WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with the Palestinian group Hamas on the possibility of releasing US prisoners being held in Gaza, two sources briefed on the conversations said.

US special envoy Adam Boehler held the the direct negotiations with Hamas in Doha, Qatar, in recent weeks, the sources said.

Until recently the US had avoided direct engagement with the group, which carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023. Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contacts with groups that Washington lists as foreign terrorist organisations, as the US State Department designated Hamas a terrorist entity in 1997.

The previous US role in helping to secure a ceasefire and prisoner 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.

The sources said the talks have focused on gaining the release of American prisoners still held in Gaza, but one said they also have included discussions about a broader deal to release all remaining prisoners 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 prisoner held by Hamas. He appeared in a video published by Hamas in Nov 2024. Four other US prisoners have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.

Jonathan Panikoff, a former US 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 US 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 US doesnt usually negotiate with terrorist groups, knowing Washington will do so incentivises 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 Jan 19 and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli prisoners and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2025