The US and Israel continue to manipulate the conditions of Tel Aviv’s ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff now says, for the agreement to continue, members of Hamas must physically leave Gaza.
Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, he discussed the future of the ceasefire deal. “[Netanyahu] said what the red line is, and that is that Hamas cannot be involved in governing when this thing is resolved.” Witkoff continued, describing what he sees as the two key points in negotiating the deal’s second phase, “A permanent cease-fire a cessation of all violence. And in addition to that, the fact that Hamas cannot be allowed to come back into the government. And I think the way you square that circle is that Hamas has to go, they’ve got to leave – physically.”
The ceasefire initially went into effect on January 19. While the deal came into effect during the Biden presidency, Witkoff was credited with applying the necessary pressure that led the Israeli Prime Minister to accept the deal.
The agreement called for a three-phase deal that would eventually see all Israeli hostages released, Gaza rebuilt, and Israeli troops withdraw from the Strip. Under phase one, Hamas agreed to release less than half of the hostages, 33, in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian detainees, allowing aid into the Strip, and ending attacks in Gaza.
Tel Aviv has recently violated the pact. Over 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the ceasefire and some of the humanitarian aid has been denied. Additionally, after Hamas completed releasing the Israeli captives it was obligated to under the first phase, Tel Aviv refused to reciprocate. Israel is now denying the release of over 600 Palestinian captives.
Talks on Phase 2 were scheduled to begin earlier this month, but Netanyahu has slow-walked Israeli participation in future negotiations. Concurrently, President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that the Palestinians will be removed from Gaza and not allowed to return. As the deal calls for Gaza to be rebuilt, Trump’s proposal is a breach of the agreement and a non-starter for Palestinians.
“He understands that it makes no sense to endorse old policy prescriptions that have not worked. What has not worked in Gaza are all of these old policy prescriptions. So he’s come up with a new notion,” Witkoff said Sunday while discussing Trump’s proposal. “The new notion is: let’s create a better opportunity for people who have lived in Gaza to have a better life for themselves,”
If the entire population of Gaza, or just Hamas, is forced from the Strip, there remain questions on how that would be accomplished and where the Palestinians would go. Witkoff told CBS the Trump administration is discussing the policy with other nations. “The devil is in the details, and we’ve had a lot of discussions about it. I’m not at liberty to have that specific discussion today, but we’ve got some ideas, and that will be part of the negotiation,” he explained.
