Hamas acting ‘in good faith’ to return remaining hostage bodies, say Kushner and Witkoff

Speaking about how Hamas has acted since the ceasefire came into place, Kushner said: “Hamas right now is doing exactly what you would expect a terrorist organisation to do, which is to try to reconstitute and take back their positions.

"The success or failure of this will be if Israel and this international mechanism is able to create a viable alternative. If they are successful, Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future.”

Speaking to Israel’s responsibility in creating a peaceful future with its neighbours, he added: “The biggest message that we’ve tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that, now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better.”

The pair also revealed new details from their face-to-face meeting with the Hamas negotiating team – which, going against standard US diplomatic protocols, required special permission from Trump to go ahead. 

Recalling a moment of connection he shared with Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya, whose son was killed in the recent Israeli airstrike on Doha, Witkoff said: “We expressed our condolences to him for the loss of his son… And I told him that I had lost a son, and that we were both members of a really bad club: parents who had buried children.”

Kushner commented: “When Steve and him spoke about their sons, it turned from a negotiation with a terrorist group to seeing two human beings kind of showing a vulnerability with each other.”

The pair also spoke in detail about Qatar’s role in the negotiations, saying: “It became very very evident as to how important and critical that role was.”

Talking about the impact of Israel’s strike on Doha, Witkoff said: “I think both Jared and I felt… a little bit betrayed.”

Kushner, meanwhile, revealed that Trump was equally frustrated, saying: “I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing, and that it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests.”

The turning point in negotiations, they explained, came with Benjamin Netanyahu – under Trump’s watchful eye – phoning Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani to apologise, though the Prime Minister’s Office has denied that any such apology was issued.

“The apology needed to happen. It just did. We were not moving forward without that apology,” said Witkoff, adding that Trump had told Netanyahu: “people apologise”

As for the future relationship between Israel and Qatar, the pair were both very positive, recalling how representatives from the two countries hugged once the deal was done. 

“I thought to myself: I wish the world could have seen it,” said Witkoff.

Kushner added: “I believe over time Israel and Qatar could actually turn out to be incredible allies in the region to advance things forward.”