JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today 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 Islamist 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 Monday morning.
Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — met Hamas’s new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein on Sunday, sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP, the latest of once-unthinkable talks between the United States and a group it classifies as terrorists.
Kushner demanded that the group verify it is giving up its weapons, a key sticking point for Netanyahu, and that Hamas — whose unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack against Israel launched the Gaza war — renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, 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.
Israeli media reported that former UK prime minister Tony Blair, now a senior Board of Peace official, would also attend.
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.
