US envoy Steve Witkoff discussed Gaza ceasefire talks, the US’s stance on Hamas, and the challenges of achieving stability in the region amidst ongoing conflict in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Friday. [Getty]
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, suggested that achieving stability in Gaza could involve demographic changes, hinting that some displaced Palestinian residents may not return.
In a nearly two-hour interview with US conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on Friday, Witkoff discussed the war on Gaza and Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks following Israel’s renewed attacks which shattered two months of relative calm in Gaza.
Witkoff highlighted that the aim for the US in formulating a postwar strategy in the war-battered territory was achieving “stability”.
However, the top diplomat merely indicated that the US leader’s plan included “stability in Gaza could mean some people come back … some people don’t”.
Witkoff’s comments follow Trump’s widely planned proposal of a US “takeover” of Gaza and the permanent resettlement of its population in neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan- which led to widespread condemnation in the Arab world.
However, the US Republican president later revised his statement, during his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House last week, asserting that the US would not support the expulsion of Palestinians.
This came as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi consistently rejected the idea of accepting Gazans and, in response to mounting pressure, quickly put forward a counterproposal that would enable Gaza’s reconstruction without displacing its population. This proposal was endorsed by the Arab League earlier this month.
Witkoff also seemingly shared his doubts about US support for a two-state solution for Gaza’s reconstruction and more broadly the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“When you use those words, it’s a flashpoint. To me, it’s just a word. What ‘two states’ to me means is how do we have a better living prescription for Palestinians who were living in Gaza,” he said.
He added: “But it’s not just about housing. Maybe it’s about AI coming there. Maybe it’s about hyperscale data centres being seeded into that area, because we need to have that, and these people can now take advantage, and we can create jobs for them there … We can’t rebuild Gaza and have it based on a welfare system. We have to give people prospects, economic and financial prospects.”
Witkoff also stated that the Trump administration strongly opposes Hamas remaining in control of Gaza and aims for the group to demilitarise.
The envoy mentioned that if Hamas were to agree to this, they could “stay there a little bit, be involved politically”.
However, he stressed that the US “can’t have a terrorist organisation running Gaza, because that won’t be acceptable to Israel”.
He further remarked that Hamas was not “ideologically intractable” and could be negotiated with.
According to Reuters on Friday, citing an unnamed Hamas official, the Palestinian group is still weighing the US-backed “bridge” proposal to restore the Gaza ceasefire, even as Israel has launched a new ground invasion of the besieged enclave.
Witkoff’s proposal seeks to reinstate the Gaza ceasefire and extend it into April to allow time for negotiations on a permanent end to the fighting.
Hamas stated that it was still deliberating on the US diplomat’s plan and other options, aiming to reach a deal on prisoner releases, ending the war, and ensuring a full Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian official also informed Reuters that Egypt had presented a similar bridging proposal, but Hamas has yet to respond and declined to provide further details.
An Israeli source familiar with the Israel-Hamas negotiations told Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday that Witkoff’s approach, alongside Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, has failed.
The source criticised Israel’s conduct following the implementation of the January ceasefire, which saw the release of 25 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight deceased hostages in exchange for over 1,900 Palestinian captives held in Israel.
The source accused Dermer of not keeping pace with the previous Israeli negotiating chiefs and instead preparing to fly to Washington next week with National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to discuss other issues.
The source condemned the lack of action to bring about a solution, telling Channel 12, “If there is no agreement very soon, we will slide into a full return to war.”
They continued: “Instead of dedicating time to intensive negotiations and reaching agreements, [Israel] is stringing the talks along aimlessly.”
The first phase of the truce ended at the beginning of this month, but Israel and Hamas could not resolve differences over the terms for launching the second phase.
As a result, Israel initiated a new, all-out air and ground campaign, which was also accompanied by another suspension of aid deliveries.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, threatened the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, further adding that the longer Hamas took to release the remaining hostages, the more territory it would lose.
In response, the governments of Germany, France, and Britain issued a joint statement on Friday, calling for an immediate return to the ceasefire in Gaza and urging Israel to restore humanitarian access.
