Kushner Pushes Netanyahu to Test Hamas

Jared Kushner lobbied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to move cautiously but deliberately in Gaza. In a four-hour meeting in Jerusalem, President Trump's son-in-law urged Netanyahu to take steps to test whether Hamas is serious about giving up its weapons, according to a US official. Netanyahu, facing an October election and criticism at home over any Gaza concessions, reportedly voiced strong doubts that Hamas will actually demilitarize, Axios reports. And he challenged Kushner over his weekend meeting with Hamas leaders in Egypt.

Kushner laid out a phased disarmament plan: Hamas would surrender weapons to a Palestinian technocratic authority, which would then transfer them to an international force for destruction. The two sides agreed on mechanisms to flag emerging threats and prevent escalation, with Egyptian mediators involved, and on two working groups—one on demilitarization and one on Gaza's humanitarian situation, especially water and sanitation. Netanyahu showed Kushner polls indicating most Israelis oppose rebuilding Gaza before demilitarization and back ongoing strikes against imminent threats, a definition that remains a point of friction between Israel and Trump's "Board of Peace." In a statement, Netanyahu's office called Monday's talks constructive, per the New York Times, but it wasn't clear whether significant progress was made.