President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, spoke to reporters on Thursday about the Israel-Hamas war, indicating that although negotiations were indeed taking place with Hamas, president Trump has not budged about getting Hamas out of Gaza.
“Hamas has not been forthright with us, and it’s time for them to be forthright with us,” Witkoff said of the terrorist group that has routinely lied about casualties and stolen humanitarian aid meant for Palestinians in Gaza. “The president has issued a statement about what’s acceptable to him and what’s not. And hopefully, we’ll see some good conduct next week and I’ll be able to go in there and have discussions.”
Asked about phase 2 of the ceasefire agreement, which was supposed to go into place, he said, “As the president has said before, I don’t think you alert everybody how you’re going to negotiate or what your reaction is going to be, but I wouldn’t test President Trump.”
Asked what the bottom line for Trump would be, he answered, “I think it’s unclear what’s going to happen. There’ s going to be some action taken; it could be jointly with the Israelis; it’s unclear right now, but I think Hamas has an opportunity to act reasonably, to do what’s right and then to walk out. They’re not going to be part of a government there. Everybody understands that, and that is implicit in the May 27 protocol agreement pursuant to which these negotiations are happening. So I think they have to understand that, and if they understand that, then they get a path to leave.”
Asked if there were a date beyond which the ceasefire would stop and fighting would resume, he answered, “I think there definitely is such a date, but I’m not at liberty to discuss what that date is. I think any action 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 United States.”
“The May 27 protocol is the framework,” he declared. “That whole deal was predicated based on that May 27 framework. And what I said was that that deal presumed it would take five years to reconstruct Gaza. And so the Saudis, when they talked about normalization, were working on a five-year program. Gazans, thinking about coming back, thought that they would go back to their homes in five years. And I simply am saying that that’s a delusion. And we need to level set the facts so that people can make proper decisions based on the realities.”
Witkoff referenced a Wall Street Journal article that stated it would take 15-20 years to reconstruct Gaza. “So they’re finally beginning to agree that people don’t belong back there; it’s a really dangerous environment for children, for anybody. Unexploded munitions, all kinds of latent ways to get hurt there,” he said.
