Steve Witkoff, the U.S. envoy for peace missions, is planning to meet with Khalil al-Hayya, the chief negotiator of Hamas, soon, according to two people familiar with Mr. Witkoff’s plans.
A meeting between Mr. Witkoff and Mr. al-Hayya would underscore that the Trump administration is interested in keeping a direct line of communication with Hamas, even though the United States has designated the group a foreign terrorist organization.
It would also illustrate that Mr. Witkoff is not deterred by Israeli and American critics who say that U.S. engagement with Hamas offers the group unwarranted legitimacy.
The exact date that Mr. Witkoff plans to meet with Mr. al-Hayya, an architect of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, is still not clear, according to the two people familiar with the American envoy’s travel plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. It was also possible that the plans would change.
A representative of Mr. Witkoff declined to comment, as did Hamas officials. The White House did not respond to an inquiry.
One of the topics Mr. Witkoff intends to raise with the senior Hamas official is the cease-fire in Gaza, one of the two people said.
In October, Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal for a cease-fire in Gaza and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The agreement has held together despite flare-ups in violence.
Mr. Witkoff and Mr. al-Hayya have met before. The first known time was in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in October before the signing of the cease-fire deal. That meeting was also attended by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law who helped broker the cease-fire.
In an interview broadcast on Oct. 19 on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Mr. Witkoff said he had offered condolences to Mr. al-Hayya for the loss of his son in September, when the Israeli air force fired missiles at a compound in Qatar where Hamas officials were meeting.
“I told him that I had lost a son,” he said, “and that we were both members of a really bad club, parents who have buried children.”
Mr. Witkoff’s son, Andrew, died of an opioid overdose in 2011.
Mr. Witkoff is not the first Trump administration official to have met with Hamas. Adam Boehler, the U.S. envoy for hostage response, met with Hamas officials several times in Qatar in March in an effort to press for the release of a dual American Israeli citizen who was held captive by the group’ at the time.
Those talks did not result in a deal.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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