Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East, said Thursday that President Trump’s latest ultimatum against Hamas, which included a threat against the “people of Gaza,” came after the US didn’t like what it heard in direct talks with the Palestinian group.
Witkoff and other US officials have confirmed that the US has engaged directly with Hamas for the first time through Adam Boehler, President Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs.
“Unfortunately, what we learned is that Hamas told us they were going to be thinking about it a certain way… That’s important information for us to have. And so came the tweet from the president,” Witkoff told reporters at the White House.
The Times of Israel reported on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unhappy about the direct US-Hamas talks and that the negotiations have hit a “snag” following the leak to the media. The talks were first reported by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, a former IDF intelligence officer. Israel wasn’t fully briefed about the talks ahead of time, and Ravid’s report said Israel learned about the details “through other channels.”
The focus of the US-Hamas talks has been on the release of the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza who have US citizenship and a US citizen who is believed to be alive, 21-year-old Edan Alexander, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel after high school to join the Israeli military.
In his ultimatum to Hamas, Trump said the group would be “over” and the “people of Gaza” would be “dead” if the hostages weren’t released immediately. The threat came after Trump hosted Israelis who were previously held hostage in Gaza.
Witkoff said that the US was still open to “dialogue” with Hamas but said if it didn’t work, “then the alternative is not such a good alternative for Hamas.” He also hinted at potential military action if they didn’t free the hostages and leave Gaza. “It’s not clear exactly what’s going to happen. Some kind of action will be taken. It could be jointly with the Israelis, it’s not clear right now,” he said.
“They’re not gonna be a part of the government there, everyone understands that. If they understand that, they have a path to leave,” Witkoff added.
When asked to elaborate on what he meant by “joint Israeli action,” Witkoff said he meant Israel taking action with US support. “Any action really principally comes from the Israelis. But you heard the president say yesterday he’s giving the Israelis anything they need. So, it’s the Israelis but with very, very strong physical and emotional support from the US,” he said.
Hamas responded to Trump’s latest threat on Thursday, saying it complicates the ceasefire process. “These threats complicate the ceasefire agreement and encourage Israel to evade its commitments,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem. “Hamas has fulfilled all its obligations under phase one, but Israel is refusing to move to phase two. The US administration must pressure the occupation to engage in negotiations for the next phase, as outlined in the agreement.”
Hamas also said that the “best path to free the remaining Israeli hostages” is through negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal.
Israel violated the initial deal by refusing to enter talks on phase two and has imposed a total blockade on all goods entering Gaza to pressure Hamas to accept its new terms, which involve more hostages being freed without a full Israeli withdrawal and commitment to a permanent truce. The US has backed Israel’s collective punishment of the civilian population in order to pressure Hamas.
