Kushner to meet Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza plan

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after holding talks with Hamas leaders in Egypt aimed at reviving a U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan that Israel has so far rejected.

The meeting comes two weeks after Hamas 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, in the latest of once-unthinkable talks between the United States and a group it classifies as a "terrorist organization."

He pushed for Hamas to take "concrete, verifiable steps" and relayed a message that "Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel," said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

Kushner also demanded that the group verify it is giving up its weapons, a key sticking point for Netanyahu, and that Hamas — whose unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel launched the Gaza war — renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, the sources said.

Hamas again voiced its commitment to the plan, another source said.

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 U.S. administration ... pressure Netanyahu's government to adhere to and implement the roadmap agreement. Hamas is awaiting the U.S. administration's response regarding Israel's position on the agreement," the Hamas official told AFP.

The group said afterward that it had called on mediators and Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" to "compel" Israel to "approve the roadmap ... and begin establishing a timetable for its implementation."

A picture released by host Egypt did not include al-Hayya but showed Kushner at a table alongside members of the "Board of Peace," including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Qatar and Turkey, key mediators alongside Egypt, also joined.

Netanyahu was expected to meet behind closed doors with Kushner, who has long-standing family connections with the Israeli leader, as well as Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on Trump's "Board of Peace," which is implementing the plan.

Israeli media reported that Blair, now a senior "Board of Peace" official, would also attend.

The United States refused contact for years with Hamas, which it classifies as a terrorist organization and which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

But the Trump administration has become increasingly comfortable with direct contact in hopes of ending the devastating conflict, negotiating the October cease-fire agreement that led to the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

Hard-line 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 prime minister has also made clear his unhappiness with Trump's decision to halt the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February and instead pursue a settlement with Tehran's clerical leaders.

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 had assured him that Israel would not need to withdraw until Hamas was fully disarmed, backtracking on the "Board of Peace's" earlier calls for Israel to begin a phased withdrawal in tandem with Hamas's disarmament.

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 on 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."

Muslim states press Israel

The three regional mediator countries and five fellow Muslim nations — Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Indonesia — on Sunday condemned Israel's rejection of the plan.

In a joint statement, they said "Israel bears direct and full responsibility" for obstructing peace, adding that its refusal "directly threatens to derail extensive efforts" by Trump.

In response, Netanyahu's Likud Party charged that "the Arab countries want to bring down the prime minister" in the election.

The inclusion of the UAE is significant because it normalized relations with Israel five years ago, kick-starting an economic and strategic relationship that Netanyahu considers a key achievement.

Israel keeps up strikes, kills child

Israel has resumed airstrikes in Gaza after a lull following Trump's promotion of the peace plan, though the October cease-fire had never fully halted the violence in the Strip.

Several people were injured Sunday after Israeli aircraft targeted a house west of Nuseirat, said Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense agency, which serves as a rescue service under Hamas.

The Israeli military said it was responding to a threat by Islamic Jihad militants and that it had tried to mitigate civilian casualties.

"The terrorists advanced terror attacks and were struck in precise aerial strikes to remove the threat," it said.

Several others were wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on tents housing displaced people west of Khan Younis, where, separately, the body of a child, Suhail Shallouf, was recovered after he was killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, the civil defense agency said.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,265 Palestinians since the so-called cease-fire came into effect on Oct. 10, according to figures from Gaza's Health Ministry. 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.