Witkoff scraps planned meeting with senior Hamas official — diplomat

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/meeting-between-witkoff-and-hamas-official-said-canceled-due-to-israeli-pressure/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2025-11-19&utm_medium=email

There were no known meetings between the US and Hamas before Trump’s second term, when he dispatched an envoy to secretly meet with Hamas officials earlier this year to help secure the release of American-Israeli hostage soldier Edan Alexander.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel at the time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Ron Dermer had fumed upon learning of the secret US-Hamas talks after the fact and leaked them to the press, contributing to their collapse in March. Witkoff and Kushner’s October 9 sit-down with the Hayya-led team was the next in-person meeting between the sides.

While Netanyahu publicly embraced the plan when it was unveiled in September at the White House, neither Israel nor Hamas has actually signed it. Instead, they agreed on October 9 to a different document that focused on the ceasefire, Israel’s initial pullback from Gaza, the hostage-prisoner swap and humanitarian aid provisions.

In a joint interview alongside Kushner last month, Witkoff said he had managed to connect with Hayya over their shared experience of losing sons.