Officials of the United States and Hamas have interviews in Qatar hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to two Israeli officials, a Western civil servant and a diplomat informed of the issue, breaking with a long-standing American policy to refuse to directly involve groups which she has appointed as terrorists.
President Trump’s candidate to be a special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, participated in talks this week with Hamas officials, the diplomat said. The four officials discussed meetings on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about sensitive diplomacy.
The talks in Doha, in Qatar, focused on securing the release of Edan Alexander, the only Israeli American hostage who was still considered alive, and the bodies of four other Israeli Americans who were removed and taken to Gaza in the attack led by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, according to one of the Israeli officials and the Western official.
Karoline Leavitt, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, did not denote that direct discussions with Hamas were underway. Asked at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, why the administration was engaging with Hamas, she said that Mr. Boehler, “who is engaged in these negotiations”, had “the authority to speak to anyone”.
The secret talks, which anios initially reported, have been a significant difference in previous negotiations involving the United States and Hamas, which the State Department has for decades as a terrorist group. US officials, such as their Israeli counterparts, generally relied on intermediaries – more recently, Qatar and Egypt were the main Go -Betweens – to relay messages to the group rather than sit with Hamas leaders.
