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Brett McGurk, who served as National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa during President Joe Biden's administration, details in his new book "Brink" the efforts to free 251 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The book focuses on the final weeks leading up to the release of 33 hostages, highlighting negotiations between outgoing Biden administration officials and incoming Trump administration representatives. McGurk describes a briefing session at the U.S. Capitol where he and Jake Sullivan prepared their successors for ongoing hostage negotiations, emphasizing the need for collaboration despite political transitions.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Brett McGurk, who served as National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa under President Joe Biden, details his role in negotiations with Hamas to free 251 hostages abducted during the October 7 attack on Israel. In his book "Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages," published November 19, 2024, McGurk recounts how he and Jake Sullivan worked tirelessly until just days before the transition of power when Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages as part of a ceasefire agreement. The negotiations took place in Washington D.C., where McGurk met with representatives from both the outgoing Biden administration and incoming Trump team to finalize the deal.
Written for “October 7 Hostages Release” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 63674 · logged 2026-10-07
Earlier this morning, we brought you a collection of stories on the world October 7 made.
asserted
we → bring → world
You can find those stories here.
asserted
You → find → stories
This afternoon, we’re bringing you something a little different: a window into the response to Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, from someone in the room where it happened.
asserted
it → bring → room
Brett McGurk served as National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa under President Joe Biden, making him the point person for the grueling negotiations to free the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas that day.
asserted
him → serve → hostages
McGurk has pulled back the curtain on that effort in his new book.
asserted
McGurk → pull → book
Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, published Tuesday, traces his time in the Biden administration, all the way to its very final hours, when Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, and the first stage of a ceasefire took effect.
asserted
stage → free → effect
Today’s piece, adapted from Brink, drops you inside those last weeks, as McGurk worked alongside the incoming Trump administration to push the deal over the finish line.
asserted
McGurk → adapt → line
Two weeks after Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris, Jake Sullivan and I went to a secure room in the U.S. Capitol to brief our successors.
asserted
Sullivan → beat → successors
Shortly after the election, I had called Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former Middle East hand.
asserted
I → call → law
My message was that we had a chance to secure a Gaza deal so long as we could be seen as working together without any daylight between the incoming and outgoing teams.
uncertain
we → have → teams
For the first time in months, circumstances trended in our favor.
asserted
circumstances → trend → favor
Following the collapse of the hostage talks, Israel had won a string of military victories.
asserted
Israel → follow → victories
It started on September 17, with an operation that exploded thousands of beepers carried by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
asserted
that → start → Lebanon
I first heard about what became known as Operation Grim Beeper from a contact in Mossad, who told me, “We just blew the dicks off Hezbollah.
asserted
We → hear → Hezbollah
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