White House confirms US has been holding direct talks with Hamas, in unprecedented step

The White House confirms that the Trump administration has been holding direct talks with Hamas.

“The special envoy who is engaged in those negotiations does have the authority to talk to anyone,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says, referring to hostage envoy Adam Boehler in response to a question on the matter during a briefing.

“Israel was consulted on this matter,” she adds.

“Dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what’s in the best interest of the American people is something that the president has proven that he believes [in],” Leavitt says.

Asked whether those talks with Hamas discussed freeing American hostages or Trump’s plan to talk over Gaza, she declines to comment, saying the discussions are “ongoing” and that there are “American lives at stake.”