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Sponsored Content by BGI Genomics May 4 2023 Reviewed by Olivia Frost insights from industry Dr. Stephen Lye Interim Director Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health

In this interview, Dr. Stephen Lye, the Interim Director of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, talks to NewsMedical about how AI and DNA sequencing can be used for understanding pregnancy complications.  Please introduce yourself and your role at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health? What inspired your career – both in science and in maternal health?

My name is Dr. Stephen Lye, and I am the interim director of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, which is part of the University of Toronto. My interest in maternal child health can be attributed to when I undertook my post-doctoral training in London, Ontario.

I am originally from Bristol, England, but I moved to Canada to do this post-doctoral training in a hospital setting. The experience of being in a hospital and talking to clinicians as a basic scientist gave me a better understanding of how integral maternal health is to long-term health and well-being. This idea was partly borne of the integration of basic science with clinical practice, which I think is very powerful. As a research area, maternal health can be both underfunded and under-recognized. However, more technologies, such as AI and DNA sequencing, are being used in recent years to understand pregnancy complications further. Why is it so important to continue raising awareness of pregnancy complications?

Something that may not be immediately apparent is that a pregnancy carried to term involves two human beings – the pregnant patient and the baby. The health of the father is also relevant. It is now known that how an individual develops in utero and early infancy plays a critical role in establishing their lifelong health and well-being.

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If optimal, the pregnancy environment will help that individual to be healthy and reduce the risk of illnesses in later life.

Conversely, suppose that an individual is exposed to risks in utero. In that case, a challenge can be posed to their health trajectories, whether that is because of maternal ill health, such as preeclampsia, or whether the individual is born prematurely.

This can result in a greater risk of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as a risk to full intellectual development and pose difficulties for that individual to form optimal social relationships.

A research framework termed Developmental Origins of Health and Disease examines these connections.

As a result, science and government have become increasingly interested in the links between maternal health and child health and how, in pre-conception, the parents’ health can impact embryo development, fetal development, and child development in areas like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Despite this increase in medical advancement, there’s been no reduction in the occurrence of pre-term birth. Why is this, and what impact does pre-term birth have on infants and moms?

The reality is that the diseases of aging adults have garnered increased attention in recent years, whether we are talking about cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or dementia. This increased support could be partly political: older people are at the most risk of those disorders, and it is generally older people working in government funding and setting budgets for healthcare.

The idea of the developmental origins of health and disease is gaining traction. Currently, though, where the funding is based is where researchers are. In this vein, there are far more researchers in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes than in reproductive health and development issues. Stephen Lye at ICG17 – Understanding Pregnancy Complications with AI and DNA Sequencing Play

There are typically fewer researchers in specific fields like mine, and much greater collaboration is needed to make changes happen.

At my own institution, Sinai Health in Toronto, within the larger institute, where researchers are involved in cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, we also have an infant health research group. This allows us to connect with those individuals and ensure we can identify some of the cutting-edge science and technologies. You are currently a senior investigator at Sinai Hospital in Canada. Can you tell us a bit more about the laboratory you work in and some of the current research in which you are involved?

The laboratory that I lead focuses on pregnancy complications. We are interested in examining the mechanisms responsible for preeclampsia and pre-term birth. Through this understanding, we seek more efficient and earlier diagnoses of which women are more likely to have those conditions to intervene.

We are also focused on developing interventions or therapeutics that can be applied once we have understood more about the disease. It is vital, in my opinion, to focus not only on mechanisms, therapeutics, or diagnostics but to recognize that these elements are all interwoven. Our group looks at each aspect to try and make a difference.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/Chompoo Suriyo

I am interested in these aspects of science closer to the patient because I tend to enjoy the broader picture. Rather than a career focused on one particular gene or protein and understanding everything I possibly can about that element, my research interest has been more broad.

The broad research aspect allows me to focus on how relationships and correlations happen between different sectors. If I were focused on one specific area, I might not see the connections in the background. I hope this broader approach will allow me to continue benefiting patients.

