U.S. and Hamas officials have had talks in Qatar about hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to two Israeli officials, a Western official and a diplomat briefed on the matter, breaking with a longstanding American policy of refusing to directly engage groups that it has designated as terrorists.
President Trump’s nominee to be special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, participated in the talks this week with Hamas officials, the diplomat said. All four officials discussed the meetings on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive diplomacy.
The talks in Doha, Qatar, focused on securing the release of Edan Alexander, the only Israeli American hostage still believed to be alive, and the bodies of four other Israeli Americans who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to one of the Israeli officials and the Western official.
Karoline Leavitt, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, did not deny that direct talks with Hamas were underway. Asked at a White House news conference on Wednesday why the administration was engaging with Hamas, she said Mr. Boehler, “who is engaged in those negotiations,” had “the authority to talk to anyone.”
The secret talks, which Axios initially reported, were a significant departure from previous negotiations involving the United States and Hamas, which the State Department has for decades designated as a terrorist group. American officials, like their Israeli counterparts, have generally relied on intermediaries — most recently, Qatar and Egypt have been the main go-betweens — to relay messages to the group rather than sit with Hamas leaders.
The result of the discussions was not immediately clear, but mediators have been seeking to extend the current truce between Israel and Hamas, and to free the remaining hostages in Gaza. About 24 living captives — including Mr. Alexander — and the bodies of at least 35 others are believed to still be held in Gaza, according to Israel.
Mr. Trump took to social media to tell Hamas that it was a take-it-or-leave-it position. “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,” he posted on Truth Social. Describing the group as “sick and twisted,” he said, “I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”
“This is your last warning,” he wrote, adding that if the group held onto any hostages, “you are DEAD!”
“Israel was consulted on this matter,” said Ms. Levitt, referring further questions to the State Department. “There are American lives at stake,” she added.
But one of the Israeli officials said Israel had not learned about the talks from the United States, hearing of them instead through what were described as “other channels.” Gen. Nitzan Alon, a member of Israel’s negotiating team, alerted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the negotiations and informed the team of U.S. officials in Doha that Israel was aware of them, according to the Israeli official.
In a tersely worded statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel had “stated its opinion on direct conversations with Hamas during talks with the United States.”
Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. and European officials had hoped the no-contact policy with Hamas would isolate and weaken the group after it seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Critics occasionally questioned the effectiveness of the boycott, which continued through years of deadlock and little apparent shift in Hamas’s positions.
After the Hamas-led attack ignited the war in Gaza, mediators played major roles in brokering efforts to pause or end the fighting and to free Israeli and other hostages seized by Palestinian militants in exchange for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas and its allies seized about 250 captives during the attack on southern Israel, according to the Israeli government. More than 100 were freed during a weeklong truce in late 2023, while 30 others — and the bodies of eight more — have been released since the current cease-fire began in mid-January.
Israel and Hamas are deadlocked over terms for the current deal’s next phase: a comprehensive truce that would end the war and free the remaining living hostages. The direct U.S. contact with Hamas sidestepped those stalled talks.
Mr. Trump said in early December he would nominate Mr. Boehler to serve as a special envoy on hostage affairs. A health care executive who held roles in Mr. Trump’s first administration, Mr. Boehler has yet to be confirmed to the job by the Senate.
The president said during an address to Congress on Tuesday evening that his administration was “bringing back our hostages from Gaza,” without providing any additional details.
U.S. officials have been particularly concerned over the fates of at least 12 American Israeli captives taken by Hamas during the deadly attack, staying in touch with their families and inviting them to the White House for meetings.
Hamas now holds one living American Israeli captive — Mr. Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli soldier from New Jersey — and the bodies of four others seized during the 2023 attacks. But with the next steps in the Israel-Hamas cease-fire still in doubt, it is unclear whether the two sides can clinch a deal to secure their release.
Mr. Alexander grew up in Tenafly, N.J., to Israeli parents. He later moved back to Israel to serve in the military before being abducted from an outpost near the Gaza border during the Hamas-led assault.
Adi Alexander, Mr. Alexander’s father, said during an interview last week that the Trump administration had to “reshuffle the deck, to renegotiate everything” in an attempt to extend the truce and free the remaining hostages, including his son.
“We are happy and grateful about the cease-fire — but the job is not done,” Adi Alexander said.
Ed Wong, Luke Broadwater and David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington.
