Kushner to meet Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza plan

InternationalKushner to meet Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza planBy AFP -Aug 17, 2026Add ARY News on GoogleAAResizeJerusalem: US envoy Jared Kushner is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after holding talks with Hamas leaders in Egypt aimed at reviving a US-backed Gaza peace plan that Israel has so far rejected. The meeting comes two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump’s Gaza plan, which Netanyahu has refused to support, insisting any settlement must ensure the group is “genuinely disarmed”. Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — met Hamas’s new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Meditarranean city of El-Alamein on Sunday, sources with knowledge of the talks told AFP. Kushner pushed for Hamas to take “concrete, verifiable steps” and relayed a message that “Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel”, said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions. Hamas again voiced its commitment to the plan, another source said. The group said afterwards that it had called on mediators and Trump’s so-called Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to “approve the roadmap… and begin establishing a timetable for its implementation”. ‘Dreams disappear’ as Gaza students await evacuation to Italy A picture released by host Egypt did not include al-Hayya, but showed Kushner at a table alongside members of the Board of Peace, including British former prime minister Tony Blair. Qatar and Turkey, key mediators alongside Egypt, also joined. The United States refused contact for years with Hamas. But the Trump administration has increasingly been comfortable with direct contact in hopes of ending the devastating conflict, negotiating the October ceasefire agreement that led to the release of remaining Israeli hostages. – Muslim states press Israel – The three regional mediator countries and five fellow Muslim nations — Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Indonesia —...