Kushner, Witkoff closed Gaza peace deal with face-to-face meeting with Hamas leaders: report

The Gaza peace deal was reached after President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met face to face with Hamas leaders, according to a report.

Three unnamed sources told Axios that on Oct. 7, Trump had privately given Kushner and Witkoff permission to meet with Hamas leaders if needed to reach a deal. After the pair arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh and informed the Qatari, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators about the authority Trump gave them, the Qatari mediators told them on Wednesday night that there was a stalemate in the talks.

The Qatari mediators asked the U.S. envoys whether they were ready to meet Hamas.

"We think that if you meet them and shake their hand there will be a deal," a senior Qatari official told Witkoff.

Kushner and Witkoff met with the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs, senior Qatari officials, and the four most senior Hamas leaders involved in the negotiations. Khalil al-Hayya led the Hamas team after surviving an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha three weeks earlier.

In the 45-minute meeting, Witkoff told the Hamas officials the hostages were now "more of a liability than an asset for you." He said that it was time to move on with the first phase of the deal and "bring people home on both sides of the border," according to one of the sources.

When Al-Hayya asked if the two U.S. envoys had a message from Trump, Witkoff said, "President Trump's message is that you will be treated fairly and that he stands behind all 20 points of his peace plan, and will make sure they are all implemented," according to the source.

After the meeting, Egyptian spy chief Hassan Rashad told Witkoff and Kushner, "Based on the meeting we just had, we have a deal."