Tuesday, 14 October, 2025
Hamas has long criticised Donald Trump, describing him as a racist, a “recipe for chaos,” and a leader with an unrealistic vision for Gaza.
Yet, according to two Palestinian officials, a single, remarkable phone call last month persuaded the group that the US president might be capable of pressuring Israel into a peace agreement — even if Hamas gave up the hostages that have been their main leverage in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
During the widely publicised call, Trump arranged for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak with Hamas’ representatives after a White House meeting in September, in which he apologised to Qatar’s Prime Minister over an Israeli strike on a residential complex in Doha that had housed Hamas political leaders.
rump’s response to the Qatar bombing, which failed to kill the Hamas officials it targeted — including lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya — strengthened the group’s confidence that he could challenge Netanyahu and was serious about ending the conflict in Gaza, the two officials said.
Now, following a Trump-brokered ceasefire signed on Wednesday, the militant group has placed further trust in a leader who earlier this year proposed evicting Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the territory into a US-controlled beach resort.
Under the deal, which took effect on Friday, Hamas agreed to release its hostages without securing a full Israeli withdrawal. Two other Hamas officials acknowledged that the move is a high-stakes gamble, dependent on the US president being sufficiently committed to the deal to ensure it does not collapse.
Hamas leaders are well aware their gamble could backfire, one of the Hamas officials said. They fear that once the hostages are released, Israel could resume its military campaign, as happened after a January ceasefire that Trump's team had also been closely involved in.
However, gathered for indirect talks with Israel in a conference centre in the Sharm el-Sheikh Red Sea resort, Hamas was reassured enough by the presence of Trump's closest confidants and regional heavy-weights to sign up to the ceasefire even though it leaves many of the group's core demands unresolved, including moves towards a Palestinian state
Trump's eagerness was felt "heavily" in the conference centre, one of the Hamas officials told Reuters. Trump personally called three times during the marathon session, a senior US official said, with his son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff shuttling between Israeli and Qatari negotiators.
Children stand next to a banner with photos of hostages at "Hostages Square", after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct 10, 2025.
Uncertainty Remains for Later Phases
While the ceasefire may help end the immediate conflict triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, there is no guarantee that the subsequent phases envisioned in Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan will come to fruition.
However, Trump’s handling of both the Qatar strikes and the ceasefire that ended Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June convinced Hamas negotiators that the US president would not allow Israel to resume hostilities immediately after the hostages are released, according to two Palestinian officials and another source familiar with the talks.
The reporting drew on interviews with five Palestinian officials, including three from Hamas, as well as two senior US officials and five other sources briefed on the discussions.
A source in Washington said Trump’s aides saw an opportunity to leverage his anger at Netanyahu over the Qatar strike to pressure the Israeli leader into agreeing to a framework for ending the Gaza conflict. Trump, who has cultivated strong ties with Gulf states integral to his broader diplomatic and economic agenda, considers the Qatari emir a friend and was reportedly unsettled by images of the strike aired on television. According to a senior White House official, this episode became a turning point that helped unify the Arab world behind a diplomatic solution.
Trump’s public assurance that Israel would not conduct further attacks on Qatar boosted his credibility with Hamas and other regional actors, a Palestinian official in Gaza said.
“The fact that he gave Qatar a security guarantee that Israel would not attack them again has increased Hamas’s confidence that a ceasefire will hold,” said Jonathan Reinhold, a political studies expert at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Hamas also took note of Trump’s public order demanding an immediate halt to hostilities from both Israel and Iran, the Palestinian official added. In particular, they highlighted his directive on Truth Social instructing Israeli planes to “turn around and head home” from a planned strike on Iran, issued just hours after announcing the ceasefire during the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June.
Talks Reach Deadlock Before Breakthrough
Trump unveiled his overall Gaza plan on September 29, during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit, and Hamas gave a conditional agreement four days later, which the US president interpreted as a green light.
As recently as Tuesday, talks on implementing the plan appeared stalled, with disagreements over how quickly and how far Israeli forces would withdraw to allow Hamas to gather and release hostages, an official familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey struggled to move the process forward.
To break the deadlock, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani decided to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived Wednesday morning, and negotiations resumed around noon. The presence of Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was also critical, given Ankara’s strong ties to Hamas and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent meeting with Trump, in which Trump reportedly asked him to help convince Hamas to accept the plan.
