Did Ghazi Hamad meet with Gershon baskin?

1. A sustained back channel — who these men are and why meetings matter

Gershon Baskin is an Israeli peace activist and former hostage negotiator who opened and ran an informal channel to Hamas for many years; Ghazi Hamad is a senior Hamas official who served as a deputy foreign minister and was Baskin’s principal Hamas interlocutor ^{[3] [5]}. That relationship mattered because it helped produce the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal and subsequent attempts at hostage releases and ceasefires, making their direct contacts consequential for real-world negotiations ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Direct meetings: Baskin’s own account

Baskin’s own writings and interviews repeatedly state that he and Hamad met face-to-face on multiple occasions — Baskin says “I think 4 times” — and describes concrete attempts to convene in neutral third countries (Switzerland, Norway, Egypt) and specific meetings such as one in Cairo in early November 2012 ^{[1] [6] [2]}. These first‑hand statements are the clearest direct evidence that meetings occurred ^[1].

3. Independent reporting and chronology: corroboration and specifics

Independent accounts outline the same pattern: Baskin and Hamad nurtured an informal back channel from about 2006 onward and continued contacts through several rounds of negotiation. Wikipedia and profile pieces report a Cairo meeting in the beginning of November 2012, where they spoke with Egyptian intelligence and discussed long‑term ceasefire proposals ^{[2] [4]}. That aligns with Baskin’s recollections of drafting ceasefire texts with Hamad in 2012 ^[6].

4. How often did they meet in person? Limits of available sources

Baskin’s public statements are explicit: “We have met face to face I think 4 times” and “we have spoken more than 1,000 times,” indicating the bulk of their interaction was by phone/text rather than frequent in-person meetings ^{[1] [7]}. Other sources recount many years of contact but do not enumerate in-person meetings beyond citing specific instances like 2012 Cairo ^{[4] [2]}. Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, independently verified log of all face-to-face meetings.

5. What those meetings produced — negotiated drafts and pause in 2012

Reporting and Baskin’s own materials tie their contacts to concrete negotiation efforts: drafts of long-term ceasefire proposals in 2012, coordination during Gilad Shalit negotiations, and later attempts to secure hostage releases and recover bodies ^{[2] [3] [5]}. The assassination of Hamas commander Ahmad Jabari in November 2012 interrupted some channels, though Baskin and Hamad reportedly continued to communicate afterward ^[2].

6. Competing perspectives and later estrangement

While Baskin characterizes the relationship as based on trust, other reporting highlights the political sensitivities and limits: Hamad reportedly declined some proposed meetings citing internal Hamas permissions, and Baskin later cut off contact after Hamad’s public stance following October 7, 2023 ^{[8] [9]}. Thus, sources present both cooperation for negotiation and later rupture based on political events and moral judgment ^{[9] [5]}.

7. Takeaway and caveats for readers

Conclusion: multiple credible sources — Baskin’s own accounts, profiles, and contemporary reporting — state outright that Baskin met Hamad in person, including a Cairo meeting in early November 2012, and that they met roughly four times face-to-face according to Baskin ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Limitations: independent records do not list every meeting, and much of the evidence relies on Baskin’s public testimony and secondary summaries; available sources do not provide a fully independent, itemized meeting log beyond the cited instances ^{[1] [4]}.

If you want, I can compile a timeline of the publicized meetings and communications with direct quotes and dates drawn from these sources.