Contradicting CIA Intelligence on Hamas and Trump’s Peace Deal

The CIA provided insights to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Middle East Advisor Jared Kushner that contradicted a key mediator’s claim about Hamas’s willingness to accept the Trump peace proposal. This was revealed by Witkoff during an interview on “60 Minutes.”

Witkoff mentioned that while mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey seemed confident that Hamas would make significant concessions and agree to President Trump’s deal, the CIA’s intelligence suggested a different outlook. Despite these conflicting reports, Witkoff and Kushner continued their efforts, ultimately leading to Hamas agreeing to a temporary ceasefire, the release of remaining hostages, and the groundwork for further discussions about the Trump proposal.

“We had heard that because of the relationships… Hamas was willing to do this deal, but I was still reading intelligence reports every day and being briefed three times a day by the CIA. Those intelligence reports suggested that Hamas was going to say no,” Witkoff explained.

It remains uncertain what evidence supported the CIA’s view that Hamas would reject the deal, or if the agency believed Hamas might dismiss some or all parts of the plan.

Initially, after agreeing to the deal on October 3, Hamas seemed to overlook some aspects of Trump’s 20-point plan, stating it required “Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support” to back the entire proposal.

Witkoff added, “Jared and I had to decide what this situation was going to be. And I know that we both didn’t have to convince each other. We really felt that this was going in a good direction. And sure enough, Hamas came out and said, ‘We accept the president’s plan.’