Trump envoy Kushner meets Hamas leader to push Gaza peace plan

What the report says

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, has held rare talks with Hamas as part of efforts to advance a US-backed Gaza peace plan, according to reporting cited by Nile Post from the BBC. A Palestinian official told the BBC that Kushner met a delegation led by Hamas’s new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, in Egypt on Sunday. The talks are being described as the first at this level since last year’s Gaza ceasefire agreement.

The reported meeting comes after Israel rejected Trump’s 15-point proposal, which includes a full Hamas disarmament, an Israeli troop withdrawal and the rebuilding of Gaza under a new civilian Palestinian administration. No official readout has been released, but the discussions were said to focus on practical steps such as decommissioning Hamas weapons, Israeli withdrawal and humanitarian measures. Reports also said other figures linked to the peace effort, including Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov, were involved alongside mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi while in Egypt, and Israeli media reported that he, Mladenov and Blair were expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has said Israel will not withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed. The diplomacy is unfolding against a backdrop of continuing violence despite the ceasefire, with the war’s humanitarian toll still severe. The UN says about 1.9 million people, or 90% of Gaza’s population, have been displaced since the conflict began.