Ex-Shin Bet officer: Israel held direct hostage talks with Hamas

Retired security officer Adi Rotem says he held lengthy direct discussions with Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas leader.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli security official secretly engaged in direct negotiations with a Hamas leader during the Gaza hostage crisis, with a former Shin Bet operative revealing that the unprecedented communication channel had been personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a bombshell television interview aired Saturday evening on Channel 12 News, retired Shin Bet officer Adi Rotem said he had approached then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar about establishing direct contact with a senior Hamas official who had previously played a key role in securing the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas in 2006 and held captive for five years before being released in 2011 as part of a controversial prisoner exchange that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists freed from Israeli prisons.

Rotem identified the Hamas official as Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of the terrorist organization who had extensive access to its leadership.

“Ghazi Hamad was somebody known to us from the past… He was sufficiently senior, and shrewd, had access to the entire [Hamas] leadership,” Rotem told Channel 12 News.

“I was certainly not naive about him, but there was something about him that said it might be possible to have this discussion with him,” he continued, adding that “I understood that if there was an address, he was the right address.”

According to the report, Rotem’s proposal to communicate directly with Hamad was approved by Netanyahu, as well as Israel’s war cabinet and security cabinet.

Rotem emphasized that Hamad was the only Hamas figure with whom Israel maintained direct discussions aimed at securing the release of hostages abducted during the October 7 Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel.

“We defined from the beginning: We are enemies. And I know that this sounds like an unimaginable, very complex situation, and it is complex. These were very, very, very long discussions,” Rotem said.

Rotem’s role in the negotiations had previously been classified, with Israel’s military censor imposing a gag order preventing the Israeli media from reporting on the discussions.

For unclear reasons, the military censor lifted the restrictions earlier this week, allowing reports confirming that the secret talks had taken place to be published publicly for the first time.

Rotem said he was “very, very, very” surprised that the censor had lifted the restrictions and permitted the discussions to be publicized.

He then added that “a lot of surprising things are happening in the State of Israel. Not all of them positive.”

Gaza hostagesHamashostage dealhostage negotiationsShin Bet