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Kushner pushes Gaza roadmap
Jared Kushner, the U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, met Hamas leaders in Egypt to push a Gaza peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected, as mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye also attended the talks.
“Kushner will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.”
The meeting in Egypt with Hamas’ Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, and Kushner was described as seeking to translate the roadmap’s obligations into “concrete, verifiable steps.”
ABC News reported that Kushner will meet Netanyahu on Monday, while Al Jazeera said Hamas briefed Kushner on Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza.
In the same diplomatic push, the Egyptian president’s office said Kushner met Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to urge Israel and Hamas to “fulfill their obligations under the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip,” without elaborating.
Arab states condemn rejection
A joint statement from foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, along with Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates, condemned Israel’s rejection of Trump’s Gaza plan and said it was placing implementation in jeopardy.
The statement accused Israel of “obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza,” and warned that rejecting the Road Map “directly threatens to derail the extensive efforts exerted by US President Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza.”
Al Jazeera reported that Hamas said it “called upon the mediating parties and the Board of Peace to fulfil their responsibilities and compel the [Israeli] occupation to implement all its obligations in the first phase,” while also insisting Israel had “explicitly rejected the roadmap.”
In parallel, Al Jazeera said eight nations’ foreign ministers condemned Israel’s rejection of the roadmap as a “direct assault” on US-led peace efforts and Palestinian statehood, urging Washington to enforce compliance.
Ceasefire violations and next steps
While Kushner’s diplomacy unfolded, Israeli attacks continued in Gaza, with Al Jazeera reporting that Hamas and Israel exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire agreement reached in October last year.
“Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement have killed 1,262 Palestinians and injured 4,168 others”
Al Jazeera said the Israeli army announced targeting a Hamas cell leader in Khan Younis and a leader of Islamic Jihad in al-Nusairat, while also quoting a security source saying Israel’s policy “will remain the same with political constraints, but it allows targeting certain saboteurs.”
Al Jazeera also reported that Israeli strikes and Gaza health data put the number of Palestinians killed at 1,262 since the ceasefire took effect, and that 4,168 others were injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The diplomatic stakes were framed around disarmament and governance transfer, with Al Jazeera describing the meeting’s objective as ensuring that Hamas has no role in Gaza’s future administration and that “there can be no ambiguity: Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure.”
