In a report on Thursday, The New York Times reported that the Americans were in a hurry (to reach an agreement for the release of the hostages), that the Americans were in a hurry, as Adam Boehler, a senior American official, wanted Hamas to agree to the release of the last living American-Israeli hostage in Gaza so that President Trump could announce his freedom during his speech to Congress.

The two sides were still haggling as Mr. Trump arrived at the Capitol, and neither met the deadline, according to four people familiar with the discussion, leaving the president with only a passing reference to the hostages in Gaza.

However, the talks, which distanced themselves from decades of entrenched hostility, continued the next day, demonstrating how keen both sides were to strike a deal.

It all began and ended in March, according to the newspaper. Although the United States has backed Israel in its endless war on Gaza, after Hamas launched an October 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel, including 311 active-duty soldiers, according to Israel, Trump administration officials met with senior Hamas officials in Qatar three times, according to the four people. The meetings marked a break with long-standing U.S. policy against engaging with the militant group, which the United States considers a terrorist organization. Trump had made the release of all hostages a key goal, aiming to demonstrate success where the Biden administration had struggled. However, in a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, his remarks on the hostages were largely overshadowed by talk of tariffs and Iranian diplomacy.

The March talks underscored the Trump administration's ad hoc approach to diplomacy. But in the face of furious Israeli opposition, Hamas's hesitation, and the Trump administration's shifting stance, no agreement was reached to release the hostage, Idan Alexander.

The newspaper says: “This report is based on conversations with six people familiar with the closed-door meetings, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.” The talks were separate from faltering attempts by Israel and Hamas to extend a troubled ceasefire. The first phase of the agreement signed in January ended without an agreement to move to the second phase, which called for an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu has stated that the war will not end until Hamas’s military wing and government are dismantled, while Hamas appears willing to give up control only of the civilian government, but not its weapons. This stalemate has left U.S. officials with the impression that Israel’s resumption of its war on Gaza is only a matter of time, endangering Alexander’s life and jeopardizing the release of the bodies of four other Israeli-Americans, according to two people familiar with the matter. They added that Boehler believes Hamas may want to make a gesture to President Trump, and that a side agreement could build momentum toward serious discussions on the second phase.

On the day of the first meeting, after the iftar meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, three Hamas officials welcomed Adam Boehler, a private equity investor who was Trump's nominee for special envoy for hostage affairs, and his advisor, a recent Harvard Business School graduate. They met in a living room featuring a large mural of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and a picture of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau who was assassinated by Israel last July. After midnight, according to the newspaper: “The officials reflected on the historic nature of the meeting and ate knafeh and drank fresh orange juice. They also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the October 7 attack, four people familiar with the conversation said. The Hamas officials, Taher al-Nunu, Bassem Naim, and Osama Hamdan, made an effort to appeal to their American counterparts, according to the four people. Al-Nunu argued that Hamas was trying to ensure freedom for Palestinians – a value he said was dear to the Americans. About 50,000 people have been killed in the war, according to Gaza health authorities, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and some protesters in Gaza called on Hamas to stand down. Two days after the first meeting, Boehler returned to speak with Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s chief negotiator, according to the four people. Al-Hayya said Hamas would normally demand the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention in exchange for a hostage like Mr. Alexander, but as a gesture of goodwill and to save time, it would ask for only 250, including 100 serving prison terms. Life imprisonment

Al-Hayya said he believed the United States could push the Israelis to release that number of people, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

Later that day, Buehler offered 100 inmates serving life sentences and promised to release 150 lower-ranking inmates at a later date in exchange for Mr. Alexander, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Israel has approximately 300 prisoners serving life sentences in detention, and officials have been wary of handing over a large number of them for a single hostage.

Boehler has been under pressure from Israel regarding the talks. He received an angry phone call from Ron Dermer, a Netanyahu adviser, expressing frustration that Boehler had not informed Israel in advance, according to two people familiar with the call. The next day, Axios reported that Boehler had met with Hamas officials—a leak that US officials said they believed was engineered by Israeli officials to sabotage the talks.

The United States often consults with Israel on sensitive national security matters, but Trump administration officials may not have wanted to keep Israeli officials informed because Israel had blocked a previous attempt to meet with Hamas leaders.

In this case, immediately after Mr. Trump's inauguration on January 20, Boehler traveled to Doha, Qatar, where he hoped to meet with Hamas officials, among other reasons for the trip. But when the Israeli Prime Minister's Office learned of Boehler's plans, Israeli officials intervened with the White House, according to two people familiar with the events. The White House canceled the meeting.

During the March meetings, Boehler was in close contact with Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, coordinating positions and providing updates, the two people said. Before the third and final meeting with Hamas, on March 5, US officials no longer considered their offer feasible. They decided the most they could offer was the release of 100 prisoners, with no promise of life sentences, in exchange for the American detainee Alexander.

Two people familiar with the matter said the offer would also include the release of Palestinian women and children in exchange for the bodies of the four American-Israeli hostages, the resumption of aid deliveries to Gaza, and a plan to send Witkoff to Doha to iron out the details of the exchange and begin discussions on the second phase. Israel had halted the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza on March 2, days before the proposed meeting, in order to pressure Hamas.

The meetings also addressed Hamas's vision for the future of Gaza. Al-Hayya told his American interlocutors that Hamas was open to a five- to ten-year truce, during which the movement would lay down its weapons.

Among other suggestions, al-Hayya also said Hamas wanted the release of two leaders of the now-defunct Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, who were convicted in the United States in 2008 of providing "material support" to the group, according to four people familiar with the conversation, the newspaper reported.

At the end of the final meeting, Boehler told his Hamas interlocutor (Hayya) that his latest offer was final and might not be on the table if Hamas did not accept it by the time his plane took off in a few hours, according to four people familiar with the matter. Hayya indicated that Hamas would not accept him, even if he himself wanted a deal. A week later, Hamas issued a statement announcing its willingness to make a deal to release Alexander and the bodies of the American-Israeli hostages. The offer was similar to the one Boehler had proposed, according to two people familiar with its content.

But it was too little, too late: Boehler was no longer negotiating directly with the movement. When Witkoff traveled to Doha in mid-March, he demanded that Hamas agree to the release of several living hostages without any guarantees that the war would end.

It should be noted that just a few days later, at dawn on March 18, Israel resumed its war on Gaza, ending the prospects of a deal that had been directly discussed between the Americans and Hamas.