US US officials spoke in Qatar about the hostages held in the Gaza’s belt, according to two Israeli officials, western officials and diplomats who were introduced to this question, breaking up with many years of American politics of refusing direct groups that labeled as terrorists.
President Trump’s candidate to be a special hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, participated in conversations this week with Hamas officers, the diplomat said. All four officials discussed meetings about the state of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about sensitive diplomacy.
Talks in Dohi, Qatar, focused on providing release Edan Alexander, the only Israeli American hostage, who is still believed to be alive, and the bodies of four other Israeli Americans who abducted and took to Gaza in the attack under the leadership of Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to one of the Western official.
Caroline Leavitt, the press secretary of Mr. Trump, did not deny that direct conversations with Hamas were underway. Asked at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday why the administration was dealing with Hamas, she said that Mr. Boehler, “who was engaged in these negotiations,” “the authority to talk to anyone.”
Secret conversations that Axios Initially, they were reported, they were a significant departure from the previous negotiations involving the United States and Hamas, which has been referring to the State Department for decades as a terrorist group. American officials, like their Israeli counterparts, have mostly relied on the mediators, Katar and Egypt have been the main Go-Betweens-to transmit messages to the group, not sit with the Hamas leaders.
The result of the debate was not immediately clear, but the mediators sought to expand the current truce between Israel and Hamas and release the remaining hostages in Gaza. About 24 living prisoners – including Mr. Alexander – and a bodies of at least 35 people, are believed to be still held in Gaza, according to Israel.
Mr. Trump referred to social media to tell Hamas that it was a position to take over or abandon. “Release all hostages now, not later, and immediately return all the dead bodies of the people you killed, or it’s over for you,” ” Published on the truth of Social. Describing the group as “sick and distorted,” he said, “I am sending Israel everything it takes to complete the job, no Hamas member will be sure if you don’t do it as I say.”
“This is your last warning,” he wrote, adding that if the group was held on any hostages, “you are dead!”
Mrs. Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the White House, said Israel advised talks with hostages and referred further questions to State Department. In a statement that is a distinct, Israeli Prime Minister’s office said Israel “expressed his position to the United States regarding direct conversations with Hamas.”
But one of the officials of Israel said that Israel did not find out about the conversations from the United States, hearing them instead of what was described as “other channels”. General Nitzan Alon, a member of the Israeli negotiating team, warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of negotiations and informed the team of US officials in Doha that Israel was aware, according to the Israeli official.
Hamas did not immediately respond to the commenting requests.
US and European officials hoped that politics without contact with Hamas would isolate and weaken the group after taking control of Gaza’s belt in 2007. Critics have occasionally questioned efficiency The boycott, which continued through the years of the stalling and a little obvious shift in Hamas’ positions.
After the attack under the guidance of Hamas lit the war in Gaza, the mediators played a major role in the mediators to stop or end the fighting and released the Israeli and other hostages that Palestinian militants seized in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas and his allies seized about 250 prisoners during the attack on southern Israel, according to the Israeli government. More than 100 were released during a weekly tribute at the end of 2023, while 30 other bodies were eight more or less since the current interruption began in mid-January.
Israel and Hamas are in charge of the conditions for the next phase of the current job: a comprehensive ceasefire that would end the war and release the remaining life hostages. Direct American contact with Hamas who bypassed those stopped conversations.
Mr. Trump said in early December that he would appoint Mr. Boehler to serve as a special envoy about hostages. The Executive Director of Health Care, who played roles in Mr. Trump’s first administration, Mr. Boehler has not yet confirmed his job by Senate.
During his address to the Congress on Tuesday night, the president said his administration “returned our hostages from Gaza” without giving additional details.
US officials are particularly concerned about the fates of at least 12 American Israeli prisoners who have taken Hamas during a deadly attack, staying in contact with their families and inviting them to the White House for meetings.
Hamas is now holding a lively American Israeli prisoner-man of Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli soldier from New Jersey’s bodies of four others seized during the 2023 attack. However, with the following steps in Israel-Hamas still in doubt, it is not clear if the two sides can work out to ensure their release.
Mr. Alexander grew up in Tenafly, her, Israeli’s parents. He later returned to Israel to serve in the army before he was abducted from the border near the border of Gaza during the attack under the guidance of Hamas.
Adi Alexander, the father of Mr. Alexander, said during the interview last week that Trump’s administration had to “rewind the deck, negotiate everything” in an attempt to expand the truce and release the remaining hostages, including his son.
“We are happy and grateful for the interruption of the fire-but the job was not done,” said Adi Alexander.
Ed Wong,, Luke Broadwater and David E. Sanger Contribution to Washington reporting.
