US mediators are heading home after Hamas allegedly showed a lackluster effort to reach a cease-fire deal with Israel on Thursday, President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said.
“We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home,” he added, without providing further details as to what those methods may be.
The weeks-long peace talks in Qatar fell apart on Thursday as both sides failed to agree on the terms for a deal to free the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
The bodies of Americans Itay Chen, 19, and Omer Neutra, 22, both of whose families have ties to New York, are among those being held by Hamas.
The US and Israel were upset after Hamas allegedly proposed that in exchange for freeing half the living hostages, the Jewish state should free 200 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, one source involved with the talks told the Times of Israel.
The source, however, believed that the number was just a starting bid and that Hamas didn’t actually expect Israel to agree. Israel has previously freed thousands of prisoners, mostly women and young men, in exchange for the hostages.
Hamas also has repeatedly stated that it would not agree to a deal without assurances from Israel and the US that a hostage exchange would be met with plans for a permanent end to the war.
Israel, meanwhile, has said the condition is a non-starter as it will not end the conflict without completely eradicating Hamas first and ensuring that the Gaza Strip no longer proves a threat to the Jewish state.
Witkoff accused Hamas of behaving in a “selfish way,” with Israel also opting to recall its negotiating team from Doha after receiving a response from Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not reveal further details about what happened at the negotiating table, merely thanking mediators and Witkoff for their assistance.
The latest deal that was under discussion followed the format Witkoff had previously proposed, which would have seen Hamas release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for a 60-day cease-fire and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The deal would have also seen aid distribution ramp up as Palestinians face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis amid the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The Strip saw its deadliest day in recent weeks after 85 people were reportedly killed while trying to reach a food distribution site on Sunday run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
With Post wires
