US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, has held rare direct talks with senior Hamas officials as diplomatic efforts continue to advance a US-backed peace plan for Gaza.
A Palestinian official said Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, met a Hamas delegation led by the group’s new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, in Egypt on Sunday.
The talks reportedly marked the highest-level meeting between the two sides since a ceasefire agreement for Gaza was reached last year.
Former Bulgarian foreign minister Nickolay Mladenov and former British prime minister Tony Blair, both envoys for Trump’s Board of Peace, were also reportedly present. Representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have played mediating roles in the peace process, also attended.
Although no official account of the discussions has been released, the meeting is understood to have focused on practical steps towards decommissioning Hamas’s weapons, withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza and expanding humanitarian assistance.
The Board of Peace announced last month that an agreement had been reached for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups operating in the territory.
However, Israel rejected the board’s 15-point proposal last week. The plan also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be reconstructed under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Hamas must fully disarm before Israel proceeds with the agreement.
“Israel rejects the Board of Peace’s 15-point document on Gaza. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” Netanyahu said last week defying Israel’s closest ally.
Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his visit. Israeli media reported that Kushner, Mladenov and Blair were expected to meet Netanyahu on Monday in an effort to move Trump’s proposal forward.
Eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement on Sunday criticising Israel’s rejection of the plan. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia warned that the decision threatened Trump’s efforts to secure peace.
Trump chairs the Board of Peace, which was initially established as an international organisation focused on ending the conflict in Gaza before its mandate was broadened to address conflicts worldwide.
The ceasefire that took effect on October 10 last year remains in place, although Israeli forces have conducted several strikes in Gaza since then.
The latest attacks targeted what the Israel Defense Forces described as “terrorists” in the Khan Younis and Nuseirat areas, with Israel accusing Hamas of violating the truce.
The war began after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 251 others being taken hostage.
Israel subsequently launched a military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the ministry’s casualty figures reliable.
The UN estimates that approximately 1.9 million people, representing about 90% of Gaza’s population, have been displaced since the conflict began.
