Steve Witkoff stepping back from Trump administration after Gaza deal, sources say
US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to step back from the Trump administration to refocus on his business after serving as a key negotiator who sealed the Gaza ceasefire, two sources familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye.
Both sources, who requested anonymity to reveal private discussions, said Witkoff planned to leave the administration to refocus on his business after a "gruelling" schedule of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East.
Witkoff’s pull-back could open questions over how engaged the US will remain in the subsequent phases of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, which has vague calls for everything from Hamas’s disarmament to the reconstruction of Gaza and the appointment of a Palestinian technocratic government.
Trump says he will chair a so-called "board of peace" to oversee Gaza. But US and Arab diplomats have questioned how active Trump will be, particularly on holding Israel to the terms of the ceasefire after the victory lap of his peace summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
During a brief meeting between Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the summit, Witkoff suggested he would be engaged in the next stages, particularly Gaza’s reconstruction.
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"The minute we had inked the deal, Jared and I were already working on the implementation side of the deal," Witkoff said, referring to the president's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner.
"So we're dug in. We'll be here quite a bit. That's at the direction of the president. That's probably going to be one of the most important phases here. Jared is remarkable to work with.”
MEE reached out to the Trump administration for comment on this report. Following publication, Anna Kelly, the White House deputy press secretary said: “This is totally false, which we would have made clear if Middle East Eye gave us adequate opportunity to comment. Special Envoy Witkoff has no plans to step down at this time."
Witkoff and Kushner addressed Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square on Saturday night following the news of the ceasefire agreement. Witkoff, who has regularly praised Trump as the greatest president in history, gave an impassioned speech with tears in his eyes.
“This is the most powerful sight…gathered in Tel Aviv for peace, for unity, for hope…I only wish the President [Trump] was here. He would love this,” Witkoff told tens of thousands of people who gathered to celebrate the deal.
Witkoff-Hamas meeting
Witkoff was designated an envoy by Trump, although he formally served as a State Department employee for the first half of this year.
The White House says Witkoff does not take a salary. Among State Department diplomats, he is known to use his own private jet to travel. This fact was not lost on career diplomats who watched him and Kushner shuttle with ease between Israel and Egypt during a government shutdown that has grounded some career officials.
The Gaza ceasefire is the high point, so far, in Witkoff’s brief foray into diplomacy.
Witkoff worked at a white-shoe law firm when he met Trump in the 1980s. That encounter inspired the New Yorker to go into real estate development. It was a successful journey for Witkoff, who Forbes estimates to have a net worth of $2bn. Trump tasked his billionaire golfing friend to be his global troubleshooter to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Although Witkoff had no career diplomatic experience, he was well received in the region, where he was viewed as a serious envoy, empowered by the president.
Arab officials from countries involved in the Gaza ceasefire repeatedly told MEE they preferred dealing with Witkoff over the careerist, Washington insiders the Biden administration used in talks.
Witkoff has ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish-American supporters of Israel.
When Trump addressed Israel’s Knesset on Monday, Witkoff was filmed sitting in front of Miriam Adelson, a billionaire casino heiress who has championed Zionist causes, including Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. East Jerusalem is occupied according to international law and is envisioned as the future capital of a Palestinian state.
But Witkoff rarely espoused an ideological view during the negotiations. His business background, ties to Trump, and wealth enabled him to operate far beyond the constraints of ordinary American diplomats.
Last week, Witkoff and Kushner held an unprecedented direct meeting with senior Hamas officials, including Khalil al-Hayya, in Egypt. Sources told MEE that Witkoff offered his condolences to Hayya over the killing of his son in Israel’s attack on Doha last month. Witkoff spoke about his own late son, saying that he understands the pain of losing a child.
The US envoy’s son, Andrew, died at 22 from an OxyContin overdose.
"Since then, I have dedicated myself to end the suffering of others," Witkoff told Hayya, adding that this was a motivation for him to ensure the end of the war.
Conflicts of interest?
Trump has also tasked Witkoff with mediating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. However, those talks have stalled. Trump is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday.
Like Trump, Witkoff has also drawn scrutiny over his family’s business ties to the Gulf, which have raised questions of conflicts of interest as he shuttles across the Middle East.
Witkoff’s son, Zack, is friends with Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric. They are the founders of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency start-up that received $2bn in deposits from a company linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE’s national security minister and unofficial AI and tech tsar.
The New York Times reported last month that Witkoff’s other son, Alex, lobbied Qatar to start a fund focused on commercial real estate projects in the US.
The NYT report also claimed that Witkoff was selected as a prominent Jewish American by lobbyists for Qatar because of his ties to Trump going back to 2017.
In 2023, Witkoff sold Manhattan’s swanky Park Lane Hotel to the Qatari Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, for $623m. Through these business deals, he established close ties with the ruling families of Qatar and the UAE.
Witkoff and the Witkoff Group threatened the NYT with a defamation lawsuit over the report.
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