US envoy Kushner visits Hamas leader in push for Gaza road map before Netanyahu meeting

Israeli PM Netanyahu last week rejected the US-backed 15-point plan in a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration

US negotiator and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet Israel’s prime minister on Monday.

The talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, US-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war.

At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and the reconstruction of the crowded enclave now largely controlled by Israeli forces, more than 10 months since the ceasefire ended major military operations.

A meeting between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year helped clinch the ceasefire, whose progress until now had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas’ disarmament.

The rare meeting in Egypt with Hamas’ Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters. Kushner was among other envoys meeting al-Hayya, with officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey also attending.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week rejected the 15-point plan in a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration, Israel’s closest ally.