White House Middle East envoy Jared Kushner concluded a lengthy meeting yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, one day after holding rare talks with senior Hamas figures in El Alamein, Egypt.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Nikolay Mladenov, High Representative of the Board of Peace for Gaza, also took part in the meeting, according to diplomatic sources.
The talks form part of a new US effort to revive implementation of the 15-point roadmap for the Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu has officially rejected, insisting on the "real" disarmament of Hamas before any withdrawal of Israeli forces.
According to an official from the Board of Peace, Washington and Israel appear to have agreed at least on the final objective of the negotiations, namely a fully disarmed Hamas structure, while the next steps for implementing the plan are expected to be discussed.
60% of Gaza
During his meeting with Hamas leaders on Sunday, Kushner pressed for concrete disarmament measures that could be verified and conveyed the message that Gaza cannot once again become a source of terrorist attacks against Israel, according to sources speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hamas, for its part, reaffirmed its commitment to the plan, while making a halt to Israeli attacks and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to the so-called "yellow line" a precondition. The boundary has never been precisely defined.
Israeli forces have advanced beyond that line and now control approximately 60% of Gaza, with Netanyahu having stated in May that the next step would be extending control to 70% of the enclave.
Eight states condemn Israel
At the same time, eight Muslim states, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, issued a joint statement condemning Israel's refusal to proceed with implementation of the US plan, arguing that this stance undermines collective efforts for a just and lasting peace.
"Israel bears direct and full responsibility for obstructing peace," the joint statement said.
Netanyahu's Likud party responded by accusing the Arab states of seeking the prime minister's downfall ahead of Israel's October elections.
Despite the ceasefire that has been in place since October 2025, hostilities in Gaza have not stopped entirely.
Israeli air strikes, which had eased in early August, intensified again in recent days, with the Israeli military announcing attacks against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry, figures considered reliable by the United Nations, at least 1,262 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire came into force, while Israeli forces have recorded six fatalities during the same period.
At the centre of Israeli concerns is also the US demand that targeted operations against Hamas militants in Gaza be halted at a time when the group is reportedly rebuilding its forces.
Trump's plan envisages, in principle, the immediate cessation of military operations, the gradual disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the reconstruction of Gaza under a new technocratic Palestinian administration, a structure already beginning to take shape under the name National Committee for the Governance of Gaza.
Diplomatic contacts intensify
With disagreement over the sequencing of the plan's conditions still unresolved, diplomatic contacts are expected to continue in the coming days, while mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey continue to play a central role in efforts to secure a compromise between Israel and Hamas.
The public dispute between Washington and Jerusalem, unusual given the close alliance between the two sides, has been further fuelled by US criticism of Israel's handling of the crisis in the West Bank.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently described settlers who besieged Palestinian homes as "Israeli terrorists", a statement widely viewed as a rare public rebuke of the Israeli side from a close ally of the Trump administration.
According to analysts, what is at stake is not only the lives of approximately two million Palestinians who remain in the devastated enclave, but also the future governance of Gaza, with Washington seeking to preserve the gains of the ceasefire amid mounting pressure from both Hamas and the United States' regional allies.
