US holds secret talks with Hamas for own hostages

Adam Boehler, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S. —REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The United States broke a longstanding diplomatic taboo by holding secret talks with Hamas on securing the release of US hostages held in Gaza, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, while President Donald Trump warned of “hell to pay” should the Palestinian militant group not comply.

US hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler has the authority to talk directly with Hamas, the White House said when asked about the discussions, which broke with a decades-old policy against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.

Boehler and Hamas officials met in Doha in recent weeks, two sources briefed on the negotiations said. It was not clear who represented Hamas. The US State Department designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 1997.

One of the sources said the effort includes an attempt to gain the release of Edan Alexander from Tenafly, New Jersey.

Reuters

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.