Most of the diseases and disorders we are interested in are very complex. As such, they are not single-gene or even multiple-gene but have genetic and environmental components and complex natures. Broad thinking must be employed to identify pathways that might be amenable to therapeutics. You are involved in the largest Canadian study of its kind to track the health of women and their babies. What are you hoping to learn from this, and what does this study involve?

We introduced this study to Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the hospitals in Sinai Health. A general hospital, Mount Sinai also has one of the largest reproductive and pregnancy programs in Canada. Our practice is to enroll women when they attend their first obstetrical visit after asking them if they would like to be involved in this study.

If they wish to be involved, the patient will consent to their health information being made accessible to us. When they have a blood sample or another type of sample collected for their routine clinical care, a small sample of the original is banked for research. This way, the study does not involve additional sampling, but the data is derived from their normal care.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/Africa Studio

The only additional requirement is for the patient to complete some detailed questionnaires about their life: their lifestyle, education, home life, economic activity, and past medical history.

We hope to learn more about what factors support a healthy pregnancy through this initiative. The information generated can be passed back to new patients to help them have better outcomes.

Currently, there are close to 4,000 women enrolled in the study. Over the study, we have obtained thousands of blood samples, urine samples, and different biospecimens, and the study is at the stage where we are now following the children born.

We have followed over a thousand children to about four years of age. We examine a range of various aspects of their early development, which provide us with insights into how we can improve pregnancy outcomes as well as how we can improve outcomes for the children. You are currently at ICG, and your earlier presentation was titled ‘RNA Sequence.’ RNA sequence identifies signatures of maternal blood that can predict imminent pre-term birth. Could you outline some of the key takeaways from this presentation?

As mentioned earlier, one of our core aims is to provide better care for women clinically diagnosed with pre-term labor. The condition known as threatened pre-term labor occurs when women start uterine contractions before ‘normal term,’ or 37 weeks of completed pregnancy.

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When threatened pre-term labor occurs, there is a risk of the baby being born pre-term. Indeed, if the delivery is too early, that baby can die because it is essentially a fetus born into an extrauterine environment. At about 24-25 weeks of pregnancy, which is a little over halfway through, such babies would be about the size of my palm.

Sadly, if born at that gestation period, many of them will die, and others might have significant disabilities that they will experience for the rest of their lives. Related StoriesThe Applications of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) – 10 Years of ExperienceBGI cares – 2022 social responsibilities in reviewAsk the Expert: 7 Questions about Colorectal Cancer & Non-invasive Fecal DNA Testing

When a clinical diagnosis of pre-term labor is made, it is very difficult for clinicians to know whether a woman experiencing contractions will continue to experience them and go on to deliver within the next couple of days or if the contractions will cease and pregnancy will be maintained onto term. Only about 20% of women diagnosed with pre-term labor actually deliver pre-term.

Suppose the clinician is of the opinion that there is going to be a pre-term birth. In that case, it is firstly essential that the woman is kept in a hospital, hospitalized, or transferred from a community hospital to a hospital that has a neonatal intensive care unit.

This is important since high standards of care and capability are needed for looking after a premature baby, which is costly to the healthcare system. Often, particularly in countries like Canada, which are sparsely populated, this means that women will be transported long distances away from home.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/ALPA PROD

The next step is that the patient will be either treated with drugs to try and stop the labor or given hormones to mature the baby’s organ systems and hopefully allow that baby to survive. If the patient is in real pre-term labor, these methods are all perfectly suitable, but the reality is that 80% of them are not.

We have tried to develop a new test to better identify women that are in real labor and will deliver within the next 48 hours and those that are in forced labor and could instead be sent home.

Threatened pre-term labor is the second largest cause of being hospitalized during pregnancy other than giving birth. This takes up many healthcare resources and can cause women to have treatments they do not necessarily need. Are you hopeful that RNA sequencing could predict imminent pre-term birth? If so, what impact would this have on women, their children, and healthcare?

