US President Donald Trump's special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler, assured the families of the hostages amid the negotiations for a deal that "if there is no deal, we will use the equation of information about the hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid," Channel 13 News reported on Friday evening.
According to the report, while the status of the negotiations for a deal remains unclear, the hostages' families are once again in a state of uncertainty, and Trump's envoys are the ones taking care to update them and provide information on the progress of the talks. Among the families, there is fear and frustration over the likelihood that the deal will be a partial deal rather than the comprehensive deal they had hoped for.
The report further stated that Witkoff and Boehler are in regular contact with the hostages' families, receiving messages from them and communicating with some almost daily. Recently, they told some of the families, "We are determined to achieve a breakthrough." They also promised that if the deal does not ultimately come to fruition, "we will use the equation of information about the hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid," meaning they would try to leverage humanitarian aid to obtain information from Hamas about the hostages' condition.
"We will not back down from this issue, we will not abandon you, we will apply pressure in other ways," they assured the families, following concerns from some that after the release of Edan Alexander, the United States would exert less pressure for a hostage deal.
Meanwhile on Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza is close, speculating that an official announcement could come later in the day or on Saturday.
The President’s comments come a day after Arab media outlets reported that Hamas and Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza proposed by Witkoff, adding that Trump would announce the details of the agreement within hours.
An Israeli diplomatic official denied the report, saying that Israel is unaware of Hamas's agreement to Witkoff's proposal.
Later, a senior Hamas official said that “Witkoff’s new proposal does not meet our demands, but we are still examining it.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier informed families of Israeli hostages that Israel had accepted the new ceasefire proposal presented by Witkoff.
However, Netanyahu clarified that Israel’s agreement to the Witkoff proposal did not signify an end to the war in Gaza.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)