The comments rationalizing Hamas were somewhat similar to ones made by Boehler in a series of interviews with American and Israeli press on March 9 that infuriated Netanyahu and his inner circle.

The premier’s top aide, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, went on to lobby Trump officials to sideline Boehler after those interviews, a US official told The Times of Israel earlier this month.

Regardless, Hamas has yet to move from its stance in the negotiations as Witkoff had hoped.

The terror group snubbed a bridge proposal he submitted last week that would have seen phase one of the ceasefire extended through next month’s Passover holiday, along with the release of five live hostages and a large number of Palestinian security prisoners.

Hamas has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the deal Witkoff helped ink in January, which should have seen negotiations on a second phase begin some two weeks into the ceasefire.

But Israel refused to proceed with such talks, as a second phase would obligate the IDF to fully withdraw its troops from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war.

While Netanyahu signed on to these terms, he has also insisted that he will not agree to end the war before Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been dismantled.

The US accepted the Israeli stance and worked to extend the first phase, rather than proceeding with the second.

Hamas didn’t accept the approach and instead offered to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander along with the bodies of four other hostages with US citizenship — an offer that was based on the discussions that the terror group held with Boehler earlier this month, the senior Arab diplomat said.

But the Trump administration had already moved on from those direct talks, and Witkoff on March 16 called the Hamas proposal a “non-starter.”

Two days later, Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza for the first time in two months under orders from Netanyahu, who cited the terror group’s “repeated refusal” to release hostages.