President Biden hugs Rachel Edri, a survivor of Hamas' attack, in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18.
Shortly after Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel, Qatar approached the White House with sensitive information regarding the hostages — and word that a deal for their release was possible, a senior U.S. official tells Axios' Barak Ravid.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan directed Biden's top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, and another top adviser, Josh Geltzer, to establish a secret working group on the hostage issue.
The group's work wasn't read into the White House's interagency process because Qatar and Israel — which quietly created similar working groups — demanded extreme secrecy.
Only a few people in the Biden administration knew the details of the group's work.
But now we can take you behind the scenes. Interviews with the officials reveal how Biden's team shaped the agreement during six weeks of often-tense negotiations, how he was driven by "gut-wrenching" meetings with hostages' family members, and his aggressive push to seal the deal.
Six days after the Hamas attack, Biden met virtually with the families of Americans who were then unaccounted for in Israel. Some were later designated as hostages in Gaza. A few others were found dead in Israel.
Biden spent more than 90 minutes talking with the families. A U.S. official who was on the Zoom call described it as "one of the most gut-wrenching things I have experienced."
Several days later, on Oct. 18, Biden was in Israel for an unprecedented wartime visit. He spent more than an hour with a group of Israelis who were survivors of the Oct. 7 attack or had family members taken hostage.
Two Israelis who attended the meeting said the Secret Service and Biden's aides told him several times he needed to move to his next appointment. But he put them off and kept talking with the survivors.
Later that day, Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's war Cabinet in Tel Aviv, and had a lengthy discussion on what it might take to secure the hostages' release, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
A senior U.S. official said Biden made clear to Netanyahu and his ministers that humanitarian assistance had to reach Palestinians in Gaza regardless of any future hostage deal. Reluctantly, they agreed.
Biden and Netanyahu continued to have near-daily chats.
The first breakthrough on hostages came Oct. 23. Qatari mediators persuaded Hamas to release Judith Raanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie — two Americans from Chicago who'd been swept up in Hamas' attack.
The episode showed the White House that Qatar could deliver hostage releases — and gave U.S. officials hope for a larger hostage deal.
Between the lines: The White House — under increasing pressure to push for a pause in Israel's attacks on Gaza — realized that the only realistic path to such a pause would be a deal for the release of a large number of hostages, U.S. officials say.
Biden's team decided to get CIA Director William Burns more involved in the hostage talks. Since then, Burns has been a key player in the negotiations, Israeli and U.S. officials said.
Mossad director David Barnea has been negotiating for Israel
