US official meets with Hamas in break with convention as Trump pressures group to release remaining prisoners

In a break with convention, Hamas held direct talks in recent weeks with the United States special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, a Hamas official confirmed to Mada Masr on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The talks between Boehler and Hamas officials were “merely exploratory,” the source said, and included discussions about the release of US citizens held by the group in the Gaza Strip. 

The discussions come as the Trump administration and Israel pressure Hamas to release the prisoners it still holds in the strip. 

Hamas, however, is insisting on the negotiations pathway that was mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the Biden administration, which was due to secure the final steps of a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel and resolve other questions about Gaza’s future, including Israel’s withdrawal from the strip.

The US has made requests for “a direct meeting” with Hamas officials since the beginning of February, a few weeks into the three-stage ceasefire agreement between the group and Israel and around the same time as talks on the second phase were due to begin in Doha, according to the Hamas source.

The US’s direct efforts with Hamas were an attempt to secure the release of Edan Alexander, a source told Reuters.

Alexander is thought to be the last living American prisoner held by Hamas. Four other Americans have been declared dead by Israeli authorities. 

Hamas expressed its willingness during the meeting with Boehler, which was brokered by Qatar, to implement the US request in exchange for a commitment to move to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with Israel, the Hamas source said.

They added that no mechanism for their release was proposed by US officials.

Trump issued what he called a “last warning” to the group on Wednesday night via his social media network, Truth Social, saying there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not release all the remaining Israeli prisoners. Trump said he was sending Israel “everything it needs to finish the job.”

“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump posted following a meeting in the White House with released Israelis.

US Secretary of State Marc Rubio stressed that Trump’s threats to Hamas should be taken seriously as “he doesn’t say these things and not mean it,” adding that Trump has “lost his patience with” the pace of prisoner releases.

But the Hamas source told Mada Masr that the stalling and obstruction are coming from Israel’s side, adding that Trump’s threats “complicate matters further.”

The US was supposed to be a mediator in the ceasefire agreement, which was signed on the basis that it would be completed over three phases, the source added.

The source also said that Hamas is ready to launch into the second phase of the agreement and is urging mediators to put pressure on Israel regarding the matter. 

Negotiations on the fragile deal stalled in early February, with the first 42-day phase ending on Saturday without a clear plan for moving forward. 

Israeli officials announced their agreement on Sunday to a US proposal to extend phase one of the deal, halting at the same time the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas into agreeing to extend phase one of the deal, and to release all the Israeli prisoners it still holds outside of the planned framework for phase two.

Hamas has already rejected the extension, pushing instead for the launch of phase two.

The source stressed the resistance group’s unanimous position that there will be no extension of the first phase, reiterating Hamas’s commitment to the ceasefire agreement in all its phases.

According to the agreement reached in January, the second phase, lasting for 42 days, should see the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the completion of the prisoner exchange.

Commenting on the direct US-Hamas talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu’s office issued a short statement on Wednesday evening saying it has “expressed its stance on direct talks with Hamas,” providing no further details. 

Egypt and Qatar, the other two mediators, have been tasked with handling direct communication with the resistance group since its formation. 

The US State Department designated Hamas as a “foreign terrorist organization” in 1997 and has previously not conducted direct negotiations with the group, even after its accession to power in Gaza.

Instead, Israel and the US have insisted that Hamas should have no role in governance or security in Gaza in the future.

Another Hamas source told AP on Wednesday that discussions between US officials and the group included a potential end to the war without Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip. They added that while the talks had no substantial outcomes, future meetings were agreed upon. 

Hamas agreed earlier this week to a plan put forward by Egypt that would see a technocratic committee govern Gaza for a six-month period, prior to the Palestinian Authority taking control of the strip. 

In its statement endorsing the plan, which also included Egypt’s proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza, Hamas also called for unified Arab efforts to pressure the Occupation into implementing the stages of the fragile ceasefire agreement and to facilitate the entry of “aid, relief and shelter,” amid Israel’s closure of all crossings leading to the strip. 

The United States and Israel rejected the proposal after it was adopted by the emergency Arab summit on Tuesday. 

Cairo had pitched the proposal as an alternative to the US-proposed, Israel-backed plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from the strip to make way for a “Riviera of the Middle East” real estate development project.