Reaction on Capitol Hill to the news that the Trump administration is negotiating directly with Hamas for the release of hostages held in Gaza was decidedly mixed on Wednesday, with some Republicans who typically would reject meeting with a U.S.-designated terrorist group expressing an openness to the strategy, while others were more skeptical of that approach. 

Democrats were also split over the meetings between Hamas officials and Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, with some expressing concern that Israel was being left out of the loop.

The news, which upends decades of U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorist groups, was met with a terse response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which said in a statement that it had “expressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas,” offering no signal of support or approval.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Israel had been “consulted” about the Doha meetings, but did not elaborate.

Hours after the report was published, President Donald Trump met with a group of released hostages in the Oval Office and posted an apparent ultimatum to Hamas, saying that it must release all of the hostages immediately, both alive and dead, adding that he will provide Israel with “everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe.”

Several lawmakers said they hadn’t been aware of the talks before being asked about them by Jewish Insider, or declined to comment until they were able to learn more about the situation.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) responded with simply a stunned, “What?”

Some lawmakers said they’re open to the idea of direct talks with the terrorist group, a prospect the U.S. and Israel have both long rejected out of hand.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told JI, “I don’t care, as long as it works. Hamas is short for the world,” while Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) said that “to get a peace, you have to have both sides at the table.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told JI, “Whatever will get the hostages home, I’m for.”

“The Biden Administration’s failure to bring the hostages home, including American citizens, while threatening to withhold military aid to Israel, was disgraceful. I’m glad President Trump is actively working to bring the hostages home and applaud his administration’s use of emergency authorities to expedite arms sales and aid to Israel,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who also praised Trump’s threat to Hamas, said in a statement to JI. “The hostages must be brought home, and Hamas must be dismantled, and I applaud the Administration’s efforts to make both happen.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said he was keeping an open mind to the idea.

“My sense is, communication guarantees nothing, but the absence of communication usually is bad,” Kaine told JI. “I have very high hopes and low expectations, but I’m not like, ‘How dare you do that.’ We want to get these hostages out.”

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said he hadn’t heard the news and “I don’t see how Hamas can be part of the future, but anything that helps lead to peace, I would be supportive of.”

Others, however, were strongly opposed to or deeply skeptical of talks with the terrorist organization.

“We’d have to know more about the facts, but at the end of the day, Hamas is about as trustworthy as Vladimir Putin. We shouldn’t be doing anything with them,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told JI of the developments.

“Ditto,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who was standing with Tillis during the conversation. 

“Israel understandably has said no to direct talks and I wouldn’t favor it unless Israel for some reason decides it wants to talk directly,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, noting that U.S. officials traditionally would not have sat down with the group.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said the U.S. engaging in talks with Hamas was “a provocative thing,” but that he would support the idea if Israel was in favor of it.

“If Israel was aware of it and they were part of that conversation then that’s one thing, but if it wasn’t, then I absolutely wouldn’t support that,” Fetterman told JI. “Hamas is committed to destroying and killing the Jews, so to meet with that kind of organization without their [Israel’s] involvement, I would feel like that would be a betrayal.”

He later praised Trump’s Hamas ultimatum.

“I believe we must end this nightmare and get the hostages home but that doesn’t mean back-channeling with Hamas terrorists and cutting out our closest ally, Israel,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said in a statement. “We cannot negotiate on the interests of Israel without their knowledge and involvement. If Trump is making private commitments to Hamas, the American and Israeli people deserve to know.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) told JI in a statement that she had seen the reports and asked to be briefed on the talks. 

“It’s been over 500 days since Hamas took innocent people hostage, which is why I’ve been urging the Administration to focus on bringing all of them home,” Rosen said. “In order to be successful, any final agreement must include Israel.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI he had read about the talks earlier and had assumed that the U.S. would only open talks with Hamas “with the permission and encouragement of the Israelis.”

He said he didn’t have much to add when informed of the statement from the Israeli government.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) noted the irony of a Republican administration directly negotiating with terrorists after criticizing Democrats for their approach to the conflict last year.

“I think if Democrats did that, it would be the only thing we talked about for the next six weeks,” Schatz told JI. “Everybody’s for peace, and everybody understands you don’t make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies, but this is bananas.”