U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy Jared Kushner met with leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement in Egypt on Sunday, ahead of his visit to Israel, as part of U.S. efforts to advance a peace plan for Gaza.
The meeting comes as Washington seeks to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas over the implementation of the plan launched by Trump.
Hamas agreed in late July to a U.S. roadmap aimed at launching the second phase of the plan, which calls for the disarmament of the movement and an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally rejected the document, demanding the “real” disarmament of Hamas.
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a meeting was held Sunday between Kushner and members of the Hamas leadership.
The U.S. envoy stressed the need for Hamas to disarm and called for “verifiable” measures to ensure this is implemented.
The sources added that Kushner also stressed that Hamas would have no role in the future administration of Gaza.
Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, announced in early July that it was dissolving its civil administration and intended to transfer its responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a body established by the “Board of Peace,” made up of Palestinian technocrats and tasked with overseeing the transitional phase in the Gaza Strip.
Following its meeting with Kushner, Hamas said it had “called on the mediating brothers and the Board of Peace to assume their responsibilities and compel the occupation to implement all its obligations under the first phase, end all violations, halt killings and incursions, approve the roadmap for the second phase of President Trump’s plan, and begin setting a timetable for implementation.”
Kushner had earlier met with representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, the mediating countries involved in the Gaza ceasefire agreement, as well as Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s senior representative for Gaza. The board was established by Trump to oversee implementation of the agreement.
Kushner also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in El Alamein on Sunday, while Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Khalil Al-Hayya met with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad.
The United States had refused for years to engage in direct contact with Hamas. However, in an effort to end the devastating conflict, the Trump administration has shown greater openness to direct communications.
The Board of Peace said Friday that Kushner would travel to Israel next week, as well as Egypt, accompanied by Mladenov.
“We will listen to the concerns being raised,” a source within the board said.
In a joint statement, eight countries condemned Israel’s rejection of the latest roadmap, saying it fundamentally undermines “collective efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
Hamas and Israel have traded accusations of violating the ceasefire agreement reached last October in the Palestinian territory, which has been devastated by two years of war.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said several people were injured Sunday in Israeli strikes targeting a house near Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Others were injured in Israeli shelling targeting tents housing displaced people near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Bassal said. The body of a child killed by Israeli fire on Saturday was also recovered, according to Bassal.
At least 1,262 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ceasefire, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, whose casualty figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
AFP
