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US envoy Jared Kushner met with a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Sunday before traveling to Israel, according to officials cited by the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. The discussions formed part of an effort to narrow differences over the Trump administration’s roadmap for ending hostilities in Gaza following Israel’s rejection of the proposal last week. Kushner is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday alongside Board of Peace officials including Nickolay Mladenov and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, multiple reports indicated. The rare engagement with Hamas marks a notable shift in diplomatic channels that have largely relied on Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators since the ceasefire took effect.
Israel has refused to accept the 15-point document that envisions complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed factions, a phased Israeli military withdrawal and the establishment of a new civilian Palestinian administration to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction, a Council on Foreign Relations analysis of the Board of Peace plan showed. Netanyahu stated that the IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed, according to comments reported across several outlets. A joint statement issued Sunday by Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia condemned the Israeli position as one that threatens to undermine Trump’s broader peace initiative in the region. Hamas responded by urging the mediators and the Board of Peace to compel Israel to approve the roadmap.
The current diplomatic push builds on a ceasefire agreement that took hold on October 10, 2025, which has held amid occasional Israeli strikes that the Israeli military has described as targeted responses, Reuters reporting noted. The Board of Peace, created by Trump to supervise the truce and reconstruction, reached an accord last month on the full disarmament of Palestinian armed groups, a step the body characterized as historic in its announcements. Implementation has stalled over disagreements on sequencing and verification mechanisms for demilitarization, including the destruction of tunnel networks and weapons storage under international monitoring.
United Nations agencies have tracked the heavy toll of the conflict, with UNRWA data placing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza above 73,000 since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages being taken. A UNRWA situation report from July 2026 recorded more than 1,000 additional fatalities in Gaza after the ceasefire began, alongside thousands of injuries, many from incidents near the so-called Yellow Line separating forces. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has highlighted ongoing displacement affecting nearly 1.9 million people, or about 90 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population, according to its periodic updates.
Kushner, who played a central role in the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term, held separate talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his regional stop, Al Jazeera reported. The visit comes as Netanyahu faces domestic political pressure ahead of elections, with far-right coalition partners such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly opposing reduced military operations and voicing skepticism about any deal that leaves Hamas intact. Ben Gvir told a podcast that he disagrees with the prime minister on the pace of actions against militants, stressing continued targeted efforts.
The Board of Peace has outlined provisions for amnesty for Hamas members who decommission weapons and commit to peaceful coexistence as well as internationally supported buyback programs for arms, details published on the body’s platform and summarized by The Hill showed. Regional analysts following the process have pointed to the fragile nature of the truce, with limited progress on governance transitions to a technocratic Palestinian committee. Further meetings in the coming days are expected to focus on bridging gaps between the parties to prevent a resumption of full-scale fighting.
