Hours after the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas took effect, a senior Hamas official said that the militant group was ready to start a dialogue with the United States, making a rare overture to a country that Hamas has long excoriated for supporting Israel.
The comments made by the official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, who is based in Qatar, suggest that at least some senior members of Hamas hope it can engage directly with the incoming Trump administration even though the United States has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization since 1997.
Mr. Abu Marzouk’s remarks may also indicate that Hamas feels buoyed by the cease-fire and believes there could be an opportunity to expand the group’s international relations.
“We’re prepared for a dialogue with America and achieving understandings on everything,” Mr. Abu Marzouk, the first leader of Hamas’s political office, said in a phone interview on Sunday.
Beyond the United States, numerous Western countries also consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization, including Britain and Canada. But Hamas has made some efforts to improve relations with Western governments, including by issuing a policy document in 2017 that took more moderate positions than its founding charter. The document called the establishment of a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza a “formula of national consensus,” but it also rejected recognition of Israel.
The group has refused to renounce violence and recognize Israel, and after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, it was forcefully condemned by the United States and European countries. The attack, analysts say, was a reflection of the ascendancy of hard-line leaders in the group advocating for violent conflict over long-term understandings with Israel.
President Trump, however, has previously demonstrated willingness to meet with longtime foes of the United States such as Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.
Mr. Abu Marzouk, a native of Gaza and a former resident of Northern Virginia, is a member of Hamas’s political office, but it is not clear whether he speaks on behalf of all senior Hamas leaders, including Mohammed Sinwar and Izzeldin al-Haddad, hard-line military commanders in Gaza.
He is considered to be one of the more pragmatic voices in Hamas and leads Hamas’s foreign relations office. Other senior Hamas officials have invested more in developing ties with members of the so-called axis of resistance, including Iran, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and the Houthis in Yemen.
Mr. Abu Marzouk, 74, said Hamas was also ready to welcome an envoy from the Trump administration in the coastal enclave, despite longstanding American policy to provide Israel with billions of dollars in weapons and defend it at international institutions. Hamas, he added, would even provide such a visitor with protection.
“He can come and see the people and try to understand their feelings and wishes so that the American position can be based on the interests of all the parties, and not only one party,” he said.
On Saturday, NBC News reported that Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, was weighing a visit to Gaza to help maintain the cease-fire agreement, citing an anonymous Trump transition official with direct knowledge of the cease-fire process.
The comments by the Hamas leader were in stark contrast to many Hamas statements during the first Trump administration that blasted the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, cutting off aid to Palestinians,and a peace plan that heavily favored Israeli positions.
After the previous Trump administration presented its plan, Hamas referred to it as “the deal of shame.”
One reason Hamas may want to reach out to the United States is to secure the entry of materials needed to reconstruct Gaza without conditions that could undermine its ability to remain the most dominant Palestinian group in the territory.
Hamas will likely need to offer some compromises if it wants enough aid to rebuild Gaza to flow into the enclave. Until now, Hamas leaders have expressed readiness to give up civilian governance in Gaza, but without dismantling its military wing — a dynamic that analysts have said would be similar to Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon before its last conflict with Israel.
Steven Cheung, Mr. Trump’s incoming White House director of communications, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Abu Marzouk also offered high praise for Mr. Trump for his involvement in helping broker the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas and called him a “serious president.”
“If not for President Trump, his insistence on ending the war, and his dispatching of a decisive representative, the deal wouldn’t have happened,” said Mr. Abu Marzouk, referring to Mr. Witkoff.
While the deal calls for an eventual “cessation of military operations and hostilities permanently,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly suggested that the Israeli military will resume attacking Hamas after some hostages held by militants are released.
Alongside Qatar and Egypt, members of the Biden administration, including White House official Brett McGurk and C.I.A. director Bill Burns, played critical roles in putting together the cease-fire deal. But Mr. Witkoff helped encourage Israel to approve it by telling Mr. Netanyahu that Mr. Trump wanted it completed, according to officials briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Still, Mr. Abu Marzouk insisted Mr. Trump’s role was crucial to getting the agreement across the finish, especially in applying pressure on Mr. Netanyahu.
“Truthfully, Trump gets the credit for ending the war,” he said.
