Full story
Kushner meets Hamas in Egypt
U.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.
“Kushner pushed for Hamas to take "concrete, verifiable steps"”
The meeting followed Kushner’s Sunday talks with Hamas’s new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, where a source said Kushner pushed for Hamas to take "concrete, verifiable steps".
France 24 reported that Kushner relayed a message that "Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel" as the talks sought to revive the plan.
The Guardian said the talks were designed to salvage the 15-point, U.S.-backed road map after Netanyahu rejected it, with the over two-hour meeting in Egypt confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official speaking on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu rejects disarmament timeline
Netanyahu’s position left the road map’s next steps in doubt, with the BBC reporting that Israel rejected the 15-point plan and said it also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
The BBC quoted Netanyahu saying, "The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed," framing disarmament as a condition for any pullback.
The Guardian described the stakes as the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and reconstruction of the crowded enclave now largely controlled by Israeli forces more than 10 months after the ceasefire ended major military operations.
NPR similarly said the talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, U.S.-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war, while Hamas leaders said they were waiting for mediators to start a 14-day negotiation window to work out an implementation timetable.
Regional pressure and ongoing strikes
Ahead of Kushner’s Monday meeting with Netanyahu, multiple regional powers issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map, with the Guardian saying the statement warned that "Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza."
“Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza”
The BBC reported that eight Muslim countries issued a statement on Sunday condemning Israel’s rejection of the 15-point plan, and it said Kushner’s meeting with Hayya was expected to focus on concrete actions to decommission Hamas’s weapons as well as withdrawal and humanitarian efforts.
The Guardian said the impasse over disarmament left other elements of the ceasefire on hold, including reconstruction and the deployment of international forces to separate Israeli forces from committee-controlled areas.
It also reported that Israel has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 4,100 since agreeing to the ceasefire on 10 October 2025, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while the BBC said the ceasefire remains in place even as the Israel Defense Forces have carried out near daily strikes since then.
