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US negotiator Jared Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held a rare meeting with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on Sunday in a fresh push to revive the stalled Gaza ceasefire process. He is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
The talks are aimed at salvaging a new 15-point US-backed road map under which Hamas would disarm in Gaza and Israel would withdraw from the war-shattered Palestinian territory. The outcome could affect around 2 million people in Gaza, as well as plans for reconstruction more than 10 months after the ceasefire brought major military operations to an end.
The meeting with al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to reporters. Kushner was one of three envoys who met al-Hayya, along with officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Trkiye. A meeting in Egypt last year between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders had helped clinch the ceasefire, but progress since then has been stalled over the key issue of Hamas disarmament.
Netanyahu last week rejected the 15-point plan 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, both speaking on condition of anonymity, Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov, director of the US-created Board of Peace overseeing the ceasefire, are set to meet Netanyahu on Monday.
Ahead of that meeting, several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a statement condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map. The statement, also backed by Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the ceasefire mediators, said that “Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza”. The foreign ministers also called on the Board of Peace and the US to take “immediate and concrete measures” to stop any party from blocking the plan’s implementation.
The regional official said Kushner’s meeting with the Hamas leader was aimed at securing the group’s commitment to the road map, especially on disarmament, before he meets Netanyahu. The Hamas official said the group was committed and was waiting for mediators to begin the 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation. That process can begin only after all sides approve the road map.
The Hamas official also said al-Hayya demanded that Israel stop its attacks on Gaza and withdraw to the so-called yellow line dividing the territory before implementation begins. The yellow line has never been precisely 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 had no comment on the talks and referred questions about 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 the territory, although the committee has not yet entered Gaza. Hamas has linked handing over its heaviest weapons to the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government rejects. The plan calls for Hamas to gradually give up its weapons while Israeli forces stop attacks and begin withdrawing from Gaza, but Netanyahu has said Israel will not leave any position in Gaza until Hamas has been completely disarmed.
That position has left other parts of the ceasefire plan, including reconstruction and the deployment of international forces between Israeli troops and committee-controlled areas, on hold. Netanyahu is also facing an election on October 27 as he tries to stay in power with a coalition that includes ministers taking a hard line on Gaza, and it remains unclear whether he will take major steps on the ceasefire before then. The anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the war is also approaching.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s Likud party responded to the statement by regional powers by claiming that “Arab states want to topple” Netanyahu so that centrist challenger Gadi Eisenkot and centre-left party leader Yair Golan “will give them everything they want. That will not happen.” For now, the renewed diplomacy is focused on whether Hamas will commit to disarmament and whether Israel will back the road map, with key ceasefire measures still suspended.
With PTI Inputs
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