We had some pulmonary data of gene expression signatures in the blood of women experiencing threatened pre-term labor. These gene expression signatures were predictive of whether women would deliver or not.

cDNA microarrays were old technology deployed before sequencing came in. Its sensitivity and specificity were good, but it was not good enough to turn into a commercial test. When RNA sequencing came in and became cost-effective enough to do on a large scale, it allowed us to conduct the study we did before again and get much more resolution on the gene expression signatures.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/nobeatsofierce

In our current study, we have performed nearly 1000 RNA sequences – RNA sequencing on 1000 samples. This work has increased the sensitivity and specificity of our signatures.

If all the current signatures in new populations can be validated, these can likely be used to develop a commercial test. This project is one that my own hospital jointly funds, BGI, and Genome Canada, which is through a program called the Genomic Applications Partnership Program, our genomics funding agency in Canada.

It is essential to work closely with companies interested in pregnancy. Most companies are afraid of what might happen if a problem occurs, so they steer clear of pregnancy. BGI has had some experience in pregnancy and newborn health due to their newborn screening tests. If we successfully generate a screening test through the research program, this could be introduced into their line of products. Are you hopeful that the field of maternal health will soon see better outcomes with continued research, funding, and innovation? Could increased and improved testing generate better outcomes for pre-term birth? What more needs to be done before this can become a reality?

As an optimist, I would say we strive for and achieve positive outcomes for women. We are also trying to develop a similar type of test that will predict in early pregnancy whether a woman is likely to have a pre-term birth in addition to this screening test in development. In addition, other colleagues are developing the same approach to other pregnancy complications like preeclampsia.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/Petrovich Nataliya

There is a great deal of activity within the pregnancy research field that can improve outcomes, particularly in diagnostics. It is more complicated to introduce a new therapeutic to women during pregnancy than to give a cancer drug where someone is at imminent risk.

Most pregnancies are uneventful and ultimately lead to the birth of a remarkable new human being. For most parents, pregnancy and childbirth are low-risk, high-reward events. For a small number – approximately 10-15% – pregnancy can be more of a rocky road and potentially have a disastrous outcome. Having a baby die in utero or during the newborn period is devastating, and this motivates us toward our goals. As a recognized leader in the field of infant health and maternal reproductive health, what has been your proudest achievement?

When I reflect, the work that springs to mind is how the maternal immune system plays a role throughout pregnancy, which has been very exciting. From this, we have discovered that the interactions between the mothers’ immune cells and the developing placenta are critically important in forming the placenta.

In other words, as is well known, the placenta is the lifeline between the mother and the baby. The birth process also requires maternal immune cells, underlining this form of mutual communication between the mother and the baby throughout the pregnancy, which has been hugely exciting to find out.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/crystal light

The other aspect that has given me the most satisfaction in my career is building groups of scientists, conditions, and investigators that can work well together. Building teams is essential, as I firmly believe that a team will have greater expertise across disciplines. Such multidisciplinary expertise is vital in understanding complex medical issues like pregnancy complications.

The third thing I am proud of is training young scientists who come into my lab as students, several of whom now hold senior positions in their own labs around the world. Those three things – the groundbreaking research we have done, the teams we have built, and the trainees who have furthered their careers in the field – have brought me great fulfillment. What are the next steps for you and your career?

We aim to expand the research and innovation in the pre-term birth area. One element of this is the screening tests that we hope to develop further and lead to commercial products. Thanks to some early-stage therapeutics, there is also the potential to reduce pre-term birth in high-risk women. We are working to move those closer to human clinical studies.

Finally, we also have a large study in four different countries: India, China, South Africa, and Canada. I am mainly involved in the South African study, in which we are looking at interventions that start pre-conception.

Image Credit: ShutterStock/George Rudy

In this study, to see whether we can improve pregnancy health, women are enrolled before they have a baby so that we can follow them through pregnancy and their child’s infancy.

The study also aims to improve women’s health before they get pregnant, allow them to have healthier pregnancies, and enable their children to have better starts in life. Currently, about 24,000 women are being enrolled, which is going to be exciting over the next few years. Omix is VGI’s vision for their company. What does Omix mean to you as a scientist?

My priority is utilizing Omix to improve the lives of individuals, which in our case refers to women during pregnancy and their children during infancy.

