Palestinian-American political activist Bishara Bahbah was the third-party mediator between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Hamas who succeeded in convincing the terror group to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, four officials familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel revealed the existence of the backchannel on Sunday, but did not disclose Bahbah’s identity, as he was not ready to go public at the time.
Bahbah headed an organization called Arab Americans for Trump, which helped the president make major inroads with Arab Americans in last year’s election, particularly by highlighting his pledge to end the war in the Gaza Strip. But Bahbah broke with the president over the latter’s February call for the US to take over Gaza and clear the Strip of its Palestinians. Bahbah changed his organization’s name to Arab Americans for Peace, but continued engaging with Trump officials and officials from governments in the region.
Earlier this year, former Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat’s surviving wife Suha gave Bahbah the phone number of Hamas’s Ghazi Hamad, initiating contact with the senior official based outside of Gaza, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
Last month, Hamad reached out to Bahbah, seeking his assistance in connecting with US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff in order to discuss efforts to bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“I was called by someone from Hamas who said that they are interested in releasing all the Israeli hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza. They asked me to communicate that message to American officials, which I did,” Bahbah told Channel 12 in a Tuesday interview about how the backchannel came about.
“Obviously, if I were in Steve Witkoff’s position, I would have said to myself, ‘Who the hell is he to be talking to me?’ And I can understand that,” he said.
“Steve suggested that they should release him as a gesture of goodwill… toward the president of the United States, knowing that [Trump] would then be using his influence for a ceasefire and to allow the aid to come into Gaza, that is desperately needed by people,” Bahbah said.
Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza since the end March 1, arguing that sufficient humanitarian assistance entered the Strip during a six-week ceasefire and that Hamas has diverted much of that aid. IDF officials, however, have acknowledged in recent weeks that humanitarian assistance is drying up and that Gazans are on the brink of starvation.
While Bahbah told Hamad that an end to the war would start with Hamas releasing the last living American hostage in Alexander, for weeks the terror organization sought to extract concessions from Israel in exchange for the 21-year-old IDF soldier.
Hamad subsequently spoke with one of his superiors, Khalil al-Hayya, to further convey the urgency of the issue, according to a source familiar with the matter and another Palestinian official.
Last week, Bahbah passed along a message from Witkoff to Hamad, warning that time was not on Hamas’s side and calling for Alexander’s release before Trump departed for the Mideast on Monday.
Over the weekend, Hamas informed Bahbah that it agreed to release Alexander unconditionally but wanted Witkoff to know that the step should not be viewed as a one-off, the sources said. Hamad stressed to Bahbah that Hamas was ready to work with the Trump administration to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza with security arrangements to ensure a years-long calm until a final settlement of the conflict is reached, the sources said.
On Sunday, Hamad told Bahbah that Hamas was prepared to move ahead with Alexander’s release, saying it located him after claiming to have lost contact with his captors. Bahbah in turn told Hamas to inform Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani of the decision. The Qatari premier then called Witkoff to confirm that Alexander’s release would be moving ahead.
Alexander was released on Monday evening. On Tuesday, Israel dispatched a negotiating team to Doha for another round of hostage talks, at the request of the Trump administration.
But the sides face an uphill battle, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still insisting that he will only agree to a temporary ceasefire, whereas Hamas is demanding a permanent end to the war sparked by its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.