U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy on hostages, Adam Boehler, has been moved from dealing with the Israeli captives held by Hamas, according to senior sources in Washington. There has been no official announcement yet, and the decision could be reversed at the last moment.
Boehler's removal follows Israel's campaign against the backchannel talks he held with the heads of Hamas in Doha, aimed at securing the release of American hostages. After they were revealed – according to American sources by Israelis – they were suspended.
Adam Boehler on CNN
(: CNN)
Israel was at first ignorant of the talks and later opposed to them. To explain his attempt born of the stalemate in negotiations, Boehler gave interviews to Israeli media outlets and further enraged American officials after he described the Hamas officials as nice people and had to apologize.
According to the reports, he will be removed from the efforts to release the 59 hostages held in Gaza and the attempts to bring about the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov who was abducted in Iraq in 2023. He will for now, continue to be responsible for efforts to free thousands of American hostages and prisoners.
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Boehler's removal leaves Steve Witkoff as the sole senior official dealing with Israel's hostages. Witkoff left Doha for Moscow on Thursday on unrelated matters, while there has been no breakthrough in the negotiations in Qatar. Still, some officials familiar with the details said there has been certain progress that could lead to the release of a small number of captives.