The core of the vision is to make these expensive and large-scale technologies more affordable and accessible to more people. Our partnership with BGI takes us some way along that route. Simply having the technical capability without understanding the biology or having access to the patients is not viable, sustainable, or valuable; instead, partnerships are essential, as are collaborations. What are you looking forward to most at the conference, or what have you enjoyed most so far?

I have enjoyed hearing about the science that I am not necessarily familiar with. For instance, we have heard much about metabolomics and meta-genomics and how the microbiome is vital for mental and physical health. It has also been intriguing to learn more about population genomic studies research in the Baltics. This data can also help inform the rest of our work, which is invaluable. About BGI

BGI Genomics is the world's leading integrated solutions provider of precision medicine, now serving customers in more than 100 countries.

They provide academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, and other organizations with integrated genomic sequencing and proteomic services and solutions across a broad range of applications spanning:

They have almost 20 years of genomics experience helping customers achieve their research goals by delivering rapid, high-quality results using a broad array of cost-effective, cutting-edge technologies, including their own innovative DNBSEQ™ sequencing technology.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

Read more:
Yet another fiscal ‘black hole’? Here’s why this one matters

Success or failure: One year of Keir in nine charts

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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

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“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

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Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

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Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

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Hamas gives ‘positive’ response to ceasefire proposal but asks for amendments

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Hamas gives 'positive' response to ceasefire proposal but asks for amendments

Hamas has said it has “submitted its positive response” to the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza to mediators.

The proposal for a 60-day ceasefire was presented by US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing hard for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to visit the White House next week to discuss a deal.

Mr Trump said Israel had agreed to his proposed ceasefire terms, and he urged Hamas to accept the deal as well.

Hamas’ “positive” response to the proposal had slightly different wording on three issues around humanitarian aid, the status of the Israeli Defence Forces inside Gaza and the language around guarantees beyond the 60-day ceasefire, a source with knowledge of the negotiations revealed.

But the source told Sky News: “Things are looking good.”

The mother of Anas Al-Basyouni mourns his loss shortly after he was killed while on his way to an aid distribution center, during his funeral at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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A woman cries after her son was killed while on his way to an aid distribution centre. Pic: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

Hamas said it is “fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations regarding the mechanism for implementing this framework” without elaborating on what needed to be worked out in the proposal’s implementation.

The US said during the ceasefire it would “work with all parties to end the war”.

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A Hamas official said on condition of anonymity that the truce could start as early as next week.

An Israeli army tank advances in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Pic: AP/Leo Correa
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An Israeli army tank advances in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Pic: AP/Leo Correa

But he added that talks were needed first to establish how many Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for each freed Israeli hostage and to specify the amount of humanitarian aid that will be allowed to enter Gaza during the ceasefire.

He said negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in return for the release of the remaining hostages would start on the first day of the truce.

Hamas has been seeking guarantees that the 60-day ceasefire would lead to a total end to the nearly 21-month-old war, which caused previous rounds of negotiations to fail as Mr Netanyahu has insisted that Israel would continue fighting in Gaza to ensure the destruction of Hamas.

The Hamas official said that Mr Trump has guaranteed that the ceasefire will extend beyond 60 days if necessary to reach a peace deal, but there is no confirmation from the US of such a guarantee.

Speaking to journalists on Air Force One, Mr Trump welcomed Hamas’s “positive spirit” to the proposal, adding that there could be a ceasefire deal by next week.

Palestinians dispersing away from tear gas fired at an aid distribution site in Gaza. Pic: AP
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Palestinians dispersing away from tear gas fired at an aid distribution site in Gaza. Pic: AP

Lian Al-Za'anin, center, is comforted by relatives as she mourns the loss of her father, Rami Al-Za'anin, who was killed while heading to an aid distribution hub, at the morgue of the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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A girl mourns the loss of her father, who was killed while heading to an aid distribution hub. Pic: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

Hamas also said it wants more aid to flow through the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies, which comes as the UN human rights officer said it recorded 613 Palestinians killed in Gaza within a month while trying to obtain aid.

