US envoy Adam Boehler says Gaza hostage deal possible ‘within weeks’

WASHINGTON – The US envoy who held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas said on March 9 the meeting had been “very helpful” and he was confident a hostage release deal could be reached “within weeks”.

Speaking to CNN, Mr Adam Boehler – a Jewish American – acknowledged it had been “odd”

sitting face-to-face

with leaders of a group that the US has listed as a “terrorist” organisation since 1997, but did not rule out further meetings with the Palestinian militants.

Mr Boehler said he understood Israel’s “consternation” that the US had held talks at all with the group, but said he had been seeking to jump-start the “fragile” negotiations.

“In the end, I think it was a very helpful meeting,” he said, adding: “I think something could come together within weeks... I think there is a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans.”

Mr Boehler suggested there was a chance of further talks with the militants, telling CNN: “You never know. You know, sometimes you’re in the area and you drop by.”

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, taking 251 hostages including a number of Americans. An estimated 58 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel invaded Gaza in response, waging a relentless war for more than 15 months and displacing much of the population.

The first phase of a truce revolving around the release of some hostages ended earlier this month, and both sides are disputing when to move into the second phase, which aims at a more permanent peace.

Last week, US President Donald Trump

threatened further destruction

of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders.

Vow to bring American journalist Tice home

“I understand the consternation and the concern” on Israel’s part at the talks, Mr Boehler said, adding: “We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel.”

He described his feelings on sitting across from the militants.

“I think when you walk and you sit in front of somebody, and you know what they’ve done, it’s hard not to think of it,” he said.

He said it was important to identify with their humanity, but admitted: “It definitely feels a little odd knowing what they really are.”

Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,458 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.

Mr Boehler said he felt a “long-term truce” was “a reality”. “It’s real close.”

He also promised to go to Syria to bring home Mr Austin Tice, an American journalist kidnapped there in 2012.

Mr Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, The Washington Post, and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.

The toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December by rebels had ignited fresh hopes that Mr Tice might be released and brought home.

Mr Boehler said he did not know if Mr Tice was still alive.

“I’m going to go to Syria, and I’m going to do the best I can to find out,” he told CNN.

“If he’s there, I’m going to bring him home. If he’s dead, I’m going to dig up his remains with the FBI... and we’ll bring them home to his mum.” AFP