US holds direct talks with Hamas on Gaza hostages, sources say
PHOTO CAPTION: A hostage who was released from captivity in Gaza as part of the hostages-prisoners swap and a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, arrives at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) in Tel Aviv, Israel February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with the militant Palestinian group Hamas on the possibility of releasing U.S. hostages being held in Gaza, two sources briefed on the conversations told Reuters.
U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler held the the direct negotiations with Hamas in Doha, Qatar in recent weeks, the sources said.
Until recently the U.S. had avoided direct engagement with the Islamist group, which carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered a devastating Gaza war.
Such talks run counter to long-standing U.S. policy against direct contacts with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organizations. The U.S. State Department designated Hamas in 1997.
The previous U.S. role in helping to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza conflict has been dealing with Israel and Qatari and Egyptian mediators but without any known direct communications between Washington and Hamas.
Axios was first to report on the Doha discussions.
The Israeli government and its embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Boehler's office declined to comment.
It was unclear when or how the Israeli government was informed of the talks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for Hamas.
The sources said the talks have focused on gaining the release of American hostages still held in Gaza, but one said they also have included discussions about a broader deal to release all remaining hostages and how to reach a long-term truce.
One of the sources said the effort includes an attempt to gain the release of Edan Alexander, of Tenafly, New Jersey, believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas. He appeared in a video published by Hamas in November 2024.
Four other U.S. hostages have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East, said President Donald Trump's unconventional diplomatic approach carries both risks and opportunities.
"On one hand, engaging Hamas directly could make it easier to get U.S. hostages out and help reach a long-term agreement," said Panikoff, now at the Atlantic Council think-tank. "On the other, there’s a reason the U.S. doesn’t usually negotiate with terrorist groups, knowing Washington will do so incentivizes them to repeat the behavior in the future."
Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff plans to return to the region in coming days to work out a way to either extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal or advance to the second phase, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday.
Fighting in the Gaza Strip has been halted since January 19 and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick, Katharine Jackson and Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Ryan Patrick Jones, Aidan Lewis, Chris Reese and Mark Heinrich)
