The Sheikh, the Mughal and the Diplomat: The trio that closed the Gaza ceasefires

At his seaside office complex in Doha on Wednesday evening, Qatar’s prime minister thought he was in agreement. Hamas negotiators, led by a gaunt ex-lawmaker, had left the prime minister’s office, abandoning an 11th-hour demand for a ceasefire after 466 days of war in Gaza.

Journalists began to gather in the auditorium on the lower floor to witness the prime minister. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thaniannounced that he and other mediators had finally brokered a deal. Sheikh Mohammed was joined by two American representatives as he prepared his statement.

A new problem suddenly arose, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

In another room on the sixth floor, an Israeli delegation led by the heads of Israel’s two main intelligence agencies had their own last-minute request. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to specify the names of several Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel during the ceasefire.

Sheikh Mohammed sat with him in his office as his assistants tried to solve the latest problem Brett McGurkPresident Biden’s lead negotiator and Steve WitkoffA representative for President-elect Donald J. Trump hoped his efforts were not in vain.

This report on the final days of the talks is based on conversations with nine people who participated in or were briefed on the talks, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

The ceasefire, announced at a late news briefing hours after Israel’s new demand, differed little from the versions floated for much of the past year by mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the Biden administration. Cairo, Doha and several European capitals during 2024.

What pushed the deal over the line last week was the unlikely partnership between representatives of current and future American presidents working in tandem in marathon late-night meetings with Qatar’s prime minister. While Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump vie for credit, the reality is that their representatives were both instrumental in the final push, each using different approaches to sway the Israeli leadership to a deal while Sheikh Mohammed focused on Hamas.

Starting from last Sunday, the delegation of Israel and Palestine, as well as two Americans, spent long days at the Prime Minister’s residence. old market Downtown Doha. The delegations, who did not speak directly to each other, sat in different rooms on different floors, and Qatari and Egyptian officials passed messages between the two sides.

“They are not natural partners, but the combination of these three men and the three worlds they represent was the only thing that would make it happen,” said Thomas R. Nides, former US ambassador to Israel. “You needed pressure from all sides — pressure from the Arab world, pressure from Biden and pressure from Trump.”

It was Mr. McGurk, a veteran diplomat with a long focus on the Middle East, who helped oversee U.S. mediation efforts since the first weeks of the war and helped work out the complex details of the agreement nearly a year ago. It was Mr. Witkoff, a real estate investor he plays golf With Mr. Trump instrumental in persuading Israel to finally agree to the deal’s content. It was Sheikh Mohammed who convinced Hamas to make major compromises, while also providing office space for both sides to discuss final details.

The deal they sealed calls for a pause in fighting of at least six weeks, during which Hamas has agreed to gradually release 33 hostages taken during the group’s raid on Israel at the start of the war on October 7, 2023. In return, Israel has pledged to gradually release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are serving life terms. penalties for murder and allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to return home.

The deal is very similar to the proposals the two sides almost agreed to between May and July 2024. Those talks have been marred by disputes over whether to make a permanent or temporary ceasefire, whether displaced Gazans should be allowed to return home, and how, when, and how. Israeli troops may withdraw from Gaza and free a number of Hamas hostages in the first weeks of the ceasefire.

As a result, the war dragged on and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands more Palestinians, as well as several Israeli hostages.

Critics have accused Mr. Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks to prevent the collapse of the ruling coalition, which includes lawmakers opposed to the deal. Others said Hamas was deliberately prolonging the talks in the hope that Israel could become entrenched in a broader regional conflict with Hamas allies in Lebanon, Iran and Yemen. At times, Qatar has refused to continue mediation, accusing both sides of being half-hearted.

Momentum returned after Mr Trump’s re-election in November, even before the president-elect warned Hamas that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by his inauguration. He appointed Mr. Witkoff, who had no diplomatic experience Growing business relations in QatarAs an emissary in the Middle East. Mr. Witkoff was playing golf with Mr. Trump in September, according to law enforcement. an ode to the life of the past and future president.

Members of the Biden administration quietly reached out to Mr. Witkoff to see if they could work together on truce talks, two people familiar with the conversations said. Despite wide political gaps between their bosses, Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff began to coordinate, sometimes speaking several times a day, one of the people said.

However, wide gaps remain between Hamas and Israel. Just before Christmas, just weeks into Mr. Biden’s presidency, Mr. McGurk returned from a trip to Doha disappointed. He told the Qataris that he would not fly back unless Hamas made it clear that it was interested in the deal.

