Chris Menahan –Information Liberation May 16, 2025

Hamas is claiming that President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff promised them that the US would lift Israel’s Gaza blockade in exchange for the release of Israeli-American IDF captive Edan Alexander but “threw [the deal] in the trash” after Alexander’s release.

From DropSiteNews, “Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander”:

A senior Hamas official told Drop Site that the group received a direct commitment from Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, that two days after the release of U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, the Trump administration would compel Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory. Witkoff, according to the official, also promised that Trump would make a public call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for negotiations aimed at achieving a “permanent ceasefire.”

“It was a deal,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by “Witkoff, himself.” In an interview with Drop Site, Naim said the agreement was: “If we release [Alexander], Trump will speak out thanking Hamas for its gesture, obliging Israel on the second day to open the borders and allow aid to come into Gaza, and [Trump would] call for an immediate ceasefire and to go for negotiations to end the war.”

“He did nothing of this,” Naim added. “They didn’t violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

[…] While Witkoff, according to Hamas, had promised the U.S. would facilitate the lifting of Israel’s blockade on Gaza two days after Alexander’s release, the U.S. appeared to completely abandon the agreement. On May 13, the day after Hamas freed Alexander, Israel launched a massive series of air strikes on the European Hospital in Khan Younis, killing 28 Palestinians and wounding dozens of others. Israel claimed the target of the strike was Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of the late political leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar. Mohammed Sinwar assumed command of Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, after Israel assassinated its previous commanders Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa.

Israeli officials have suggested that targeting Sinwar would soften Hamas’s stance in negotiations, claiming the Qassam commander was enforcing a hard line. Hamas has not confirmed Sinwar’s death, and Naim dismissed the idea that killing him would have any impact. “I think this is part of the Israeli strategy, but it has proven that this strategy is failing for 17 months. They have killed Yahya Sinwar, they have killed Deif, they have killed Marwan Issa. They have killed a lot of leaders and no one has witnessed a clear breakdown, not only in the negotiation, but also in the whole battle, the whole fighters, tactics and strategies,” Naim said. “The decision of the negotiations is not a one man show decision. This is decided by a lot of people inside Gaza and outside Gaza.”

Witkoff and Adam Boehler, the White House special envoy on hostages, held several meetings in Doha this week with Israeli negotiators, as well as with regional mediators from Qatar and Egypt. While both U.S. officials publicly expressed optimism this week that a deal could be on the horizon, Naim said there has been no progress. “Zero,” he said. “Big zero.”

“They returned back to talking about the Israeli proposal or the Israeli-Witkoff proposal, as if nothing happened during the last one or two weeks, including the release of Alexander, who was released within the context of direct talks with the Americans,” Naim said. “They are insisting on gradual or partial deals. They are talking about partial deals to release some of the prisoners for a temporary ceasefire, and then to go for open negotiations without any commitment to end the war.”

Israeli news outlets reported Friday that no breakthroughs had occurred in Doha this week. YNet reported that after two days of meetings, Witkoff “has given up and is letting Israel make the decisions.” The Times of Israel reported that in the face of Netanyhau’s refusal to make any concessions, “Witkoff has told other mediators that Washington doesn’t plan to force Israel to end the war in Gaza.”

So far it appears all the Trump administration has offered is rhetoric.

We’re looking at Gaza — We gotta get that taken care of, a lot of people are starving — Donald Trump on the Gaza crisis

‘There are a lot of bad things going on’ pic.twitter.com/ELVM7y6eKs

— RT (@RT_com) May 16, 2025

Trump said on Friday that Gazans are starving and he’s “looking” at the situation (or one could say “monitoring the situation.”)

The fact is while Trump and his proxies are offering up all sorts of nice rhetoric, shortly after taking power his administration sent Israel a ton of arms shipments to help expand the genocide.

These arms were supposedly sent under the (comical) guise that they would help “secure a ceasefire.”

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