Trump's Middle East envoy Witkoff to return to Qatar for hostage release negotiations

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, announced on Tuesday that he will be returning to Qatar later this week to push forward the ongoing hostage negotiations and ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Witkoff said he hopes to have good things to report by the time Trump is sworn in as U.S. president on Jan. 20.

“We’re making a lot of progress, and I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Doha, but I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president,” Witkoff said.

The news of Witkoff’s efforts to advance the deal comes after Trump’s threats in early December that there would be “all hell to pay in the Middle East” if the Israeli hostages weren’t released by the time he’s in office.

Delegates from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar's capital, Doha, since the weekend.

Earlier this week, Hamas named 34 Israeli hostages in Gaza, including two dual U.S. citizens, it is willing to release in a ceasefire deal.

Negotiations have been on-and-off again for the past year, but were recently revived after the former U.S. president won the election in November. The parties have been under increased pressure from both the Biden and Trump administrations to secure a deal.

When asked what has been holding up the negotiations to date, Witkoff declined to point to any one issue.

“I believe we’ve been on the verge of a deal. I don’t want to discuss what’s delayed it – no point to be negative in any way,” he said.

Witkoff, who has traveled to the Middle East several times in the past month, added that the parties are not waiting until Trump is in office to reach a deal.

“…I think they heard him loud and clear; this better get done by the inaugural. We’re working in tandem in a really good way, but it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said, that are driving this negotiation, and so hopefully it’ll all work out and we’ll save some lives,” Witkoff said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, both met with Witkoff separately in recent weeks, according to U.S. officials.

Of the 101 hostages still held in Gaza, roughly half are believed to be alive.

Last Saturday, the Hamas terror group released a propaganda video of 19-year-old hostage Liri Albag, showing her deteriorated mental state.

“We saw our heroic Liri survive and beg for her life. She is several dozen kilometers from us, and for 456 days we have been unable to bring her home,” Albag’s family said.

The first batch of hostages to be released is expected to be made up mostly of women and children, the elderly and those with medical conditions, according to Israeli, Egyptian and Hamas officials.