Jared Kushner, President Trump's Middle East envoy and son-in-law, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday after holding rare talks with Hamas leaders in Egypt the day before. The meeting ended Monday, Netanyahu's spokesperson confirmed to the BBC.
Kushner's visit came after Israel last week rejected Trump's 15-point peace plan for Gaza, which calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
The rejection followed an announcement by the U.S.-led Board of Peace that it had reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. Trump leads the Board of Peace, which was created as an international organization originally intended to bring peace to Gaza and later expanded to include conflicts worldwide.
According to Israeli media reports, Board of Peace envoys Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair also met with Netanyahu on Monday with the aim of advancing Trump's plan. In a phone interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump said that Hamas "are giving up their guns" and that Israel should not be carrying out strikes in Gaza.
Hamas has agreed to give up its weapons in exchange for a phased Israeli troop withdrawal. Israel has insisted Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli pullout. Israel also wants any weapons surrendered by Hamas to be destroyed rather than stored by a Palestinian technocratic committee. There is also Israeli opposition to Turkey and Qatar playing a role in verifying whether Hamas is meeting its obligations under the deal.
NPR reported that Kushner met with Hamas to help secure a ceasefire 10 months ago, but that the ceasefire has been shaky and has seen little progress. During this visit, Kushner is expected to try to advance Trump's postwar Gaza plan, which has support from the U.S. and Hamas but not from Israel.
Netanyahu faces pressure from within his own governing coalition. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for nightly "targeted eliminations" of "30 or 40" people in Gaza. In a podcast interview with Rom Braslavski, who was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attack, Ben-Gvir said: "Not just those who pose an immediate threat - there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn't live. They're not even people." The Associated Press, the Financial Times and the Times of Israel reported Ben-Gvir's comments.
Israel is 10 weeks from a general election in October. NPR's Daniel Estrin noted that Kushner is aware Netanyahu wants to avoid being seen as making concessions under U.S. pressure in the lead-up to the vote. Members of Netanyahu's coalition have been pushing for a harder line in Gaza, making any shift in his position a difficult political calculation.
