An unusual and dramatic meeting last Wednesday between President Trump's envoys and Hamas leaders helped get the Gaza peace deal across the line, three sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.
Why it matters: One barrier to a deal was that Hamas leaders feared Israel would resume the war once its hostages were freed.
- In order to deliver a deal, one of the sources contended, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had to meet the Hamas leaders in person and directly assure them Trump wouldn't let that happen, as long as the group held up its side of the deal.
How it happened: A day earlier, Trump had privately granted permission for Witkoff and Kushner to meet Hamas leaders if necessary to seal a deal when they met in the Oval Office before the pair departed for Egypt.
- After arriving in Sharm el-Sheikh, Witkoff informed the Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators about Trump's green light.
- On Wednesday night around 11pm local time, the Qatari mediators came to Witkoff's villa at the Four Seasons, said there was a stalemate in the talks and asked if the U.S. envoys were ready to meet Hamas, according to one of the sources.
- "We think that if you meet them and shake their hand there will be a deal," a senior Qatari official told Witkoff.
Behind the scenes: Several minutes later, Witkoff and Kushner walked into another villa at the Red Sea resort.
- Arrayed inside were the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs, senior Qatari officials, and the four most senior Hamas leaders involved in the negotiations. The Hamas team was led by Khalil al-Hayya, who had survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha three weeks earlier.
- In a meeting lasting around 45 minutes, Witkoff told the Hamas officials the hostages were now "more of a liability than an asset for you." It was time to move on with the first phase of the deal and "bring people home on both sides of the border," he said, according to one of the sources.
- Al-Hayya asked if Witkoff and Kushner had a message from Trump. "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," Witkoff said, according to the source.
When the meeting ended, the Hamas leaders went to a separate room with the Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators. Several minutes later, Egyptian spy chief Hassan Rashad returned with his Turkish and Qatari counterparts.
- "Based on the meeting we just had, we have a deal," he told Witkoff and Kushner.
Flashback: The meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh was the second significant direct engagement between the Trump administration and Hamas.
- In March, U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler held unprecedented meetings with Hamas leaders in Doha in an effort to free American hostage Edan Alexander and retrieve the bodies of four other Americans kidnapped by the group.
- The deal faltered in part due to strong opposition from the Israeli government, which was initially in the dark about the direct negotiations.
The bottom line: The willingness of Witkoff and Kushner to meet Hamas leaders, despite the political risks involved, demonstrated to the group that the U.S. was serious about getting and enforcing a deal, one of the sources contended.
- "This is why when President Trump's envoys gave their word that this deal will be fully enforced, they believed it."