According to two people who participated in the process, that moment happened in the first days of January. Sheikh Mohammed has convinced Hamas to confirm the names of more than 30 hostages to be released within the first six weeks of the ceasefire, the people said. The reason for Hamas’ shift remains unclear, but analysts say Israel’s growing dominance over key Hamas allies Hezbollah and Iran has left the group feeling isolated and weakened by its losses on the battlefield in Gaza.

According to two people familiar with the incident, Mr. McGurk was informed of the jump on Jan. 4 while attending his daughter’s birthday party at an indoor trampoline park. He left the party midway and immediately flew to Doha to meet with Sheikh Mohammed, his Egyptian counterparts and Israeli negotiators. Mr. Witkoff joined him on January 10, and the pair agreed with Sheikh Mohammed that the Americans would jointly focus on reassuring Israel while the prime minister pressured Hamas.

The main remaining differences related to the depth of the buffer zone Israel sought to maintain within Gaza’s borders, as well as the number of prisoners to be exchanged for wounded and sick hostages.

Mr. Witkoff’s brief visit to Jerusalem last Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, brought a new breakthrough, according to four officials briefed on the meeting.

Mr. Witkoff sat with Mr. Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials in the prime minister’s Jerusalem office, while Mr. McGurk joined the discussion by phone.

According to a person familiar with the discussions, the two Americans pressed Mr. Netanyahu to loosen the last two major hurdles. Mr. McGurk warned the Israeli leader that he risked losing his best chance for a deal. Mr. Witkoff then put the necessary pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to emphasize that Mr. Trump wanted this deal to be implemented.

After the meeting, Mr Netanyahu appeared to have changed his attitude, the four officials said. He immediately ordered four of his top negotiators – David Barnea, the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, and Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence – to Doha.

Over the next four days, Sheikh Mohammed held a series of meetings, mostly in his private office, as Hamas officials, an Israeli negotiator, Egyptian intelligence officers and two Americans spoke with him, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning.

Based on different floors, the Israeli and Hamas teams never saw each other; they took turns entering the prime minister’s office to learn updates on the latest position of their enemies.

Progress has sometimes been hampered by the nature of Hamas’ command structure, which requires its leaders in Qatar to check certain details with their counterparts in Gaza, all of whom are hidden and difficult to reach.

Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff also met frequently with their bosses; At times, Mr. McGurk was talking to Mr. Biden, while Mr. Witkoff was on the phone with Mr. Trump or his team a few feet away, according to a person familiar with the scene.

State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mohammad Al-Khulayfi, said: “We were negotiating word by word, sentence by sentence and formula.” “It’s mentally and physically exhausting.”

The biggest breakthrough came around midnight on Sunday, according to three people familiar with the matter.

According to one of the people, Sheikh Mohammed told the two Americans that a deal could be struck if Israel made two more concessions.

Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff walked together down the hall to the Israelis’ room, where negotiators were already on the phone with Mr. Netanyahu. The Americans, who joined the challenge, told the Israeli leader that a deal could be reached if he agreed to slightly increase the number of prisoners involved in the exchange, as well as to slightly reduce the depth of the buffer zone.

After a heated debate in Hebrew between Mr. Netanyahu and his team, they compromised.

The Americans returned to update Sheikh Mohammed.

According to a person familiar with the incident, the Qatari leader told the envoys, “We will have an agreement.”

After a year of failure, at midnight on a Sunday, they thought they had agreed, arguing over the last little details.

Still, Wednesday brought more hits. With a news briefing scheduled for the evening, Hamas suddenly sought to reopen the debate over how much territory Israeli troops will continue to control along the Egyptian-Gaza border.

After the leaders of Egypt and Qatar convinced Hamas to back down, Israel sought to clarify which Palestinian prisoners would be released.

Thousands of miles away, in the Oval Office, national security adviser Jake Sullivan sat with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, waiting to hear from Mr. McGurk.

Even as Sheikh Mohammed finally announced the deal on Tuesday, the identities of the final detainees were still being determined by both sides, according to a person familiar with the dispute.

But Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff were confident enough to inform their bosses that a truce would be reached, said a person familiar with the scene.

This latest dispute continued into Thursday, when Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff finally left Qatar that night.

The deal was sealed – and one of the most unlikely pairings in diplomatic history.

Aaron Boxerman and Ronen Bergman contributed to the report.