US President Donald Trump's hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, defended his direct talks with Hamas officials on CNN Sunday, rejecting intense criticism from Israel and its supporters in the United States.

“We have a real chance of some movement forward, of seeing the hostages home in the next few weeks,” said Boehler, a Jewish American with a successful business background (who served in the first Trump administration), in a series of interviews with American media.

"The people I've met with from Hamas are regular people, they don't have horns coming out of their heads, they're like us, and they're nice people," he said on "State of the Union" with host Jake Tapper, stressing that "they're not agents of Israel; we have our own interests."

In response to Tapper's question (in the CNN interview), Boehler said that Hamas's proposal for a "long-term truce" may be on the horizon, "where Hamas lays down its weapons, where it agrees that it will have no future political role in Gaza."

Some of Boehler’s comments have upset senior Israeli officials, who told The Times of Israel they were surprised to hear the envoy’s comment that the United States “is not an agent of Israel.” In a series of interviews Sunday, the US special envoy for prisoner affairs, Adam Boehler, revealed the contents of his meeting with Hamas in Qatar.

Boehler had disclosed the proposal that Hamas had presented to the Americans in direct talks he had with its senior officials. He revealed that the United States does not rule out concluding a "truce" between Hamas and Israel for a few years.

Envoy Boehler said Hamas "offered a deal that included the release of all prisoners on both sides, including a ceasefire of five to 10 years, where Hamas would disarm, and the United States, along with other countries, would help ensure that there would be no more tunnels, no more military activity, and that Hamas would no longer engage in politics."

The direct talks between the United States and Hamas, held in parallel with indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt, focused on the release of American hostages still held in Gaza, although Boehler stressed that the ultimate goal was the release of all hostages.

“We were not prepared to sit for two weeks,” Boehler told Israel’s Channel 12, declining to say when his meetings with Hamas would begin or how many meetings had taken place. Asked by Channel 12 whether he “realistically” believed that “Hamas would eventually agree to lay down its arms and not be part of the political future of Gaza,” he replied: “I believe so.”

While his meetings focused on the only living American hostage, Aidan Alexander, along with the bodies of four dead American captives, Buehler stressed that the talks were aimed at reaching a broader deal for all hostages.

“There is no need to fear that the president of the United States, or I, or anyone in our administration will forget about you,” he told the Israeli public.

Hamas has not yet pledged to lay down its weapons or give up political power.