White House Middle East envoy Jared Kushner held hourslong talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, a day after meeting with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt, as Washington pushes to revive a stalled Gaza truce plan.
The meeting came days after Netanyahu rejected a 15-point, U.S.-backed road map intended to advance the Gaza ceasefire deal. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace Director Nickolay Mladenov also attended the Netanyahu meeting, along with officials from mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, according to sources familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door session.
Kushner met separately for more than two hours with al-Hayya on Sunday to discuss Hamas’s disarmament, according to a regional official and a Hamas official who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hamas says it has accepted the road map, which includes disarmament, and is pressing mediators and the U.S.-created Board of Peace to compel Israel to sign on. Israel, which would be required to withdraw gradually from Gaza under the plan, says Hamas must disarm fully before any pullback proceeds. Israeli troops currently occupy about 60% of the strip, and Netanyahu has previously threatened to expand control.
Netanyahu’s office said he and the Board of Peace had agreed to set up two working groups — one on Gaza’s disarmament and demilitarisation, and another on public health issues in the territory.
At stake in the negotiations are the fate of roughly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, the reconstruction of the war-shattered enclave, and who will control it going forward.
