U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler said on Wednesday that there was no “day after” discussion with regard to the Gaza Strip until all the hostages being held there are freed.
According to U.S. President Donald Trump, “nothing goes forward until all hostages are released,” Boehler told Al Jazeera. “Step one is all hostages released. Step two is, let’s figure out this day after,” he continued.
“I think there’s always a possibility for a comprehensive deal,” Boehler said, adding, “I don’t think Israel is interested in staying for the long term.”
Trump has proposed relocating those Gazans who want to leave to safer areas while the enclave, which has suffered extensive damage due to the Israel Hamas war, is rebuilt.
“What’s very important now is to ... bring back all hostages, all innocent hostages, and then we can talk about the makings of the deal ... Hamas needs to release the hostages ... They should release the hostages unilaterally,” said Boehler.
“The hostages are what keep things from moving forward. We need them home. You can’t deal with people that hold innocent people as hostages,” he added.
“I can tell you that the fighting would end immediately, immediately, if the hostages are released. The day that those hostages are released, the fighting will end,” he continued.
Hamas should identify an offer that Israel and the United States can accept “and end this,” he added.
Commenting on Hamas’s claim that it has lost track of hostage Edan Alexander, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, due to an Israeli bombing sortie, Boehler said if anything happened to Alexander, the blame would fall on Hamas.
“If Edan gets sick, if Edan has a cold, guess who’s getting blamed— Hamas. I think the best thing for them is not to ... risk blame from the United States on these things. So I hope no hair on his head is hurt, or we’re going to come for them, and it’s not going to be pretty. So I believe that Edan is fine,” he said.
Of those hostages who may have died due to Israeli airstrikes, he said, “I’m not sure I would blame Israeli bombardment for that. I would blame the fact that they’re hostages in the first place.”
In mid-March, Boehler’s direct talks with Hamas resulted in tensions with Israel. According to reports, the Trump administration removed him from the hostage team after he referred to Hamas as “nice guys” and said during an interview that he didn’t “really care about” the concerns of Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister. He also said that the United States was “not an agent of Israel.”
After immediate backlash, he clarified his remarks on social media, claiming that people “misinterpreted” them.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people,” he wrote. “They are, by definition, bad people.”
