Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron

The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on the possibility of releasing US hostages being held in Gaza, two sources briefed on the conversations told Reuters.

US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding the direct talks with Hamas in recent weeks in Doha, the sources said, confirming a report by Axios.

Until recently the US had avoided direct discussions with the Islamist group. The US State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

Such talks run counter to long-standing US policy against direct contacts with groups that Washington lists as terrorist organizations.

The previous US role in helping to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza war has been dealing with Israel and Qatari and Egyptian mediators but without any known direct communications between Washington and Hamas.

The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boehler’s office declined to comment.

It was unclear when or how the Israeli government was informed of the talks.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for Hamas.

The sources said the talks have focused on gaining the release of American hostages still held in Gaza, but one said they also have included discussions about a broader deal to release all remaining hostages and how to reach a long-term truce.

One of the sources said the effort includes an attempt to gain the release of Edan Alexander, of Tenafly, New Jersey, believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas.

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff plans to return to the region in coming days to work out a way to either extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal or advance to the second phase, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that future talks between Russia and the United States would include discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, a subject it said had been “touched upon” in an initial round of US-Russia talks last month.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Russia has agreed to assist US President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on various issues, including on Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US proxies.

The Kremlin has not confirmed that but has made clear that Iran is now one of the subjects that will be discussed in more detail by Washington and Moscow.

“So far there is only an understanding that the Russian position really is that this problem of Iran’s nuclear dossier should be solved exclusively by peaceful political and diplomatic means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“We believe that there is potential for this, because Iran is our ally, our partner, and a country with which we are developing comprehensive, mutually beneficial, and mutually respectful relations, and Russia is ready to do everything possible for this. The United States is aware of this.”

Trump last month restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention.

Russia has deepened its ties with the Islamic Republic since the start of the Ukraine war and signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Iran in January.

The Kremlin said that the subject of Iran was touched upon during Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last month.

“It was touched upon in Riyadh,” Peskov said. “But not in detail, not in detail.”

Asked specifically about the Bloomberg report, Peskov said: “Look, the topic of Iran was on the agenda, it was touched upon, but at the same time, not in detail.”

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The new Chief of the General Staff, Major General Eyal Zamir, visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, March 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israel swore in a new commander of its military on Wednesday as a standoff over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza increased the risk of a resumption of fighting without an agreement to bring home the rest of the hostages still held by Hamas.

Eyal Zamir, a former tank commander who had retired after 28 years with the rank of Major General before being called back into service, was promoted to Lieutenant General, before formally assuming command from General Herzi Halevi, who stepped down over the security disaster of Oct. 7, 2023.

“The mission is not yet complete,” he said in an address as he assumed command, saying that Hamas had not yet been defeated.

“We will not forgive, we will not forget. This is an existential war. We will persist in our campaign to bring our hostages home and to defeat our enemies,” he said. Fighting in Gaza has been halted since January under a truce brokered by Qatar and Egypt and supported by the United States that has allowed the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and 5 Thais for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

A related war in southern Lebanon, which broke out after Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces launched missile strikes against Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, has also been silenced by a separate ceasefire agreement.

But Israeli ministers and officials have warned that their forces could resume fighting if there is no agreement on bringing back the 59 hostages that remain.

Israeli troops have pulled back from some of their positions in Gaza but talks that were intended to agree to the release of the hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces before an end to the war have not begun.

Israel has called for an extension of the truce until after the Jewish Passover holiday in April to allow the release of the remaining hostages, while Hamas has insisted on proceeding to talks on a permanent end to the war before agreeing to any further releases.

COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

Zamir’s appointment comes as a series of official inquiries have begun to examine the failures that allowed thousands of Hamas-led terrorists to storm Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages in one of the biggest military and security disasters in Israel’s history.

Halevi led the military during the Israeli campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.

But he announced in January, soon after the Gaza ceasefire deal was agreed, that he would step down from his command, accepting responsibility for the military‘s patchy and uncoordinated response to the Oct. 7 attack.

On Wednesday, as he handed over his command, he called for a wider examination of the failures on Oct. 7, 2023.

“The establishment of a state commission of inquiry is necessary and essential – not to place blame, but first and foremost, to understand the root of the problems and allow for correction,” he said.

Both the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency have acknowledged that their failures allowed the attack to take place, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far resisted a more general inquiry that would look at the responsibility of his government.

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