US particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met instantly with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Khaya and different Hamas leaders on the 4 Seasons Resort in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Wednesday night time to seal the hostage launch and ceasefire deal, based on a report Monday.
Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, who writes for Channel 12 and the US Axios web site, reported that the Qatari mediators urged the senior US officers to satisfy the phobia chief with a view to break a logjam within the talks.
Ravid wrote on Axios that, based on one supply, Hamas leaders feared Israel would resume the struggle as soon as the hostages had been freed, and wanted direct assurances that, offered Hamas stored to the deal, Trump wouldn’t let that occur.
Trump “had privately granted permission for Witkoff and Kushner to satisfy Hamas leaders if essential to seal a deal” when he spoke along with his envoys within the Oval Workplace forward of their departure for Egypt, the report mentioned.
Witkoff informed Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators about Trump’s okay, and the assembly went forward when the talks hit a impasse, at round 11 p.m.
Within the lodge room “had been the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs, senior Qatari officers, and the 4 most senior Hamas leaders concerned within the negotiations,” Ravid wrote.
Hamas negotiators together with Khalil al-Hayya (second from left) seen in a photograph indicating success within the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire settlement in Sharm el-Sheikh, within the early hours of October 9, 2025. (Telegram / utilized in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright legislation)
“The Hamas workforce was led by Khalil al-Hayya, who had survived an Israeli assassination try in Doha three weeks earlier,” he added. Al-Hayya was the first goal of Israel’s September 9 airstrikes on the Hamas places of work within the Qatari capital, which didn’t kill him or every other high Hamas leaders.
Throughout 45 minutes of talks, Witkoff contended to the Hamas representatives that the hostages had been now “extra of a legal responsibility than an asset for you,” and that it was time to implement the primary section of Trump’s plan for Gaza and “convey individuals house on either side of the border.”
“President Trump’s message is that you can be handled pretty and that he stands behind all 20 factors of his peace plan, and can be certain they’re all carried out,” Witkoff reportedly mentioned.
Israeli negotiator Nitzan Alon (far left) shakes fingers with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in a photograph indicating success within the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire settlement in Sharm el-Sheikh, within the early hours of October 9, 2025. Second from proper with again to digital camera is US particular Center East envoy Steve Witkoff. (Telegram / utilized in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright legislation)
The Hamas leaders then conferred in a separate room with the Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators. Quickly after, Egypt’s intel chief Hassan Rashad returned to inform Witkoff and Kushner: “Primarily based on the assembly we simply had, we’ve got a deal.”
Shortly after that, Trump introduced that the deal on the primary section was carried out.
This was the second time that US envoys had met instantly with Hamas leaders in the course of the struggle in Gaza, as hostage envoy Adam Boehler did early this 12 months, in a transfer that sparked Israeli anger and led to his removing from the place.
Boehler’s direct talks, which had been aimed largely at securing the discharge of twin US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander and 4 slain twin US-Israeli residents held hostage in Gaza, had been utterly coordinated with Witkoff, however Israel was not absolutely knowledgeable forward of time.
Boehler sought to calm issues in Israel over the talks with Hamas throughout a sequence of interviews, however his feedback about figuring out with “the human elements” of Hamas solely served to infuriate Israel additional.
