{"id":308934,"date":"2025-05-19T06:56:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T06:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=308934"},"modified":"2025-05-21T07:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T07:26:06","slug":"report-hamas-says-witkoff-promised-to-lift-gaza-blockade-in-exchange-for-edan-alexander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=308934","title":{"rendered":"Report: Hamas Says Witkoff Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Chris Menahan \u2013Information Liberation May 16, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Hamas is claiming that President Trump&#8217;s envoy Steve Witkoff promised them that the US would lift Israel&#8217;s Gaza blockade in exchange for the release of Israeli-American IDF captive Edan Alexander but &#8220;threw [the deal] in the trash&#8221; after Alexander&#8217;s release.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\uf6a8 Hamas Says Steve Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. broke the deal, a senior Hamas official told <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DropSiteNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DropSiteNews<\/a>. \u201cThey threw it in the trash\u201d and there has been \u201czero\u201d progress on a Gaza ceasefire.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hUw5wA0KSi\">https:\/\/t.co\/hUw5wA0KSi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jeremyscahill\/status\/1923430721672171595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Witkoff says of Israel blocking a ceasefire and continuing its ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza: \u201cWe can\u2019t tell them what to do.\u201d He knows that\u2019s not true. When he told Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire in January, Netanyahu obeyed. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/K3wSL4vR8T\">https:\/\/t.co\/K3wSL4vR8T<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Mat\u00e9 (@aaronjmate) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1923254923778535922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n&#8212;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropsitenews.com\/p\/witkoff-hamas-trump-deal-edan-alexander-lift-blockade-israel\">DropSiteNews, &#8220;Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander&#8221;<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">A senior Hamas official told Drop Site that the group received a direct commitment from Donald Trump\u2019s 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 \u201cpermanent ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cIt was a deal,\u201d said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas\u2019s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by \u201cWitkoff, himself.\u201d In an interview with Drop Site, Naim said the agreement was: \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cHe did nothing of this,\u201d Naim added. \u201cThey didn&#8217;t violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">[&#8230;] While Witkoff, according to Hamas, had promised the U.S. would facilitate the lifting of Israel\u2019s blockade on Gaza two days after Alexander\u2019s 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\u2019s armed wing, after Israel assassinated its previous commanders Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Israeli officials have suggested that targeting Sinwar would soften Hamas\u2019s stance in negotiations, claiming the Qassam commander was enforcing a hard line. Hamas has not confirmed Sinwar\u2019s death, and Naim dismissed the idea that killing him would have any impact. \u201cI 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,\u201d Naim said. \u201cThe decision of the negotiations is not a one man show decision. This is decided by a lot of people inside Gaza and outside Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">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. \u201cZero,\u201d he said. \u201cBig zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u201cThey 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,\u201d Naim said. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Israeli news outlets reported Friday that no breakthroughs had occurred in Doha this week. <strong>YNet reported that after two days of meetings, Witkoff \u201chas given up and is letting Israel make the decisions.\u201d The Times of Israel reported that in the face of Netanyhau\u2019s refusal to make any concessions, \u201cWitkoff has told other mediators that Washington doesn\u2019t plan to force Israel to end the war in Gaza.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So far it appears all the Trump administration has offered is rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">We&#8217;re looking at Gaza \u2014 We gotta get that taken care of, a lot of people are starving \u2014 Donald Trump on the Gaza crisis<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u2018There are a lot of bad things going on\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ELVM7y6eKs\">pic.twitter.com\/ELVM7y6eKs<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\u2014 RT (@RT_com) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RT_com\/status\/1923317277145157665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trump said on Friday that Gazans are starving and he&#8217;s &#8220;looking&#8221; at the situation (or one could say <a href=\"https:\/\/ifunny.co\/picture\/m-monitoring-the-situation-emperor-trump-help-YXZQwnma7\">&#8220;monitoring the situation.&#8221;<\/a>)<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Steve Witkoff is a crazed Zionist fanatic and has been his entire life. He has been indoctrinated since birth into genocidal Zionism. Anyone who bought into and helped launder the bullshit &#8220;OMG HES ACTUALLY TURNING ON ISRAEL, HE WANTS A REAL IRAN DEAL&#8221; is either stupid or a liar <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ebR36xpjvK\">https:\/\/t.co\/ebR36xpjvK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u2600\ufe0f\uf440 (@zei_squirrel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zei_squirrel\/status\/1923453503734714583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n&#8212;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The fact is while Trump and his proxies are offering up all sorts of nice rhetoric, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.informationliberation.com\/?id=64879\">shortly after taking power his administration sent Israel a ton of arms shipments to help expand the genocide.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>These arms were supposedly sent under the (comical) guise that they would help &#8220;secure a ceasefire.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.informationliberation.com\/?id=64930\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. broke the deal, a senior Hamas official says: \u201cThey threw it in the trash\u201d and there has been \u201czero\u201d progress on a Gaza ceasefire. Meanwhile the slaughter continues with U.S. supplied arms and ammunition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":308937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[118,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-10-gaza-war","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308938,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308934\/revisions\/308938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}