A planned meeting between senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was canceled on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen network, which cited Palestinian sources claiming the cancellation came in response to Israeli pressure.
Witkoff had traveled to Turkey ahead of the meeting. The American real estate magnate and close Trump ally previously met with al-Hayya in Egypt on October 8, shortly before the Gaza ceasefire was signed, in a meeting also attended by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
According to The New York Times, which reported last week that the meeting was being planned, the talks reflected the Trump administration’s desire to maintain a direct line of communication with Hamas, an organization officially designated as a terrorist group by the United States.
Hamas leader al-Hayya’s son was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Doha earlier this year. Breaking with long-standing U.S. protocol, Trump authorized his envoys to meet directly with Hamas representatives, and it appears this policy was followed again in the latest outreach effort.
“We expressed our condolences for his loss,” Witkoff said in a previous interview with 60 Minutes. “He mentioned his son, and I told him that I, too, lost my son. We’re both members of a terrible club — parents who have buried their children.” Witkoff’s son died of an opioid overdose at age 22, and he has made similar remarks to bereaved Israeli parents who lost children in the war.
Kushner described the emotional moment between Witkoff and al-Hayya, saying it softened the tone of the discussion. “When Steve and he spoke about their sons, it turned from a negotiation with a terrorist organization into a conversation between two human beings showing vulnerability to each other,” he said.
One of the sources who spoke with The New York Times said Witkoff had planned to raise the issue of maintaining the Gaza ceasefire during the meeting. The paper also noted that Witkoff is not the first Trump envoy to meet with Hamas officials. Adam Boehler, the administration’s special envoy for hostage affairs, reportedly held several meetings with Hamas leaders in Qatar in March in an effort to secure the release of Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander — talks that ultimately failed.