US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump, met senior Hamas officials, including Khalil al-Hayya, in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh to finalize the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

According to sources within Hamas, Witkoff requested the meeting after receiving written assurances that the agreement would lead to a definitive end to the war. Hamas feared that Israel would resume attacks immediately after the release of 20 Israeli prisoners alive as part of the prisoner exchange deal included in the agreement.

Khalil al-Hayya headed the Hamas delegation during the meeting, shortly after surviving an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha three weeks earlier, which resulted in the death of his son in the strike targeting the Qatari capital.

The meeting was attended by Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and a high-level Egyptian delegation.

Witkoff offered his condolences to al-Hayya for the death of his son, saying he understood the pain of losing a child, recalling the death of his own son Andrew at age 22 from an oxycodone overdose. He added, “Since then, I have dedicated myself to ending the suffering of others.”

Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, said during the meeting: “We speak as Jews and Americans when we say we are committed to ensuring this is the end of the war.”

He and Witkoff affirmed the Trump administration’s determination to fully end the two-year conflict.

Witkoff added, “We insist on focusing on ending the war and completing the exchange of hostages (Israeli prisoners), and we want to avoid anything that could obstruct the negotiations.”

According to the site, al-Hayya emphasized during the meeting that Hamas has always been willing to end the war and spoke about the necessity of stopping the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. He pointed out that the Israeli aggression led to the death of more than 67,000 Palestinians and that the extensive destruction in the Gaza Strip requires massive reconstruction efforts.

The following day, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire agreement between the Israeli occupation state and Hamas, before the prisoner exchange process began on Monday, which included the release of 20 Israeli prisoners alive in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The site pointed to the meeting between Witkoff, Kushner, and Hamas officials, noting that the US envoys went to Egypt to break the deadlock in negotiations. Sources confirmed that the agreement had already been effectively completed and that the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting was a trust-building and commitment-confirming measure.

This meeting represents the second significant direct contact between the Trump administration and Hamas, following a March meeting between US hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler and Hamas leaders to negotiate the release of Israeli-American soldier Aidan Alexander, who was captured on October 7, 2023.