Witkoff says he and Kushner ‘felt a little bit betrayed’ by Israeli strike in Qatar
US President Donald Trump felt the “Israelis were getting a little bit out of control” after Israel’s botched September 9 strike on Hamas’s leadership in Doha, his son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner said in comments broadcast Friday.
The comment came during an joint interview with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on CBS’s 60 Minutes. The interview with the two architects of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal will air in full on Sunday.
“I think both Jared and I felt, I just feel we felt a little bit betrayed,” said Witkoff of Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders gathered in the capital of Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire negotiations.
“It had a metastasizing effect because the Qataris were critical to the negotiation, as were the Egyptians and the Turks,” said Witkoff. “We had lost the confidence of the Qataris. And so Hamas went underground, and it was very, very difficult to get to them.”
Kushner, referring to Israel, said the strike led Trump to realize “that it was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long-term interests.”
Trump said at the time that he was “very unhappy” with Israel about the strike on the “strong” US ally, and that he did not receive a meaningful advance warning from Israel.
Exclusive: Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and special envoy Steve Witkoff give a behind-the-scenes look at the tense moments leading up to the ceasefire and hostage deal after an Israeli bombing threatened to derail the agreement.
“[Trump] felt like the Israelis… pic.twitter.com/WtZpJcYHTG
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 17, 2025
He has since committed the US to defend Qatar in case of a future attack, and seen to it that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Qatar for the strike, which failed to kill any of its targets but did kill a few lower-level Hamas members as well as a Qatari guard.
With Netanyahu’s approval, Qatar sent in Hamas in Gaza millions of dollars of cash on a monthly basis for years until the terror group stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
This frame grab taken from an AFPTV footage shows smoke billowing following an Israeli strike on the Hamas headquarters in Doha, Qatar, September 9, 2025. (PENNEY / AFPTV / AFP)
Top aides to Netanyahu are also under investigation for alleged criminal ties to the Gulf state, with which Israel has no formal ties.
