US envoy Kushner meets Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza plan
The sun sets over Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Aug 2, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)
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JERUSALEM: United States President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday (Aug 17) after holding talks with Hamas leaders, as he tries to revive a Gaza peace plan that Israel has so far rejected.
The meeting comes two weeks after the Palestinian militant group endorsed the latest stage of Trump’s Gaza plan, which Netanyahu has refused to support, insisting any settlement must ensure the group is “genuinely disarmed”.
A diplomatic official confirmed to AFP that the meeting in Jerusalem had begun late on Monday morning.
Kushner – Trump’s son-in-law – met Hamas’ new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein on Sunday, the latest of once-unthinkable talks between the US and a group it classifies as terrorists, sources with knowledge of the talks told AFP.
Kushner demanded that Hamas verify that it is giving up its weapons, a key sticking point for Netanyahu, and that the group – whose unprecedented Oct 7, 2023, attack against Israel launched the war – renounce any future role in governing Gaza, the sources said.
Netanyahu is expected to meet behind closed doors with Kushner, who has long family connections with the Israeli leader, as well as Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on Trump’s “Board of Peace” implementing the plan.
A Hamas official said the group told Kushner it was committed to the Gaza plan and wanted pressure on Netanyahu.
“Hamas is demanding that the US administration … pressure Netanyahu’s government to adhere to and implement the roadmap agreement. Hamas is awaiting the US administration’s response regarding Israel’s position on the agreement,” the Hamas official told AFP.
The Trump administration has become increasingly comfortable with engaging directly with Hamas in the hope of ending the devastating conflict, and negotiated the October ceasefire agreement that led to the release of remaining Israeli hostages.
HARDLINE RHETORIC
Netanyahu, who is facing elections in October that polls show will be tight, has increasingly been willing to defy Trump, whose support he once highlighted in his campaign.
The Israeli Prime Minister has also made clear his unhappiness with Trump’s decision to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February and instead to pursue a settlement with Tehran’s clerical state.
After initially voicing muted criticism of the Gaza plan, Netanyahu last week told his Cabinet that he rejected it and vowed not to pull troops from the Palestinian territory.
The stance came even though Mladenov assured Netanyahu that Israel would not need to withdraw until a full disarmament by Hamas, backtracking on the Board of Peace’s earlier calls for Israel to start a phased withdrawal.
In an interview, Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right national security minister in Netanyahu’s Cabinet, called for mass killings in Gaza.
“I think targeted eliminations should be carried out in Gaza every night. Take out 30 or 40,” Ben Gvir said in a podcast with a former Gaza hostage.
“Not only those who endanger you right now. These are people who shouldn’t be alive,” he said. “I’m paying them a compliment by calling them humans.”
On Sunday, eight Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – whose relationship with Israel is considered by Netanyahu to be a key achievement – in a joint statement condemned Israel’s rejection of the Gaza plan.
Israel has resumed airstrikes in Gaza after a lull following Trump’s promotion of the peace plan, although the October ceasefire had never fully halted the violence in the Strip.
Israeli operations have killed at least 1,262 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect on Oct 10, according to figures by Gaza’s health ministry, which is under Hamas. Its figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during Gaza operations over the same period.
Source: AFP/fh
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