Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for hostage affairs, has been removed from his post over comments he made during an interview regarding negotiations with Hamas, according to reports on Thursday, March 13.

"The administration removed him from the Hamas hostage file, saying he needed to be further marginalized," the Jewish Insider quoted three Republican Party sources as saying.

"It feels like he's in dreamland," one source told the newspaper. Another said, "I don't know why we would want him to do anything in the future after what we've seen." A third Republican source said, "He's being sidelined, which is good, but I don't know to what extent. It's been very bad, a disaster. I admire Adam, but I think he needs to step aside."

The report indicates that there is talk of removing him entirely from the administration, and not just from his role in negotiating the ceasefire issues in Gaza.

Republicans took issue with Boehler's remarks about Hamas: "Look, they don't have horns growing out of their heads; they're actually guys like us; they're very good guys. We're the United States, not agents of Israel. We have specific interests at play," Boehler told CNN last week, referring to Washington's separate talks with the Palestinian resistance movement that were recently held in Cairo.

Boehler further angered Israeli officials when he spoke to Channel 12 News, telling the broadcaster that there were "positive developments in the negotiations" with Hamas.

The US-Hamas talks, which focused in part on securing the release of Israeli prisoners with US citizenship from the Gaza Strip, had already upset Israel from the start, but Boehler's comments to CNN only made matters worse.

Israeli officials sharply criticized the envoy. Knesset member Simcha Rothman said, "Anyone who quotes Hamas and negotiates directly with it is making a grave mistake, one that puts the hostages in danger." Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Boehler was "acting on his own" and "cannot speak for them."

After facing backlash following his interview with CNN, the envoy said: "I want to be absolutely clear, as some have misinterpreted my words. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people. They are, by definition, bad people. And as [Trump] said, no member of Hamas will be safe if Hamas does not immediately release all hostages."

Ceasefire negotiations are currently underway in the Qatari capital, Doha, with Israeli media reports indicating a "positive" atmosphere. An Israeli delegation is in Doha for the talks. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement are also in the Qatari capital for discussions with mediators. Israel recently obstructed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, demanding an extension of its first phase and refusing to engage in talks on its second phase. It also imposed new conditions, demanding the complete disarmament of Hamas's military wing, and threatened to resume the war on the Strip.

It also recently called for the release of all Gaza prisoners in a single exchange deal, in violation of the exchange protocol in the agreement.

The Israeli army approved offensive plans to return to its military campaign of extermination.