Kushner Meets Hamas in Egypt to Salvage Gaza Road Map
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, held a rare direct meeting with Hamas leadership in Egypt on Sunday in a high-stakes diplomatic push to salvage the stalled Gaza ceasefire plan. The unprecedented talks, which lasted more than two hours in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, came just ahead of Kushner’s scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has publicly rejected the U.S.-backed 15-point road map.
The meeting with Hamas political bureau chief Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by regional and Hamas officials speaking on condition of anonymity, according to NPR. Kushner was accompanied by Board of Peace Director-General Nickolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, with officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey also present.
The Diplomatic Push
The talks aimed to ensure Hamas’s commitment to the 15-point road map—particularly on disarmament—before Kushner’s meeting with Netanyahu. According to Al Jazeera, a Palestinian source said the discussions focused on “translating the roadmap’s obligations into concrete, verifiable steps.”
Kushner pushed for Hamas to take concrete, verifiable actions and relayed a message that “Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel,” according to TRT World. The Hamas delegation, for its part, insisted the existing agreement would not be reopened or renegotiated, and demanded that Israel halt its attacks on Gaza and withdraw to the so-called “yellow line” dividing the territory before implementation begins.
Hamas said it remains committed to the road map and is waiting for mediators to start the 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation. The group called on the Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to approve the plan, according to the Palestine Chronicle.
Netanyahu’s Rejection and the Stalemate
The central dispute concerns sequencing. Netanyahu publicly rejected the 15-point plan on August 9 in a rare show of defiance against the Trump administration, insisting that Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed.” He said: “We are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament,” as NPR reported.
Hamas, by contrast, insists Israel must first halt attacks and withdraw to the yellow line before disarmament can proceed. The road map, unveiled by Trump’s Board of Peace on July 31, calls for phased Hamas disarmament, Israeli military withdrawal, deployment of an International Stabilization Force, and Gaza’s reconstruction under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
Israeli forces currently control about 60% of Gaza, up from roughly 50% at the start of the ceasefire in October 2025. Netanyahu has previously indicated plans to expand to 70% control, with Israel “tightening the grip” on Hamas “from every direction,” as NPR documented.
No Breakthrough in Netanyahu Meeting
Kushner met with Netanyahu on Monday in a three-hour meeting that produced no breakthrough. Netanyahu again insisted Israeli forces would not withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed, according to The Guardian.
However, a statement from Netanyahu’s office described the discussions as “deep and constructive,” and it was agreed to establish two working groups—one on disarmament and demilitarisation of Gaza. A Board of Peace official said: “We agreed with the PM on a path forward. The Israelis are going to give this a chance. Now it’s up to Hamas to show if it truly intends to comply.”
Regional Pressure Mounts
Ahead of Monday’s meeting, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim-majority nations—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Qatar, and the UAE—issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map. They warned that Israel “bears direct and full responsibility for any consequences resulting from its continued rejection, obstruction, delay or non-compliance,” as UPI reported.
The inclusion of the UAE is particularly notable, given its normalization of relations with Israel in 2020. Netanyahu’s Likud party responded by claiming that “Arab states want to topple” Netanyahu so that centrist challenger Gadi Eisenkot and center-left party leader Yair Golan “will give them everything they want.”
A Shift in U.S. Policy
The meeting in El-Alamein represents the most significant direct U.S.-Hamas engagement to date. The U.S. has for years refused direct contact with Hamas, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. But analysts see the Trump administration’s increasing willingness to engage directly as a recognition of political realities on the ground.
Mahjoob Zweiri, an expert at the Doha Institute, told Al Jazeera that the meeting represents “a type of American submission to the fact that Hamas is a political force in Palestinian society that cannot be ignored.” Adel Shadid, an expert in Israeli affairs, said the talks reveal “a shift in the American position towards Hamas,” adding that “Hamas is no longer the problem in the American reading, but rather part of the solution.”
What’s Next
The road map’s fate now hinges on whether Netanyahu can be persuaded to accept a phased approach that does not require complete Hamas disarmament before any Israeli withdrawal. With an Israeli election scheduled for October 27 and the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack approaching, Netanyahu faces intense domestic political pressure that makes concessions on Gaza politically costly.
Meanwhile, Israeli fire has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Palestinian official sources, and the total death toll since October 2023 exceeds 73,300. At stake are the lives of some 2 million people in Gaza and the reconstruction of the devastated enclave.
The establishment of the two working groups between Israel and the Board of Peace offers a potential path forward, but the fundamental disagreement over sequencing remains unresolved. As one Palestinian source put it: “There can be no ambiguity: Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure. And Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel.”
Whether Hamas’s commitments and Israel’s demands can be reconciled in the coming weeks will determine whether Trump’s ambitious peace plan moves forward or collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.