The US has broken a long-standing diplomatic taboo by holding secret talks with Hamas over the release of US hostages held in Gaza, sources told Reuters news agency on Wednesday, the 5th of March, while President Donald Trump warned of “hell to pay later” if the Palestinian militant group does not comply, reports the agency.
Responding to a question about the talks, which contradict a decades-old policy banning talks with groups the US labels terrorist organisations, the White House said that US envoy for hostages Adam Boehler has the authority to speak directly to Hamas.
Two sources with knowledge of the talks said that Boehler and Hamas officials had met in Doha, without specifying who represented Hamas.
At the White House, Trump met a group of hostages recently released under the Gaza ceasefire agreement and made a new threat against Hamas in a post on social media.
He demanded that Hamas “release all hostages now, not later”, including the remains of dead hostages, “or it is OVER for you”.
“I will send Israel everything it needs to finish the job, and no Hamas member will be safe if you do not do what I say,” he wrote. “To the people of Gaza, I say: A beautiful future awaits you, but not if you hold hostages. If you do, DEATH awaits you! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!””
Trump’s warning echoed his threat of “hell to pay” made before returning to the White House, followed by a ceasefire which he claimed credit for. Again, Trump did not specify what action he would take if Hamas did not comply.
The Palestinian mujahedin militant group in Gaza condemned Trump’s warning, saying it showed his administration’s intention “to continue its genocidal crimes against our people as [Israel’s] partner”. Israel has denied the genocide accusations.
“Trump’s threat today clearly exposes the ugly face of the US and shows its unseriousness and its abandonment of the agreement in which it participated as a mediator,” the group said.
Hamas told Reuters on Thursday that Trump’s repeated threats against Palestinians directly support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw from the Gaza ceasefire and intensify the siege on Gaza’s population.
“The best way to release the remaining Israeli prisoners is to move to the second phase and force the occupation [Israel] to respect the agreement signed under the guardianship of the mediators,” a Hamas spokesman reported.
The US has long avoided direct involvement in negotiations with the Islamist group, which carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel on the 7th of October 2023, sparking a devastating war in Gaza in which more than 48 000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials. Hamas was designated a terrorist organisation by the US State Department in 1997.
One source said that these efforts include trying to secure the release of what is believed to be the last Hamas US hostage. The Israeli authorities have announced that four other US hostages that are left in captivity have died.
So far, the US role in helping to broker the Gaza ceasefire and the release of the hostages has been mediated by Israel, Qatar and Egypt, but Washington and Hamas are not known to have communicated directly.
“Israel has expressed to the US its position regarding direct negotiations with Hamas,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. It gave no further details, but Israel, which along with many other countries considers Hamas a terrorist organisation, refuses to hold direct talks with the group.