Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump, is planning another meeting with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who also serves as the head of the group’s negotiating team, according to a Friday report in The New York Times. Citing two sources familiar with the matter, the report noted that the meeting may signal the Trump administration’s desire to 'keep a direct line of communication' with the terror group.
The sources said the timing of the meeting has not yet been finalized, and plans could still change. If it takes place, it would not be their first meeting. Witkoff and al-Hayya previously met in Egypt in October, ahead of a cease-fire agreement, in a meeting also attended by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
Al-Hayya’s son, Hammam, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Doha. Despite U.S. policy designating Hamas as a terrorist organization, Trump authorized his envoys to speak directly with the group — a departure from past administrations.
“We expressed our condolences to him for the loss of his son,” Witkoff said in an interview with 60 Minutes. “He mentioned it. And I told him that I had lost a son, and that we were both members of a really bad club, parents who have buried children.” Witkoff’s son died of an opioid overdose at the age of 22, a loss he has referenced in the past while meeting bereaved Israeli families.
One source told the Times that a key topic expected in the upcoming meeting is the cease-fire in Gaza.
Witkoff is not the only Trump envoy to engage with Hamas. Adam Boehler, the president’s special representative for hostage affairs, reportedly held several meetings with senior Hamas officials in Qatar in March in an effort to secure the release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American held in Gaza at the time. Those talks did not succeed.