For years, Hamas had insisted it would only release hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and a definitive end to the conflict, while Israel maintained it would not cease operations until all hostages were returned and Hamas was dismantled.
Neither side achieved all its objectives. Israel will continue to control roughly half of Gaza for the foreseeable future, while Hamas remains intact as an organization. A key Trump plan provision requiring Hamas to surrender its weapons was deferred to a later stage. Observers say this mutual need for further results may help drive future negotiations.
A major breakthrough came when mediators convinced Hamas that holding hostages had become a liability, rather than a bargaining chip, the senior US official and a Palestinian official in Gaza said. Hamas concluded that retaining hostages undermined international support for Palestinians, while without them, Israel would have no immediate justification to resume fighting, the Palestinian official added.
However, Hamas did not receive formal written guarantees or enforcement mechanisms ensuring that the first phase — involving hostage release, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and a temporary halt to fighting — would automatically lead to a broader peace agreement, two Hamas officials told Reuters. Instead, the group accepted verbal assurances from the US and mediators that Trump would ensure Israel does not resume hostilities once the hostages are freed.
“As far as we are concerned, this agreement ends the war,” one Hamas official said.
High-Stakes Gamble
Hamas leaders are fully aware that their gamble could backfire. In a previous phased hostage release following the January ceasefire, Trump abruptly demanded that all hostages be freed at once, threatening to cancel the deal and “let hell break out.” That breakdown triggered renewed fighting, resulting in more than 16,000 Palestinian deaths according to Gaza health authorities, and an Israeli aid blockade that contributed to famine conditions, as reported by global monitors.
A regional diplomat warned that Israel might again seize opportunities to strike Hamas, especially if the group or its allies launch rocket attacks.
Yet, Hamas officials say the situation this time feels different. Israel is approaching negotiations seriously, and pressure from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the US is producing tangible results. Trump’s planned Middle East visit starting Sunday — described by a source as a “very smart move” by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — is expected to reinforce the ceasefire and help ensure its durability, even as details remain to be finalised.
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Hamas has long criticised Donald Trump, describing him as a racist, a “recipe for chaos,” and a leader with an unrealistic vision for Gaza.
Yet, according to two Palestinian officials, a single, remarkable phone call last month persuaded the group that the US president might be capable of pressuring Israel into a peace agreement — even if Hamas gave up the hostages that have been their main leverage in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
During the widely publicised call, Trump arranged for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak with Hamas’ representatives after a White House meeting in September, in which he apologised to Qatar’s Prime Minister over an Israeli strike on a residential complex in Doha that had housed Hamas political leaders.
rump’s response to the Qatar bombing, which failed to kill the Hamas officials it targeted — including lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya — strengthened the group’s confidence that he could challenge Netanyahu and was serious about ending the conflict in Gaza, the two officials said.
Now, following a Trump-brokered ceasefire signed on Wednesday, the militant group has placed further trust in a leader who earlier this year proposed evicting Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the territory into a US-controlled beach resort.
Under the deal, which took effect on Friday, Hamas agreed to release its hostages without securing a full Israeli withdrawal. Two other Hamas officials acknowledged that the move is a high-stakes gamble, dependent on the US president being sufficiently committed to the deal to ensure it does not collapse.
Hamas leaders are well aware their gamble could backfire, one of the Hamas officials said. They fear that once the hostages are released, Israel could resume its military campaign, as happened after a January ceasefire that Trump's team had also been closely involved in.
However, gathered for indirect talks with Israel in a conference centre in the Sharm el-Sheikh Red Sea resort, Hamas was reassured enough by the presence of Trump's closest confidants and regional heavy-weights to sign up to the ceasefire even though it leaves many of the group's core demands unresolved, including moves towards a Palestinian state
Trump's eagerness was felt "heavily" in the conference centre, one of the Hamas officials told Reuters. Trump personally called three times during the marathon session, a senior US official said, with his son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff shuttling between Israeli and Qatari negotiators.
Children stand next to a banner with photos of hostages at "Hostages Square", after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct 10, 2025.
