White House envoy to travel to Doha to push for new Gaza deal

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

10 hours ago


White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha on Tuesday evening in an effort to broker a new hostage-release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, two U.S. officials said.

Why it matters: The talks would be the first since President Trump took office and since the original agreement between Israel and Hamas that established a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of 33 hostages in its first phase, which ended one week ago.

Witkoff is expected to join Qatari and Egyptian mediators and negotiators from Israel and Hamas who will begin talks on Monday.

The Trump administration is pushing for a deal that would lead to the release of all remaining hostages, extend the ceasefire until after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover and possibly lead to a long-term truce that would end the war.

Hamas is still holding 59 hostages in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces have confirmed 35 are dead. Israeli intelligence believes 22 are still alive and the status of two others is unknown.

Among the remaining hostages are five Americans, including 21-year-old Edan Alexander who is believed to be alive.

Driving the news: Axios reported earlier this week that Trump's envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding direct talks with Hamas officials. Their last meeting took place last Tuesday.

During the talks, Boehler discussed the possible release of Alexander and the remains of four other American hostages as a way to launch a broader deal on the release of all remaining hostages and a long term truce.

State of play: Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha after participating in a meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

It is unclear if he is going to meet with Hamas officials or only with Israeli negotiators and Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

A senior Israeli official said Witkoff wanted to get all the parties in one place for several days of intense negotiations in an effort to reach a deal.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/09/us-trump-israel-hamas-gaza-talks

[Lovie777]

1. shithole musk republicans want Gaza..................

signed, sealed and delivered.

Hamas has been a terrorist group and still is, where are the actual Palestinians who should be there for the negotiations?

Another let's negotiate Ukraine without the Ukrainians bullshit.

[Irish_Dem]

2. A deal where Trump gets richer.

[Lonestarblue]

3. Is he taking the blueprints for the Trump Organization luxury condos and golf course with him?

I’m sure Netanyahu’s envoy will want to see those.

[Tetrachloride]

4. how can I take seriously a person whose name ends in "off"

[AloeVera]

5. Witkoff is a billionaire real estate developer.

Perfect.

[moniss]

6. The lunacy of this process

from purely a negotiating standpoint is astounding. It should be clear to everyone given the Israeli actions that there is no serious Phase 2 and that is all smoke and mirrors in order to get all of the hostages out before doing a full blown annexation and ethnic cleansing.

It is similar to a bank robbery where the cops arrive and the crooks are in the bank with hostages. So the scene goes like this :

Cops: "We can talk and we'll send in some food to show you our good intentions. OK?"

Crooks: "OK but we want more and we want a plane."

Cops: "OK if you promise to release the hostages we can talk about making those things happen."

Crooks: "OK they're coming out. We have released them. So now let's talk about making those things happen like you said."

Cops: "The only thing we have to say is you have a choice of surrender or we're coming in."

Crooks: "But you made an agreement."

Cops: "We lied."

The entire presentation of all of this "ceasefire" has been a charade and a subterfuge presented to the world and was never anything but propaganda.

[Diraven]

7. So the ethnic cleansing is off the table?

In every public statement by Trump about Gaza he said every Palestinian will have to leave permanently.