In a CBS 60 Minutes interview, US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff described Gaza’s destruction in stark, almost apocalyptic terms, yet simultaneously dismissed accusations of genocide, contrasting emotional eyewitness accounts with a legal justification for "Israel’s" war.

Jared Kushner, former senior advisor to US President Donald Trump, compared the destruction in Gaza to the aftermath of a nuclear strike, yet refrained from calling it genocide. Speaking with CBS’ Lesley Stahl, in an interview alongside US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Kushner recalled witnessing the devastation firsthand, “It looked almost like a nuclear bomb had been set off in that area.”

He described scenes of Palestinians returning to the rubble of their homes and setting up tents amid the ruins, a moment he called: "I'm looking around. These are all ruins. And they said, 'Well, they're going back to the areas where their destroyed home was, onto their plot, and they're gonna pitch a tent.' And it's very sad, because you think to yourself, they really have nowhere else to go." 

Despite the stark imagery, Kushner firmly denied that the situation constituted genocide. When asked directly by Stahl, he responded, “No, no.”

On his part, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff echoed that position, stating, “Absolutely not… There was a war being fought.”

Questions on conflicts of interest

The interview also addressed concerns over possible conflicts of interest, given Kushner and Witkoff’s business ties to Gulf states, particularly Qatar, which has reportedly played a central role in mediating the Gaza ceasefire.

Kushner defended their involvement, insisting that neither he nor Witkoff had pursued policies counter to US interests, saying, “What people call conflicts of interest, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world. If Steve and I didn’t have these deep relationships, the deal we were able to get done, that freed these hostages, would not have occurred.”

Addressing "Israel's" strike on Qatar, targeting the Resistance's negotiating team, Wiitkoff said that it caused a" metastasizing effect", shattering trust with Qatar as the "Qataris were critical to the [ceasefire] negotiations," and forcing Hamas to go underground, thus making it "very, very difficult to get to them."

He added that Trump reacted with frustration, feeling that “Israel was getting a little bit out of control in what they were doing” and needed to be reined in to protect long-term strategic interests.

Netanyahu’s ‘pivotal’ apology to Qatar enabled Gaza ceasefire, US envoys say

Kushner and Witkoff detailed how Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar and personal diplomacy with Hamas leaders helped pave the way for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The two top US envoys discussed the steps leading to the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire, emphasizing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani was a critical move. Netanyahu called al-Thani on September 29 while visiting Trump at the White House to apologize for the Israeli strike on a Hamas leadership meeting in Doha on September 9.

The strike, Witkoff noted, left the American team feeling “a little bit betrayed,” as it failed to eliminate the intended Hamas leaders and prompted Qatar to temporarily step back as a mediator in the negotiations.

At the time, Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with "Israel" over the attack on the “strong” US ally Qatar, citing the lack of meaningful advance notice. He later committed the US to defend Qatar against any future strikes.

Following Netanyahu’s apology, the White House announced its plan to end the war on Gaza, which was accepted by both "Israel" and the Arab states. Witkoff described the apology as “pivotal", calling it “the linchpin that got us to the next place. It was really, really important that it happened.”

Kushner added that Netanyahu “wasn’t [going to] do anything, or say anything, or agree to anything he didn’t feel comfortable with,” but recognized that the apology “was what needed to be done at that moment to make peace.” Witkoff echoed the sentiment, “The apology needed to happen. It just did. We were not moving forward without that apology. And the president said to him, ‘People apologize.’”

Kushner noted that the call also led to the creation of a “trilateral mechanism between the countries, which didn’t happen before,” suggesting that "Israel" and Qatar could eventually become strong regional partners.

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Kushner: 'Now that the war is over'

Kushner and Witkoff stressed the need for "Israel" to begin improving the lives of Palestinians, a message they framed as essential for regional integration. Kushner stated that "Israel" must begin aiding Palestinians and improving their livelihoods if it hopes to integrate fully into the region.

“The biggest message that we’ve tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that, now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better,” he told CBS’ Lesley Stahl.

He added that he and Witkoff were “just getting started” in delivering this message to "Israel".

Kushner emphasized what he described as the US vision for Palestinian welfare, focused not on sovereignty or liberation but on shared economic and security frameworks between occupiers and the occupied.

“We’re focused on creating a situation for joint security and economic opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians so that they can live side by side in a durable way,” he said.

When asked about the path to Palestinian statehood, Kushner deflected, suggesting that the future of Palestinian national aspirations would be determined within imposed frameworks.

“What you end up calling it over time, we’ll allow the Palestinians to determine that themselves," he said.

Gaza ceasefire and the fate of Palestinians

The interview marked Kushner and Witkoff’s first public remarks since helping broker the initial stage of the ceasefire in Gaza, a ceasefire that has been repeatedly violated by Israeli occupation forces, according to Palestinian authorities.

As of Monday, Hamas had yet to return 16 of the 28 deceased captives who remained in Gaza when the ceasefire took effect on October 10.

Asked whether Hamas was acting in good faith in returning the bodies, Kushner replied, “As far as we’ve seen from what’s being conveyed to us from the mediators, they are so far. That could break down at any minute, but right now — we have seen them looking to honor their agreement.”

He added, “There has been a very intense effort on behalf of our joint center with Israel and with the mediators in order to convey whatever information Israel has on the whereabouts of the bodies to the mediators and to Hamas — in order to retrieve them.”

Kushner claimed that the objective was to encourage both sides to “find a solution instead of blaming each other,” stating, “Push both sides to be proactive in terms of finding a solution instead of blaming each other for breakdowns.”

Continued aggression despite the ceasefire

Despite claims of ceasefire diplomacy, the reality on the ground in Gaza tells a different story.

The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip reported on Sunday that the Israeli occupation has committed at least 80 documented violations of the ceasefire agreement. These violations,  occurring after the supposed end of major hostilities, have included deliberate attacks on Palestinians, widespread destruction of property, and blatant disregard for international law.

According to the office, these violations involved:

• Direct gunfire targeting civilians
• Artillery shelling of residential areas
• Use of fire belts
• Arbitrary arrests

In addition, Israeli tanks and military vehicles have been seen deployed dangerously close to populated neighborhoods. Surveillance drones and warplanes continue to patrol Gaza’s skies, firing into civilian zones under the cover of "security operations".

The office also reported the deployment of electronic cranes with remote targeting systems, a method used in recent attacks that suggests increasing technological sophistication in striking densely populated areas.

While Kushner and Witkoff projected a future vision of "joint opportunity" and cooperation, their defense of "Israel’s" actions and the US role in the ongoing blockade and devastation of Gaza stand in stark contrast to the humanitarian crisis on the ground.

As Palestinian families continue to bury their dead under rubble and live in makeshift tents with no international protection, US officials frame the catastrophe as an unfortunate byproduct of war,  while promoting economic frameworks that ignore the root causes: occupation, mass displacement, and denial of Palestinian rights.

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The interview underscored a sharp contradiction: while Kushner and Witkoff described Gaza’s destruction in catastrophic terms, they continued to frame "Israel’s" actions as legitimate wartime measures. Their rejection of the genocide label stood in contrast to the imagery they themselves invoked, reflecting the complexities and controversies of the US position on the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

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