Jared Kushner, the Middle East envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, met with a Hamas delegation in Egypt on Sunday to discuss a U.S.-backed peace plan for Gaza. According to a Palestinian official, the meeting included Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and focused on implementing a 15-point proposal aimed at decommissioning Hamas's weapons and facilitating the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Envoys from the Board of Peace, an international organization led by Trump, also participated alongside mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.
The talks follow Israel's recent rejection of the 15-point plan, which calls for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in exchange for Israeli military withdrawal and the reconstruction of Gaza under a new civilian Palestinian administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated last week that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would not withdraw until Hamas is genuinely disarmed. While a ceasefire established on October 10 of last year remains in place, the IDF has recently conducted strikes in Khan Yunis and Nuseirat, citing truce violations by Hamas.
The meeting in Egypt also included discussions between Kushner and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Other members of the delegation included Board of Peace envoys Nickolai Mladenov and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. According to Israeli media reports, these envoys are scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday to continue discussions regarding the proposal. Eight Muslim nations, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, issued a joint statement Sunday criticizing Israel's rejection of the plan.
For the residents of Gaza and Israel, the outcome of these talks will dictate the day-to-day security environment. A finalized agreement would involve the concrete decommissioning of Hamas’s weaponry and the physical withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. Until such terms are reached, residents in areas like Khan Yunis and Nuseirat continue to experience military strikes despite the official ceasefire. The involvement of the Board of Peace indicates a shift toward using international non-governmental structures to mediate conflicts that were previously handled through traditional state-to-state diplomacy.
The immediate next steps involve the meeting between the Board of Peace envoys and Prime Minister Netanyahu scheduled for Monday. This meeting will test whether the 15-point plan can gain Israeli support following Netanyahu's public insistence that disarmament must be verified before any military withdrawal occurs. The joint statement from regional powers like Qatar, Indonesia, and Pakistan suggests that international pressure will continue to mount on the Israeli government to reconsider the U.S.-backed framework. No specific deadline for a final agreement has been reported.