around the southern coast of Africa, rather than going through the Suez Canal,” he said, adding that “keeping trade and commerce open is a fundamental aspect of our national security.”
On March 15, the US announced a wave of airstrikes that officials said killed senior Houthi leaders, and which the rebels’ health authorities said killed 53 people.
The strikes on the Houthis are the most significant American military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office. Trump has said he would hold Iran responsible for the Houthi strikes.
The Houthis have since renewed their attacks on Israel and have launched several ballistic missiles since the IDF resumed fighting in the Gaza Strip earlier this week.
The Houthis began attacking the vital Red Sea maritime route in November 2023, a month after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
While the Houthis have said they were attacking Israeli-linked shipping in support of Gaza, they have also targeted vessels with no known Israeli connections.
The Houthis — whose slogan is “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews” — paused their attacks after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage deal in January.
The Times of Israel Community.