US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and special envoy 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. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
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. Kushner will meet with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
The situation in Gaza remains dire: although the ceasefire ended major military operations more than 10 months ago, Israeli forces still control much of the enclave. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people and the reconstruction of the crowded enclave.
A meeting between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year helped clinch the ceasefire, whose progress had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas's disarmament.
The rare meeting in Egypt on Sunday included Kushner, Hamas's Khalil al-Hayya, and officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. This was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity.
Last week, Netanyahu rejected the 15-point plan in a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration, Israel's closest ally.
Now Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the director of the US-created Board of Peace overseeing the ceasefire, Nickolay Mladenov, are set to meet with Netanyahu on Monday, according to a source familiar with the plans and a diplomatic source.
Several regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have condemned Israel's rejection of the road map, saying that "Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing peace efforts."