Uncertainty Remains for Later Phases
While the ceasefire may help end the immediate conflict triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, there is no guarantee that the subsequent phases envisioned in Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan will come to fruition.
However, Trump’s handling of both the Qatar strikes and the ceasefire that ended Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June convinced Hamas negotiators that the US president would not allow Israel to resume hostilities immediately after the hostages are released, according to two Palestinian officials and another source familiar with the talks.
The reporting drew on interviews with five Palestinian officials, including three from Hamas, as well as two senior US officials and five other sources briefed on the discussions.
A source in Washington said Trump’s aides saw an opportunity to leverage his anger at Netanyahu over the Qatar strike to pressure the Israeli leader into agreeing to a framework for ending the Gaza conflict. Trump, who has cultivated strong ties with Gulf states integral to his broader diplomatic and economic agenda, considers the Qatari emir a friend and was reportedly unsettled by images of the strike aired on television. According to a senior White House official, this episode became a turning point that helped unify the Arab world behind a diplomatic solution.
Trump’s public assurance that Israel would not conduct further attacks on Qatar boosted his credibility with Hamas and other regional actors, a Palestinian official in Gaza said.
“The fact that he gave Qatar a security guarantee that Israel would not attack them again has increased Hamas’s confidence that a ceasefire will hold,” said Jonathan Reinhold, a political studies expert at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Hamas also took note of Trump’s public order demanding an immediate halt to hostilities from both Israel and Iran, the Palestinian official added. In particular, they highlighted his directive on Truth Social instructing Israeli planes to “turn around and head home” from a planned strike on Iran, issued just hours after announcing the ceasefire during the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict in June.
Talks Reach Deadlock Before Breakthrough
Trump unveiled his overall Gaza plan on September 29, during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit, and Hamas gave a conditional agreement four days later, which the US president interpreted as a green light.
As recently as Tuesday, talks on implementing the plan appeared stalled, with disagreements over how quickly and how far Israeli forces would withdraw to allow Hamas to gather and release hostages, an official familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey struggled to move the process forward.
To break the deadlock, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani decided to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived Wednesday morning, and negotiations resumed around noon. The presence of Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was also critical, given Ankara’s strong ties to Hamas and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent meeting with Trump, in which Trump reportedly asked him to help convince Hamas to accept the plan.
For years, Hamas had insisted it would only release hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and a definitive end to the conflict, while Israel maintained it would not cease operations until all hostages were returned and Hamas was dismantled.
Neither side achieved all its objectives. Israel will continue to control roughly half of Gaza for the foreseeable future, while Hamas remains intact as an organization. A key Trump plan provision requiring Hamas to surrender its weapons was deferred to a later stage. Observers say this mutual need for further results may help drive future negotiations.
A major breakthrough came when mediators convinced Hamas that holding hostages had become a liability, rather than a bargaining chip, the senior US official and a Palestinian official in Gaza said. Hamas concluded that retaining hostages undermined international support for Palestinians, while without them, Israel would have no immediate justification to resume fighting, the Palestinian official added.
However, Hamas did not receive formal written guarantees or enforcement mechanisms ensuring that the first phase — involving hostage release, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and a temporary halt to fighting — would automatically lead to a broader peace agreement, two Hamas officials told Reuters. Instead, the group accepted verbal assurances from the US and mediators that Trump would ensure Israel does not resume hostilities once the hostages are freed.
“As far as we are concerned, this agreement ends the war,” one Hamas official said.
High-Stakes Gamble
Hamas leaders are fully aware that their gamble could backfire. In a previous phased hostage release following the January ceasefire, Trump abruptly demanded that all hostages be freed at once, threatening to cancel the deal and “let hell break out.” That breakdown triggered renewed fighting, resulting in more than 16,000 Palestinian deaths according to Gaza health authorities, and an Israeli aid blockade that contributed to famine conditions, as reported by global monitors.
A regional diplomat warned that Israel might again seize opportunities to strike Hamas, especially if the group or its allies launch rocket attacks.
Yet, Hamas officials say the situation this time feels different. Israel is approaching negotiations seriously, and pressure from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the US is producing tangible results. Trump’s planned Middle East visit starting Sunday — described by a source as a “very smart move” by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — is expected to reinforce the ceasefire and help ensure its durability, even as details remain to be finalised.
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