Most of them were said to have been killed while trying to reach food distribution points by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, Ravina Shamdasani, said the agency was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings, but added that “it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points” operated by GHF.

Read more:
The man in the room acting as backchannel for Hamas in negotiations with US
GHF reacts to claims US contractors fired at Palestinians
Deaths in Gaza rise significantly when GHF distributes aid

Palestinians carry aid packages near the GHF distribution centre in Khan Younis. Pic: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana
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Palestinians carry aid packages near the GHF distribution centre in Khan Younis. Pic: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana

Ms Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were “GHF-related”, meaning at or near its distribution sites.

The GHF accused the UN of taking its casualty figures “directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry” and of trying “to falsely smear our effort”, which echoed statements to Sky News by the executive director of GHF, Johnnie Moore.

Mr Moore called the UN figures a “disinformation campaign” that is “meant to shut down our efforts” in the Gaza Strip.

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Gaza: The man in the room acting as backchannel for Hamas in negotiations with US

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Gaza: The man in the room acting as backchannel for Hamas in negotiations with US

Behind the efforts to secure the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release is the remarkable story of one man’s unlikely involvement.  

His name is Bishara Bahbah, he’s a Harvard-educated economics professor from Phoenix, Arizona.

In April, his phone rang. It was Hamas.

Since that phone call, Dr Bahbah has been living temporarily in Qatar where he is in direct contact with officials from Hamas. He has emerged as an important back-channel American negotiator. But how?

An inauguration party

I first met Dr Bahbah in January. It was the eve of President Trump’s inauguration and a group of Arab-Americans had thrown a party at a swanky restaurant in Washington DC’s Wharf district.

There was a sense of excitement. Arab-Americans were crediting themselves for having helped Trump over the line in the key swing state of Michigan.

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Bishara Bahbah,
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Dr Bahbah negotiating with Hamas for the release of Edan Alexander

Despite traditionally being aligned with the Democrats, Arab-Americans had abandoned Joe Biden in large numbers because of his handling of the Gaza war.

I’d reported from Michigan weeks earlier and been struck by the overwhelming support for Trump. The vibe essentially was ‘it can’t get any worse – we may as well give Trump a shot’.

Mingling among diplomats from Middle Eastern countries, wealthy business owners and even the president of FIFA, I was introduced to an unassuming man in his late 60s.

We got talking and shared stories of his birthplace and my adopted home for a few years – Jerusalem.

Bishara Bahbah
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Dr Bahbah and Trump

He told me that he still has the deed to his family’s 68 dunum (16 acre) Palestinian orchard.

With nostalgia, he explained how he still had his family’s UN food card which shows their allocated monthly rations from their time living in a refugee camp and in the Jerusalem’s old city.

Dr Bahnah left Jerusalem in 1976. He is now a US citizen but told me Jerusalem would always be home.

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Will Trump achieve a Gaza ceasefire?

He echoed the views I had heard in Michigan, where he had spent many months campaigning as the president of Arab-Americans for Trump.

He dismissed my scepticism that Trump would be any better than Biden for the Palestinians.

We exchanged numbers and agreed to meet for lunch a few weeks later.

A connection with Trump

Dr Bahbah invited two Arab-American friends to our lunch. Over burgers and coke, a block from the White House, we discussed their hopes for Gaza under Trump.

The three men repeated what I had heard on the campaign trail – that things couldn’t get any worse for the Palestinians than they were under Biden.

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Gaza deaths increase when aid sites open

Trump, they said, would use his pragmatism and transactional nature to create opportunities.

Dr Bahbah displayed to me his own initiative too. He revealed that he got a message to the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to suggest he ought to write a personal letter of congratulations to President Trump.

A letter from Ramallah was on the Oval Office desk on 6 November, a day after the election. It’s the sort of gesture Trump notices.

It was clear to me that the campaigning efforts and continued support of these three wealthy men had been recognised by the Trump administration.

They had become close to key figures in Trump’s team – connections that would, in time, pay off.

There were tensions along the way. When Trump announced he would “own Gaza”, Dr Bahbah was disillusioned.

