Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the potential for “a dialogue” with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar for helping facilitate the cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, despite facing scrutiny for previous ties to the Gulf nation.

The president, after signing a series of executive orders, said he hopes to avoid military action against Iran

President Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff appeared on Fox News Wednesday, where the host, Dana Perino, read him a quote from a senior Hamas official who told the NY Times, “We are prepared for a dialogue with America in achieving understandings on everything.”

Envoy Steve Witkoff, carrying a message from Donald Trump, broke through the impasse in long-futile cease-fire talks.

In a rare move hours after the cease-fire took effect, one senior Hamas official said the group wants to engage the new Trump administration.

"It is striking that Israel was not mentioned in the president's inauguration speech," a senior Hamas official told Newsweek.

President-elect Donald Trump praised the new Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage exchange deal that his special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to

( JTA) — Family members of Israelis held hostage in Gaza appeared onstage with President Donald Trump during a post-inauguration rally in Washington, D.C., on Monday. They were joined by Noa Argamani, a former hostage who was freed by the Israeli army in June.

They wanted him to lose. But now, some supporters of a two-state solution think the 47th president might just help their cause.

Two months ago, then-President-Elect Donald Trump, with his special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff by his side, reiterated: “If those hostages aren’t back … by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.

The battlefield in Gaza also is changing. The first phase of the ceasefire allows Gaza’s nearly 2 million displaced people to leave crowded tent camps and return to what remains of their homes. This will allow Hamas to regroup in the midst of masses of civilians.