Pressed on what it’s like negotiating with Hamas, Witkoff acknowledged that he’s not talking to the terror group directly and that he uses Qatar as a mediator.


The US envoy did sign off on Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler holding secret direct talks with Hamas officials earlier this year.

However, Washington abandoned those talks after they were leaked by Israel, which learned about them after the fact and fumed over Boehler negotiating on its behalf, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel earlier this month.

Hamas’s motivations:
While he has worked to understand Hamas through the negotiations, Witkoff said he was also informed by the footage compilation of the terror group’s October 7 onslaught that Israeli authorities screened for him during his first visit to Israel upon taking the position.

1. “It was horrific.
2. It is about mass rapes.
3. There were pictures of Hamas people cutting the head off, of an Israeli soldier…
4. he recalled: It’s beyond what I’ve ever seen,”

“It can taint the way you’re going to feel about [Hamas]. Sometimes as a negotiator, you have to be dispassionate,” Witkoff continued.

“It’s not easy to make decisions if you’re going to [watch the film] but I had to see [it]… We can’t ignore the reality of what happened on October 7
They would tell you that they’ve got justification, but there’s no justification… for what happened that day.”