Kushner Sits Down With Hamas in Egypt, Then Heads to Israel to Sell Trump's Gaza Plan

Today’s Focus

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, arrived in Israel on Sunday, according to the BBC. He is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

The trip follows a rare meeting a day earlier in Egypt. A Palestinian official told the BBC that Kushner sat down with a Hamas delegation led by the group’s new leader, Khalil al-Hayya.

NPR reported the Sunday session was aimed at breaking a stalled ceasefire and moving Trump’s Gaza framework forward. It is described as the first contact at this level since a truce for the territory was reached last year.

Trump chairs what has been named the Board of Peace, an international body first set up to end the Gaza war and later broadened to cover other conflicts. Board envoys Nickolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly joined the Egypt talks.

The Board said last month it had secured agreement on the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed factions in Gaza, per the BBC. The wider 15-point plan also calls for an Israeli troop withdrawal and reconstruction under a new civilian Palestinian administration.

Israel rejected that plan last week. Eight Muslim-majority countries issued a joint statement Sunday condemning the refusal. Hamas urged mediators and the Board to press Israel into approving the roadmap.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Backers of the effort point to the fact that a sitting U.S. envoy engaged Hamas leadership directly, which they see as the kind of channel needed to end a war that indirect messaging has not resolved.

Trump’s Board of Peace has framed the roadmap as a path to full disarmament of armed groups in Gaza alongside reconstruction under new civilian rule, per the BBC. Supporters say that structure addresses Israeli security concerns while offering Palestinians a governing alternative to Hamas.

The eight Muslim-majority governments that criticized Israel’s rejection cast the plan as the most concrete diplomatic opening available. Hamas, in its own statement, asked mediators and the Board to “compel” Israel toward the next steps, signaling it wants the process to continue.

Involving figures like Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov, supporters argue, lends the initiative international weight and mediation experience. To this camp, keeping every party at the table, including Hamas, is the only realistic route to a durable ceasefire.

Critics argue

Skeptics question whether Hamas will actually surrender its weapons. The BBC noted that many Israelis doubt the group is prepared to disarm, a doubt critics say undercuts the plan’s central premise.

Netanyahu’s government rejected the framework outright, and members of his coalition favor a tougher posture toward Gaza. With a difficult election set for October, critics contend the prime minister has little political room to accept terms that require an Israeli withdrawal.

Some critics warn that a high-profile meeting with Hamas confers legitimacy on the group without guaranteeing concessions in return. They argue that agreements announced by the Board have not yet translated into verified action on the ground.

Others raise the risk that a stalled roadmap simply freezes the current standoff, leaving the ceasefire fragile. For these voices, optimism about disarmament outpaces evidence that either side is ready to deliver.

What the experts say

Analysts who track the conflict note that disarmament deals in divided societies rarely hold without enforcement and monitoring. RAND Corporation research on post-conflict transitions has found that disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs frequently fail when they lack sustained security guarantees and credible third-party oversight.

The scale of Gaza’s humanitarian and reconstruction needs is large. The World Bank, United Nations, and European Union estimated in early 2025 that recovery and reconstruction across Gaza would require roughly $53 billion over a decade.

Historical precedent offers a mixed record. The Oslo process of the 1990s, brokered with heavy U.S. involvement, produced interim agreements that ultimately stalled over final-status issues, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

International Crisis Group researchers have long argued that any Gaza settlement depends on aligning the positions of Israel, Palestinian factions, and regional states at once. The current gap, with Israel opposed and Hamas urging pressure on Israel, illustrates how far apart the key actors remain.

By the Numbers

15: number of points in the U.S.-backed Gaza plan calling for disarmament, Israeli withdrawal, and civilian reconstruction, per the BBC.

8: Muslim-majority countries that issued a statement Sunday condemning Israel’s rejection of the plan, according to the BBC.

1: Kushner’s Egypt meeting is described as the first contact at this leadership level since last year’s Gaza ceasefire, per the BBC.

2: Board of Peace envoys, Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair, reportedly took part in the Egypt talks, according to the BBC.

October 2026: the month of the election Netanyahu faces as he seeks to retain power, per the BBC.

$53 billion: estimated cost of Gaza recovery and reconstruction over a decade, per a 2025 World Bank, UN, and EU assessment.

5: years the Taliban has held power in Afghanistan, one measure of how long regional conflicts can outlast diplomatic timelines, per Al Jazeera.