To secure Gaza ceasefire, dealmakers overcame enemies' deep distrust

Inside a lavish clubhouse on Doha’s waterfront, tensions strained by months of fruitless back-and-forth weighed on negotiators as the hour neared 3 a.m.

On the first floor, a Hamas delegation combed through the details of yet another proposal to halt the war in Gaza. On the second floor, advisers to Israel’s chief negotiator did the same.

With Qatari, U.S. and Egyptian mediators pushing for resolution, did the sides — such bitter enemies that they refused to speak directly to one another — at last have a deal to pause the fighting and bring dozens of Israeli hostages home?

“Both parties were looking at each word in the deal as a trap,” said an Egyptian official involved in the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity. The talks that night a week ago dragged on over disagreements about where Israel would begin withdrawing troops and its demand that Hamas provide a list of living hostages, he said.

By the time Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, announced a ceasefire last Wednesday evening, mediators had scrambled again to defuse objections by both sides.

But as the fighting in Gaza paused this week, three young Israeli women were released from captivity and dozens of Palestinian prisoners were freed by Israel, the agreement, however tenuous, has held.

The agreement was the product of a singular political moment, with one U.S. president preparing to hand power to another.

Both were pushing for a deal to free some 100 Israeli hostages and bring an end to a conflict that began with Hamas' attack that killed about 1,200 in Israel. More than 47,000 have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

The circumstances partnered Sheikh Mohammed with improbable allies. Then-President Joe Biden sent Brett McGurk, a veteran Middle East hand in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Donald Trump dispatched Steve Witkoff, a real estate billionaire with little if any diplomatic experience, but a longtime friendship with the then-president-elect.

The deal they brought together calls for continued negotiations that could be even more fraught, but with the potential to release the remaining hostages and end a war that has destroyed much of Gaza and roiled the entire region.

In late May, Biden laid out a proposed deal that would move the sides toward a “sustainable calm.”

But talks had stalled even before the detonation of a bomb, attributed to Israel, in late July killed Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau. And efforts by mediators to restart them were derailed in August when Israeli forces found the bodies of six hostages in a Gaza tunnel.

Pressure on Hamas increased after Israeli forces killed leader Yahya Sinwar — an architect of the Oct. 7 attack — and launched a devastating offensive against Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the group’s longtime ally.

But Qatari officials announced they were suspending mediation until both sides demonstrated willingness to negotiate.

Weeks later, Trump dispatched Witkoff, whose most notable prior link to the Middle East was his $623 million sale of New York’s Park Lane Hotel to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

Talks restarted soon after.

“Witkoff and McGurk were pushing the Israelis. Qatar was pushing Hamas,” said an official briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Egyptian official recounted the frustration of successfully pushing Hamas to agree to changes last summer, only to find Netanyahu imposing new conditions.

An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity last week because the negotiations were ongoing, said Sinwar’s death and Iran’s weakening influence in the region forced Hamas’ hand, leading to real give-and-take.

He and others close to the process said Trump’s rhetoric and dispatch of an envoy had injected new momentum. The Egyptian official pointed to a statement by Trump that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released, saying it had pressured both Hamas and Israeli officials.

Mediators said the willingness of Witkoff and McGurk to partner up was critical.

In early January, there was a breakthrough in the talks when Hamas agreed to provide a list of hostages it would release in the first phase of a deal, an official briefed on the talks said.

On January 11, Witkoff flew to Israel, securing a meeting with Netanyahu. McGurk called in from Doha. Netanyahu agreed to send the heads of Israeli intelligence and internal security back to Doha for negotiations, which mostly took place in the Qatari prime minister’s private office.

At points, mediators shuttled back and forth between adversaries on different floors. At others, the chief negotiators for the two sides cycled separately into the prime minister’s office.

“But the Hamas and Israeli delegations never crossed paths,” said the official briefed on the talks.

After lead negotiators for each side left Sheikh Mohammed’s office late Tuesday, the work shifted to the waterfront club owned by the government.

“Until late the first hours of Wednesday we were working tirelessly to resolve last-minute disputes,” said the Egyptian official involved in the negotiations.

After extended discussions focused on the buffer zone Israel is to maintain in Gaza and the names of prisoners to be released, the long night ended with an agreement seemingly at hand, said the official briefed on the talks.

But “a last-minute hiccup, last-minute requests from both sides” forced a delay, the official said.

Israel accused Hamas of trying to make changes to already agreed upon arrangements along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Hamas called the claims “nonsense.”

A senior U.S. official involved in the talks said Hamas negotiators made several last-minute demands, but “we held very firm.”

After calling the Hamas negotiators into his office, Sheikh Mohammed met separately with the Israelis and U.S. envoys. Three hours behind schedule, he stepped to a lectern to announce the parties had reached an agreement.

Israel and Hamas are set to resume talks just over a week from now, to work out the second phase. That is supposed to include the release of all remaining hostages, living and dead, and a permanent ceasefire. But getting there, observers say, will likely be even tougher.

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Magdy reported from Cairo, Geller from New York, and Madhani from Washington. Associated Press reporter Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this story.