US talks with Hamas were recent, says Witkoff; Trump’s threats 'will spur Netanyahu to quit ceasefire'

Hamas said on Thursday that Trump’s repeated threats against Palestinians constituted support for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back out of the Gaza ceasefire and intensify the siege of Gazans.

Switzerland had cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, its Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed on Thursday, after some countries expressed dissatisfaction.

US discussions with Hamas were recent, says Trump envoy

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said that direct US discussions with Hamas militants were in recent days, and the message to the Palestinian militant group was that the US wanted to get hostages home.

Witkoff also said the US did not believe Hamas had been forthright. He spoke a day after reports surfaced that the top US hostage negotiator, Adam Boehler, had met in Doha with Hamas representatives to try to obtain the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Witkoff told reporters at the White House that gaining the release of Edan Alexander, the 21-year-old man from New Jersey believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, was a “top priority for us”.

Witkoff said he would travel to the Middle East next week with stops planned in four countries.

Trump’s threats spur Netanyahu to evade Gaza ceasefire deal, says Hamas

Hamas said on Thursday that Trump’s repeated threats against Palestinians constituted support for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back out of the Gaza ceasefire and intensify the siege of Gazans.

Trump demanded in a social media post on Wednesday that Hamas “release all of the hostages now, not later”, including the remains of dead hostages, “or it is OVER for you”.

“Trump’s repeated threats against our people represent support to Netanyahu to evade the agreement and tighten the siege and starvation against our people,” said Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua in a text message to Reuters.

“The best track to release the remaining Israeli prisoners is by ... going into the second phase [of the ceasefire] and compelling it [Israel] to adhere to the agreement signed under the sponsorship of mediators,” he said.

The Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect in January calls for the remaining hostages to be freed in a second phase, during which final plans would be negotiated for an end to the war.

The first phase of the ceasefire ended on Saturday, and Israel has since imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the enclave, demanding that Hamas free remaining hostages without beginning the negotiations to end the Gaza war.

Palestinians say the blockade could lead to starvation among the 2.3 million people living in Gaza’s ruins.

Trump made his new threats after a White House meeting on Wednesday with a group of hostages who had been released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.

“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” he said in his social media post. “Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”

In a televised speech, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Ubaida said Israel’s threats to resume the fighting or tighten the Gaza blockade would not secure the release of hostages, adding that the group was “ready for all possibilities”.

“The enemy’s threats in war and blockade would only bring them disappointment and will not lead to the release of its prisoners [hostages],” said Abu Ubaida.

“We tell all those concerned that we have signs of life of all the remaining living hostages of the enemy and any escalation on Gaza will most likely result in the killing of some enemy prisoners [hostages] as in many previous cases.”

Israel has accused Hamas of killing hostages the militant group said had died in Israeli military strikes on Gaza.

Fighting has been halted since 19 January and Hamas has released 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages are still alive.

Showing the fragility of the ceasefire, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed one man in eastern Gaza City on Thursday. Israel’s military said several suspects were identified planting a bomb in the ground near where the forces operated and they were struck to remove the threat.

Israel’s assault on the enclave has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. It began after Hamas-led Islamist fighters raided southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

On Thursday, Gazans criticised Trump’s latest remarks, which followed his call last month for Palestinian residents of the tiny coastal enclave to be resettled elsewhere and for the territory to be developed as a “Middle East Riviera”.

“[Trump’s] work [should be] more to spread peace ... by exchanging hostages between the two parties, and not to throw around threats, blame and intimidation at the people of the Gaza Strip, who are suffering ... as a result of this war,” said Ahmed, a resident of Khan Younis in the Palestinian enclave.

Switzerland cancels Geneva Conventions meeting on Palestinian areas

Switzerland had cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, its Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed on Thursday, after some countries expressed dissatisfaction.

The country had invited 196 parties to the conventions to participate in the 7 March conference in Geneva on the situation of civilians living in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, but then told them the gathering had been cancelled, four diplomatic sources told Reuters earlier.

“In the absence of a consensus between the High Contracting Parties, [Switzerland], as depositary State, decided not to convene the meeting,” said Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Nicolas Bideau on X.

The conference was set to address the Fourth Geneva Convention, part of a series of international treaties agreed in 1949 after World War Two, which defines humanitarian protections for civilians living in areas of armed conflict or occupation.

The cancellation amounted to a diplomatic blow for neutral Switzerland, which prides itself on conflict mediation and frequently hosts summits and peace talks.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told Reuters earlier that his delegation did not plan to attend the event, criticising a draft declaration circulated among participants.

“We want the international community to take concrete measures and this fell short of expectations,” he told Reuters, saying such measures could include economic or diplomatic steps against Israel. “What we want is for the Geneva Conventions to be implemented.”

A member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said that the group had also planned to miss the event, saying the document “did not reflect the gravity of the situation”.

Britain felt that, along with many other states, it could not fully support a proposed declaration as a precondition for attending the conference, according to a statement from its diplomatic mission.

Diplomats from other Western states that back Israel also privately expressed concerns about the meeting, although at least some European countries were planning to attend. DM

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