Trump's pick for Middle East envoy in diplomatic push for Gaza ceasefire before inauguration

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Middle East envoy has travelled to Qatar and Israel to kickstart his diplomatic push to help reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office on 20 January, a source briefed on the talks has told Reuters.

Steve Witkoff, who will officially take up the position under Trump’s administration, met separately in late November with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said the source.

Witkoff’s conversations appear to have been aimed at building on nearly 14 months of unsuccessful diplomacy by the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt aimed at a lasting ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in Gaza and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held in the enclave in exchange for some of the thousands of Palestinians detained by the occupation state.

The meetings also signal that the Gulf state of Qatar has resumed its role as a key mediator after suspending the work last month. The source added that Hamas negotiators would likely return to the Qatari capital Doha for more talks soon.

Biden’s aides have been aware of Witkoff’s contacts with Israeli, Qatari and other Middle East officials and understand that Trump’s envoy supports a Gaza deal along the lines that the administration has been pursuing, said a US official.

The Biden administration, rather than Witkoff, retains the US lead in efforts to revive negotiations towards a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials in Cairo on Sunday. Biden’s team has kept the Trump camp updated, but the two sides have not worked together directly, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Team Biden does not see a need to coordinate with Witkoff because it regards his discussions with regional players as largely an effort to learn the issues rather than negotiations, said the official.

Trump’s transition team and representatives for Witkoff did not respond immediately to a request from Reuters for comment about the meetings.

The president-elect warned on Monday that there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held in the Gaza Strip were not released prior to his inauguration.

Witkoff is a real estate investor and Trump campaign donor with business ties to Qatar and other Gulf states, but he has no prior diplomatic experience. He met Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as foreign minister, in Doha on 22 November.

“Both agreed that a Gaza ceasefire is needed before Trump’s inauguration so that once the Trump administration takes office it can move onto other issues, like stabilising Gaza and the region,” said the source, who was briefed on Witkoff’s meetings and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Witkoff met Netanyahu in Israel on 23 November. Neither Qatar’s foreign ministry nor the Israeli prime minister’s office responded to Reuters’ request for comment.

Furthermore, Witkoff also met families of Israeli hostages, an Israeli official told the agency. He “spoke with them about Team Trump’s efforts to try and broker the deal before inauguration,” said the official.

Sheikh Mohammed travelled to Vienna on 24 November to meet the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency David Barnea, who has led Israel’s talks with Qatar over the past 14 months. “There are plans for a subsequent round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to take place potentially in Doha soon, but no specific date has been set,” added the source.

The Hamas negotiating team left Doha in recent weeks, said Qatari officials, after Washington objected to their presence. That followed the movement’s rejection of a short-term ceasefire proposal after talks in mid-October. They are likely to return to Doha for new talks.

Commenting about Trump’s “hell to pay” warning on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters on Wednesday that his comment was a “powerful reflection” of the urgency for a ceasefire and hostage deal among both Trump’s Republicans and Biden’s Democrats. “We’re going to pursue every avenue we can in the time that we have left to try to get the hostages back and to get a ceasefire,” said Blinken. “And I think the president-elect’s statement reinforces that.”

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