Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday.
Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition is trailing in Israeli opinion polls ahead of an October national election, publicly rejected this month a US-backed agreement that would see Hamas surrender its arms in exchange for Israel withdrawing from Gaza.
Trump had said the agreement would be carried out in phases, with Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza as disarmament proceeded and an ‘International Stabilisation Force’ worked with a new Palestinian police force to secure the territory.
But Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, has said the country’s military will only withdraw once Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza have been completely disarmed. Diplomats say Israel is unlikely to make any major concessions over Gaza ahead of the October 27 election.
Kushner was joined in the Jerusalem meeting with Netanyahu by Nickolay Mladenov, Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza.
An Israeli official indicated that there was no breakthrough in the meeting, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the military would not withdraw from a demarcation line set out in an October ceasefire and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza as it sees necessary, including targeting those who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
There was no immediate comment from the Board of Peace. Two sources said Kushner’s meeting with Netanyahu lasted several hours.
The Israeli official said Netanyahu and Kushner agreed in the meeting that the reconstruction of Gaza would not begin until Hamas was fully disarmed, including of light weapons.
In a statement that characterised the meeting as “deep and constructive”, the prime minister’s office said that Israel and the Board of Peace believe that Gaza’s disarmament should be “prompt and completed before any reconstruction happens”.
It also said that Netanyahu had agreed with the Board of Peace to establish a working group on disarmament and demilitarization, and another working group that focuses on sanitation, clean water and other public health issues in Gaza.
