Kushner, Witkoff 'met directly with Hamas' to seal Gaza truce deal

A meeting between US officials and Hamas's negotiating team in Egypt broke the stalemate in last week's Gaza ceasefire talks, paving the way to a deal to end the war, according to US news outlet Axios, which cited three sources familiar with the matter.

Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire and captive-exchange deal after several days of high stakes negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh last week.

The agreement was sealed soon after Trump dispatched his point man on the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to the Red Sea resort town.

Ahead of their trip to Egypt, the US president had given both men permission to meet directly with Hamas officials in order to push through a deal.

This led to a 45-minute meeting on the night of 8 October, where Witkoff and Kushner provided Hamas's lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya with assurances that Israel would respect the terms of the deal.

The meeting was organised by the mediators of the indirect talks taking place in the Red Sea resort town: Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

It occurred after Qatari officials informed the US side that Hamas required a personal guarantee from Trump that Israel would not renege on the agreement.

"President Trump's message is that you will be treated fairly and that he stands behind all 20 points of his peace plan, and will make sure they are all implemented," one source quoted Witkoff as telling al-Hayya.

He also told the Hamas negotiating team that the captives had become "more of a liability than an asset for you" and appealed to them to "bring people home on both sides of the border," according to the source.

After conferring with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish intelligence officials, Hamas agreed to the deal.

"Based on the meeting we just had, we have a deal," Egyptian spymaster Hassan Rashad was quoted as telling Witkoff and Kushner.

This was the second time senior Trump administrations officials had held direct talks with Hamas.

In March, hostage envoy Adam Boehler took the unprecedented step of holding secret talks with the group in an effort to secure the release of US-Israel captive Edan Alexander.

This was the first time in years that a US official had engaged directly with the group, which Washington considers to be a terrorist organisation.

Boehler's gambit triggered a furious response from Israel, whose intervention helped to collapse the talks.

Last week's ceasefire agreement has led to Hamas freeing the remaining captives in Gaza and Israel releasing almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Israel agreed to partially withdraw its troops and lift its restrictions on food and aid entering the territory.