Report: Witkoff meeting with Hamas chief canceled following backlash

Witkoff was set to meet again with Hamas Politburo Chairman Khalil al-Hayya, who worked with Trump’s Middle East envoy to bring the October ceasefire over the finish line.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has reportedly canceled a planned meeting with the co-chairman of Hamas’ politburo in Turkey on Wednesday, following a backlash against the summit.

The two had planned to meet in a bid to preserve the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip and to secure an agreement on the implementation of phase two of the White House’s Gaza peace plan.

Witkoff and Khalil al-Hayya first met in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 9 for talks that helped win Hamas backing for the Gaza ceasefire deal.

According to Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and confidant, Jared Kushner, Witkoff and al-Hayya bonded over the shared experience of losing a son – Witkoff’s to a drug overdose, al-Hayya’s in an IDF strike – at a Hamas gathering in Doha on September 9.

The two had been slated to meet in Istanbul against the backdrop of repeated declarations by Hamas that it has not accepted the entire American peace plan for Gaza and that it would not disarm or recognize international control over Gaza – neither by the international stabilization force peacekeepers nor by Board of Peace administrators.

A report published by the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat cited a Hamas official who said that the group would be listening to the Trump administration’s plans for implementing the broader Gaza deal, even after Hamas rejected the US-backed United Nations Security Council resolution passed on Monday.

However, on Wednesday morning, Israel Hayom reported that following pressure on Witkoff, the Istanbul meeting was canceled.

Hamas has yet to fulfill its obligations under the first phase of the Gaza deal, including returning all hostages to Israel.

While all 20 living hostages were returned in October, Hamas delayed the transfers of the bodies of slain captives, with the remains of three hostages still held in Gaza.

The shaky truce in Gaza has also been repeatedly violated by Hamas, with several deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers, mortar fire and sniper attacks on IDF positions, and numerous infiltration attempts by Hamas terrorists into the Israeli-controlled side of the ceasefire line.