The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Trump administration has shifted its focus away from direct talks with Hamas and is returning to key Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, after its discussions with the Palestinian militant group raised concerns in Israel and yielded little progress.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Trump's hostage envoy Adam Boehler's meeting with Hamas, but said it was a one-off attempt to secure the release of some hostages and failed. The administration's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is scheduled to arrive in Doha on Wednesday, where he will attempt to revive talks between Israel and Hamas, which have now stalled after the first phase of a ceasefire agreement reached last January expired.

"That doesn't mean he was wrong to try," Rubio said of Boehler's talks with Hamas as he headed to Saudi Arabia on Monday evening. "But our primary focus is on the ongoing process in Qatar."

Witkoff, who serves as the chief negotiator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has postponed a planned trip to the Middle East several times. Negotiators said he was needed in the region to push Israel and Hamas past the difficult standoff in the talks.

Main negotiations have been stagnant for weeks at a key turning point - whether to open talks on the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a permanent end to the fighting, an issue on which Israel and Hamas remain completely at odds.

The agreement that Witkoff helped broker in January brought relative calm to the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, with Hamas returning 33 Israeli captives, both dead and alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. It was designed as a multi-stage agreement to postpone the most difficult questions until the final stages in the hope of building momentum to prevent a resumption of fighting.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Hamas continues to press for talks on a permanent end to the fighting, which Israel refuses to discuss. Arab and Hamas officials said the two sides are negotiating a possible interim arrangement to release some hostages in exchange for extending the ceasefire for perhaps another 60 days. Meanwhile, Israel has cut off aid and electricity supplies to Gaza as part of a planned series of escalations to force Hamas to soften its stance, while Trump has threatened to return to war if the hostages are not released.

Witkov said on Monday that Hamas has no choice but to disarm and leave the Gaza Strip.

"I think they have no alternative," Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News. "There's no logical or rational option for them but to leave. If they leave, I think everything is on the table for a negotiated peace agreement. That's what they'll need to do."

Boehler met with Hamas officials earlier this month and said in interviews with Israeli television this week that his goal was to secure the release of the last American hostage still alive in Gaza. But he also suggested that Hamas was willing to lay down its weapons in exchange for a truce and said that the United States had separate interests from Israel's, and that "the United States is not an agent of Israel," comments that upset Israelis, who were already resentful of being excluded from the talks.

"He sought to negotiate the release of the American hostages on his own," far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Army Radio on Monday morning, calling the effort a "grave mistake."

Boehler's remarks added to the confusion surrounding US policy. Trump has not indicated any similar priority for brokering a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He has allowed Israel to cut off aid and electricity to the Strip without any public backlash. He has also repeatedly said that Hamas will face severe punishment if it does not release all hostages and that the decision on ending the war rests with Netanyahu.

"This was a one-time situation. So far, it hasn't borne fruit," Rubio said Monday of Boehler's talks with Hamas.

The episode was a rare example of tension between Israel and the Trump administration, which has supported its war aims and supplied it with ample ammunition, according to experts. They believe that any disagreement with Trump would pose risks to Netanyahu's position in negotiations with Hamas, threaten his relationship with Israel's main arms supplier, and harm his ability to maintain a governing coalition that relies on right-wing politicians opposed to the deal.