US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met directly with senior Hamas officials in Egypt on Wednesday to seal the Gaza ceasefire deal, Middle East Eye reported on Monday.
Leading the Hamas officials was Khalil al-Hayya, the acting chair of Hamas’s political bureau, who Israel recently attempted to target in its airstrikes on Doha, Qatar. Al-Hayya’s son was killed in the attack, and according to MEE, Witkoff offered condolences and spoke of his own son, Andrew, who died at 22 of a drug overdose.
Hamas sources told MEE that Witkoff requested the meeting after Hamas received written confirmation from the US that the ceasefire deal would definitively end Israel’s genocidal war. Hamas made a significant concession by agreeing that Israeli troops could stay inside Gaza after they released all the Israeli hostages, and is now relying on President Trump’s word that Israel won’t restart the bombing.
Witkoff reportedly told the Hamas officials that since the death of his son, he has dedicated himself to ending “the suffering of others” and that it motivated him to work to end the conflict. Kushner followed up by saying they were there “as both Jewish and American when we say we are committed to ensuring this is the end of the war.”
Axios also reported on the secret meeting, stating that it aimed to break a stalemate in negotiations and was necessary for Hamas to agree to the deal. However, the Hamas sources speaking to MEE said that the agreement was basically a done deal at that point, and the meeting was more of a courtesy and confidence-building measure.
A source familiar with the meeting told Axios that Witkoff and Kushner “gave their word that this deal will be fully enforced,” and Hamas “believed it.”
The US has previously engaged directly with Hamas through Adam Boehler, the US special envoy for hostage response, which led to the release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli American IDF soldier who was captured on October 7.
