Jared Kushner arrived in Israel to meet Benjamin Netanyahu after rare talks with Hamas over the US-backed Gaza peace plan. The talks took place in Egypt on Sunday, and Kushner was expected to see Netanyahu on Monday in Israel.
Khalil al-Hayya led the Hamas delegation that met Kushner in Egypt, according to a Palestinian official who spoke to the. Hamas later called on mediators and the Board of Peace to compel Israel to approve the roadmap for the next steps.
Egypt talks with Hamas
The meeting with al-Hayya was said to be the first at this level since last year’s agreement of a ceasefire for the Gaza Strip. Board of Peace envoys Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair were reportedly also part of the meeting, along with Representatives of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
The talks reportedly focused on concrete actions to decommission Hamas's weapons, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and humanitarian efforts. Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, giving Egypt a direct role in the follow-up as the process moved from indirect shuttle diplomacy to talks involving Hamas itself.
Israel rejects the 15-point plan
Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel rejects the Board of Peace's 15-point document on Gaza. Netanyahu added that the IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed, a position that keeps the sequence of steps in dispute even as direct engagement has begun.
Earlier this month, Itamar Ben Gvir dismissed the draft as not acceptable. Last month, Trump's Board of Peace said it had reached agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, but Israel last week rejected Trump's 15-point plan, which also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
Netanyahu meeting on Monday
According to Israeli media reports, Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair were also expected to meet Netanyahu on Monday. Eight Muslim countries issued a statement on Sunday condemning Israel's rejection, adding diplomatic pressure as Kushner moved from Egypt to Israel with the same plan still split between direct talks and public rejection.
For readers tracking the Gaza peace plan, the practical question is the order of concessions: disarmament, withdrawal and civilian administration are being discussed in parallel, but Israel says withdrawal cannot come first. The next meeting with Netanyahu in Israel is the point at which those terms either harden into a sequence or stay as competing demands.