And then came the AI video of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunning themselves in a Gazan wonderland.

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President shares ‘Trump Gaza’ AI video

“It is provocative and unacceptable,” he told me just after the president posted the video in February.

Trump must have thought it was funny, so he posted it. He loves anything with his name on it.”

Then came the Trump plan to resettle Palestinians out of Gaza. To this, he released a public statement titled Urgent Press Release.

“Arab-Americans for Trump firmly rejects President Donald J Trump’s suggestion to remove – voluntarily or forcibly – Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt and Jordan,” he said.

Letter from Abbas to Trump
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Letter from Abbas to Trump. Pic: Bishara Bahbah

He then changed the name of his alliance, dropping Trump. It became Arab-Americans for Peace.

I wondered if the wheels were coming off this unlikely alliance.

Was he realising Trump couldn’t or wouldn’t solve the Palestinian issue? But Dr Bahbah maintained faith in the new president.

“I am worried, but at the same time, Trump might be testing the waters to determine what is acceptable…,” he told me in late February as the war dragged on.

“There is no alternative to the two-state solution.”

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He told me that he expected the president and his team to work on the rebuilding of Gaza and work to launch a process that would culminate in the establishment of a Palestinian state, side by side in peace with Israel.

It was, and remains, an expectation at odds with the Trump administration’s official policy.

The phone call

In late April, Dr Bahbah’s phone rang. The man at the other end of the line was Dr Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas.

Dr Bahbah and Dr Hamad had never met – they did not know each other.

But Hamas had identified Dr Bahbah as the Palestinian-American with the most influence in Trump’s administration.

Dr Hamad suggested that they could work together – to secure the release of all the hostages in return for a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas was already using the Qatari government as a conduit to the Americans but Dr Bahbah represented a second channel through which they hoped they could convince President Trump to increase pressure on Israel.

There is a thread of history which runs through this story. It was the widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who passed Dr Bahbah’s number to Dr Hamad.

In the 1990s, Dr Bahbah was part of a Palestinian delegation to the multilateral peace talks.

He became close to Arafat but he had no experience of a negotiation as delicate and intractable as this.

The first step was to build trust. Dr Bahbah contacted Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy.

Witkoff and Bahbah had something in common – one a real-estate mogul, the other an academic, neither had any experience in diplomacy. It represented the perfect manifestation of Trump’s ‘outside the box’ methods.

Read more from Sky News:
Hamas gives ‘positive’ response to ceasefire proposal but asks for amendments

Why Netanyahu only wants a 60-day ceasefire
Iran: Still a chance for peace talks with US

But Witkoff was sceptical of Dr Bahbah’s proposal at first. Could he really have any success at securing agreement between Israel and Hamas? A gesture to build trust was necessary.

Bahbah claims he told his new Hamas contact that they needed to prove to the Trump administration that they were serious about negotiating.

Within weeks a remarkable moment more than convinced Dr Bahbah and Witkoff that this new Hamas back-channel could be vitally important.

On 12 May, after 584 days in Hamas captivity, Israeli-American Edan Alexander was released.

We were told at the time that his release was a result of a direct deal between Hamas and the US.

Israel was not involved and the deal was described by Hamas as a “good faith” gesture. Dr Bahbah sees it as his deal.

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Doctors on the frontline

Direct talks took place between Dr Bahbah and five Hamas officials in Doha who would then convey messages back to at least 17 other Hamas leadership figures in both Gaza and Cairo.

Dr Bahbah in turn conveyed Hamas messages back to Witkoff who was not directly involved in the Hamas talks.

A Qatari source told me that Dr Bahbah was “very involved” in the negotiations.

But publicly, the White House has sought to downplay his role, with an official telling Axios in May that “he was involved but tangentially”.

The Israeli government was unaware of his involvement until their own spies discovered the backchannel discussion about the release of Alexander.

Since that April phone call, Dr Bahbah has remained in the Qatari capital, with trips to Cairo, trying to help secure a final agreement.

He is taking no payment from anyone for his work.

As he told me when we first met back in January: “If I can do something to help to end this war and secure a future for the Palestinian people, I will.”

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