US presidential envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler speaks during a ceremony to raise the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag at the State Department, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL | Published March 10, 2025
In flurry of interviews, Adam Boehler says he believes Hamas will ultimately lay down its weapons, forgo political power; hopes for deal to free hostages within weeks
US hostage envoy Adam Boehler on Sunday defended his direct talks with officials in the Hamas terror group, pushing back against private but intense criticism from Jerusalem, in a spate of interviews to American and Israeli media.
Some of Boehler’s remarks further annoyed senior Israeli officials, who told The Times of Israel they were surprised to hear the envoy comment that the US is “not an agent of Israel.”
The direct US-Hamas talks, held in parallel to indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt, focused on releasing the American hostages still captive in Gaza, though Boehler stressed that the ultimate goal was the release of all the hostages.
“We weren’t prepared to just sit back for two weeks,” Boehler told Israel’s Channel 12, refusing to specify when his meetings with Hamas began or how many took place.
“You’ve got a real chance for some movement and seeing hostages home in the next few weeks,” he continued.
Asked by Channel 12 whether he “realistically” thinks “that Hamas would eventually agree to lay down its weapons and not be part of Gaza’s political future,” he answered: “I do believe that.”
While his meetings focused on the sole living American hostage Edan Alexander, along with the bodies of four slain American hostages, Boehler stressed that the talks were meant to lead to a wider deal for all the hostages.
“You do not need to have fear that the president of the United States, or I, or anyone in our administration will forget you,” he said, addressing the Israeli public.
Speaking to Kan news, Boehler described what he called a Hamas proposal that would see a five- to ten-year truce with Israel, during which the terror group would disarm and forego political power in Gaza.
Hamas “suggested exchanging all prisoners… and a five-year to ten-year truce where Hamas would lay down all weapons and where the US, as well as other countries, would ensure that there are no tunnels, there’s nothing taken on the military side, and that Hamas is not involved in politics going forward.”
He called the proposal “not a bad first offer.”
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians is set up amid destroyed buildings in the west of Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, on Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Amid concerns that the White House is prioritizing the release of American hostages over Israeli ones, the US envoy reassured the Israeli public that the Trump administration intends to get both “Americans and Israelis out, our commitment is full.”
Boehler told CNN in an interview earlier in the day that a “long-term truce” could be on the horizon, in which “we forgive prisoners, where Hamas lays down their arms, where they agree that they’re not part of the political party going forward.”
Hamas to date has not pledged to lay down its arms or surrender political power.
Asked on Channel 12 about a reported proposal by mediators for an expanded two-month ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages, he declined to confirm anything but said, “It’s a possible solution.”
Israel was set to send a negotiating team to Qatar on Monday for talks regarding the future of the ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
Boehler told Channel 12 that the state of negotiations “is very well set up for the Israelis to do well” in the talks.
The direct US-Hamas discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US has designated terrorist organizations. Hamas has been proscribed as such since 1997.
Boehler told CNN that US President Donald Trump had signed off on his talks with Hamas ahead of time, but then appeared to walk the claim back, clarifying to Channel 12 that the pre-approval came from “a group of folks” in the White House.
A source familiar with the matter said Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff had approved the talks.
Boehler said that he understood why Israel might be upset over the talks, noting that he had spoken to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the contacts.
“I spoke with Ron, and I’m sympathetic [to his concerns],” he told CNN. “He has someone that he doesn’t know well making direct contact with Hamas. Maybe I would see them and say, ‘Look, they don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us. They’re pretty nice guys,’” Boehler said, apparently referring to officials in the terror group.
Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in the Knesset, January 22, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“He doesn’t know me, and there are big stakes,” Boehler said of Dermer. “He lives in a country where, if it sets certain precedents, then it will hurt or help a lot of other people.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
RELATED: Hamas says talks with US focused on release of American hostage in Gaza
Boehler said he understood the consternation and concern expressed by Israeli official Ron Dermer about his direct contact with Hamas, but emphasized he had a clear goal in his talks.
Former president Donald Trump listens as Adam Boehler, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. (photo credit: LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS)
THE JERUSALEM POST | Published March 10, 2025
President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, said on Sunday that US meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages held in Gaza were very helpful, and he did not rule out additional encounters with the Palestinian terror group. Boehler emphasized that they were acting in US interests, stating that “we’re not an agent of Israel.”
The meetings have largely focused on the release of an American-Israeli dual national being held by Hamas in Gaza, a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday.
Taher Al-Nono, political adviser to the leader of the Palestinian group, confirmed the unprecedented, direct talks with Washington, saying the discussions had taken place in the Qatari capital over the past week.
“Several meetings have already taken place in Doha, focusing on releasing one of the dual-nationality prisoners. We have dealt positively and flexibly, in a way that serves the interests of the Palestinian people,” Nono said.
He added that the two sides had also discussed how to see through the implementation of the phased agreement aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war.
“We informed the American delegation that we don’t oppose the release of the prisoner within the framework of these talks,” Nono told Reuters.
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters at the White House last week that gaining the release of Edan Alexander, the 21-year-old man from New Jersey believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, was a “top priority for us.”
Alexander served as a soldier in the IDF.
Israel and Hamas signaled on Saturday they were preparing for the next phase of ceasefire negotiations, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend the fragile 42-day truce that began in January.
A Hamas delegation met in the past two days with Egyptian mediators and reaffirmed its readiness to negotiate the implementation of the deal’s second phase.
Israel also said it was sending negotiators to Doha on Monday for ceasefire talks.
On Sunday, its Energy Minister, Eli Cohen, said he had instructed the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) not to sell electricity to Gaza, in what he described in a video as a means of pressure on Hamas to free hostages.
The measure would have little immediate impact, as Israel already cut supply to Gaza at the start of the war. It would, however, affect a wastewater treatment plant presently supplied with power, according to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC).
Breaking the status-quo
The discussions between US hostage envoy Boehler and Hamas broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The Islamist terrorist group carried out a cross-border raid into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering a devastating war in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza health officials.
Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Nono praised what he described as an “important role” played by Witkoff in reaching the January 19 ceasefire agreement that halted the fighting in Gaza.
“We hope that he (Witkoff) will work to succeed in the negotiation of the second phase,” Nono said.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli hostages for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and has also freed five Thai hostages. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages are still alive.
