US negotiator Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held a rare meeting with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on Sunday as part of a fresh push to revive the stalled Gaza ceasefire. The effort comes ahead of Kushner’s planned meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, after Netanyahu rejected a new 15-point, US-backed road map for Gaza.
The talks are aimed at rescuing a plan under which Hamas would disarm and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. At stake are the lives of around two million people in the territory and its reconstruction, with much of the enclave now under Israeli military control more than 10 months after the ceasefire ended major military operations.
A regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters, confirmed that the meeting with al-Hayya in Egypt lasted for more than two hours. Kushner was one of three envoys in the meeting, with officials from mediator countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey also present. A previous meeting in Egypt last year involving Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders had helped secure the ceasefire, but progress since then has been held up by the issue of Hamas giving up its weapons.
Hamas later said mediators and the US-created Board of Peace overseeing the ceasefire should “compel” Israel to approve the road map for the next phase. Netanyahu rejected the plan last week in a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration, Israel’s closest ally. According to a source familiar with the plans and a diplomatic source, Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov are due to meet Netanyahu on Monday.
Several regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have condemned Israel’s rejection of the road map, saying in a joint statement that “Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza”. Other signatories included Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and ceasefire mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. The foreign ministers also called on the Board of Peace and the US to take “immediate and concrete measures” to prevent any party from obstructing the plan’s implementation.
The regional official said Kushner’s meeting with the Hamas leader was meant to secure the group’s commitment to the road map, especially on disarmament, before the talks with Netanyahu. A Hamas official said the group was committed and was waiting for mediators to begin a 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation, which can start only after all sides approve the road map. The official also said al-Hayya had demanded that Israel stop its attacks on Gaza and pull back to the so-called “yellow line” before implementation begins. The line was never clearly defined. Israeli forces have moved beyond it and now control about 60 per cent of Gaza. In May, Netanyahu said the next step was to move to 70 per cent control, with Israel “tightening the grip” on Hamas “from every direction”.
The White House referred questions on Kushner’s meetings to the Board of Peace, which did not immediately comment. The Tony Blair Institute also did not comment. Under the road map, Hamas would hand over weapons to the Palestinian technocratic committee meant to oversee daily operations in Gaza, though the committee has not yet entered the territory. Hamas has linked the surrender of its heaviest weapons to the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government rejects. The plan calls for Hamas to gradually give up its weapons while Israeli forces stop attacks and begin withdrawing, but Netanyahu has said Israel will not leave any position in Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed. That has left reconstruction and the possible deployment of international forces between Israeli troops and committee-controlled areas on hold. Netanyahu also faces an election on October 27 while trying to hold together a coalition that includes ministers with a hard line on Gaza. On Sunday, his Likud party responded to the regional statement by saying that “Arab states want to topple” Netanyahu so that centrist challenger Gadi Eisenkot and centre-left leader Yair Golan “will give them everything they want. That will not happen.” In sum, the latest diplomatic effort has reopened contacts with Hamas and increased pressure on Israel, but key differences over disarmament, withdrawal and the next phase of the ceasefire remain unresolved.
With PTI Inputs
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