U.S. Hostage Envoy Adam Boehler defended the United States’s negotiating directly with the Hamas terrorist group, though he acknowledged why Israeli officials were upset over the move.

The Trump administration has been negotiating directly with Hamas over the release of its hostages, prompting the ire of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer during a recent phone call with Boehler. The envoy explained that he is “sympathetic” to Dermer’s anger, as well as how the minister lives in a country where there are “big stakes” at play.