Gaza peace plan: Trump envoy Kushner meets Hamas leaders as 8 Muslim countries blame Israel for delaying peace

Peloni:  If this report is correct, we should take note of the willingness of Trump to accept a complete reshuffling of the agreement while holding Netanyahu to his commitment “in principle” for having in fact agreed to the original plan as described in UNSC Resolution 2803.  Netanyahu should never have agreed to that original plan, but he certainly should not be compelled to agree to the subsequent radically changed plan based on those original assurances.  The willingness of the US to hold Israel responsible for these altered terms while knowing that these terms completely erase the need for Hamas to be initially disbanded and disarmed demonstrates the lack of seriousness for the required outcome.  Also, while the US is insisting that Hamas will have no role in Gaza going forward, Jarad Kushner found it important to raise Hamas to having been fully recognized by the US diplomatically while giving them full authority to negotiate the terms under which Gaza will be ruled going forward, which wasn’t even true in the lead up to the terms included in UNSCR 2803.   The obvious next step is to threaten Israel with the loss of “diplomatic backing” for failing to fulfill the terms it never agreed to accept.  Netanyahu should stand his ground and insist upon the original terms.  This retreat by the US demonstrates a loss of credibility with both its allies and its enemies whiles still holding firm to its need to pretend that a meaningful deal is being enforced.  Hamas must be fully disarmed or destroyed, and the Strip must be fully demilitarized prior to Israeli withdrawal.  If this fails to be the case, it will only serve to damage Israeli security and American credibility going forward.

Trump administration says Israel is ‘playing games’ over Hamas disarmament plan

All Israel News Staff | Published: August 16, 2026

Screengrab via Youtube

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner held a face-to-face meeting with senior Hamas leadership in Egypt on Sunday, launching a diplomatic journey to advance the U.S.-backed disarmament and peace plan that will take Kushner to Israel on Monday.

After meeting Hamas leaders, including newly appointed leader Khalil al-Hayya, Kushner is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press him to commit to taking “corresponding steps,” a source told the Axios news outlet.

The United States is currently pressuring both sides to fully commit to the disarmament plan, after Hamas ostensibly approved it in public but has reportedly stalled in private talks, while Netanyahu rejected it publicly but is reportedly showing flexibility in behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The meeting between Kushner and Netanyahu is expected to be sensitive, according to Ynet News, with a source telling the outlet that the Trump administration increasingly believes Jerusalem is “playing games” in an effort to buy time.

On Sunday, however, eight Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), blamed Israel for the lack of progress in the Board of Peace’s (BoP) framework for the deal.

According to a joint statement, also signed by Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt, the countries believe Israel’s rejection of the plan, as well as of Palestinian statehood, amounts “to a direct repudiation of the Comprehensive Plan, jeopardise[s] its implementation, and fundamentally undermine[s] the collective efforts undertaken to achieve a just and lasting peace. Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The countries praised the 15-point framework as a “vital milestone for the decommissioning of weapons,” and warned that its rejection “threatens to derail the extensive efforts exerted by US President Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza.”

They also emphasized that Israel would bear “direct and full responsibility for any consequences… including any resulting deterioration of the situation on the ground and disruption of ending the war in Gaza.”

The highly unusual meeting with the terror leaders in Egypt on Sunday was also attended by BoP high representative Nickolay Mladenov, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, Qatari diplomat Ali al-Thawadi and an unnamed senior Turkish official, Axios reported.

According to a source, the meeting aimed to “translate” the framework’s objectives into “concrete, verifiable steps.” Kushner pressed Hamas to start implementing the disarmament plan to which it agreed at the end of July, an Arab diplomat from one of the mediating countries told the Times of Israel.

Hayya responded by insisting that Israel fulfill its end of the deal, pointing to Netanyahu’s rejection, according to the diplomat.

Kushner, in turn, reportedly assured Hayya that the BoP would urge Israel to halt its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and begin withdrawing once the terror group hands over its weapons.

He also urged Hamas to stop deploying its operatives in shows of force across Gaza, and to transfer governing authority to the new Palestinian technocratic government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), as Hamas had committed to doing.

Sources told the Saudi Al-Arabiya channel that “Kushner and Mladenov rejected Hamas’s proposal regarding the storage of weapons. They insisted that Hamas hand over its weapons and dismantle its infrastructure.”

“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,” said the source, cited by Axios.

The Arab diplomat added that the BoP aims to begin the weapons handover in the coming weeks, though he estimated that the process could take until the end of the year, by which time the International Stabilization Force (ISF) is expected to have made progress in its training.

Ynet News reported that the upcoming meeting between Kushner and Netanyahu could be tense, as Trump has aggressively signaled that he wants to see the agreement implemented, because, from his perspective, Netanyahu agreed to it in principle.

The sources described Trump’s message as follows: “Bibi has to agree to the deal. I did what he asked me to do. Now he has to do what I’m asking him to do.”

Kushner, said another source, “is coming to close things” by presenting a list of demands, including a halt of airstrikes, a full withdrawal to the original Yellow Line that the IDF steadily moved westward in recent months, a significant expansion of the entry of aid, and more progress in reconstruction and civilian governance in Gaza.

BoP officials said, “It is important to us not to give either side excuses to violate the agreement. It is important to us that Israel have diplomatic backing and that it stand by it, but it is a shame that it says otherwise because of internal considerations and thereby loses the backing. In our opinion, Israel is basically okay and is adhering to the understandings; it is easier to deal with Hamas violations when Israel follows the rules.”