US President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner said on Monday that progress towards disarming Hamas and moving forward with a Gaza peace plan could begin within a month. Kushner made the announcement after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 'We could be seeing progress... in as little as 30 days, hopefully starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully, you know, filling in some of the tunnels as well,' Kushner told Fox News while in Tel Aviv.
The comments came as Kushner and Netanyahu agreed that an American general would verify Hamas's disarmament, according to an Israeli official. Netanyahu insisted there would be no Israeli pullout from Gaza until then. This understanding marks a new attempt by Trump's administration to satisfy Israel, after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war.
Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a longtime family friend of Netanyahu, met the Israeli leader in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks in Egypt with Hamas, which has publicly committed itself to the plan. The two sides 'agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza', a senior Israeli official told AFP.
It was also agreed that the first step toward the demilitarization of the Strip would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general. A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilization Force, led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers. Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought scepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.
An official with Trump's 'Board of Peace' implementing the deal said that 'every weapon collected will be fully decommissioned so it cannot be used again' and said that Israel 'retains its full right of self-defence'. 'If Hamas resorts to terror, violence or attempts to rearm, Israel will retain the right to act accordingly,' the official said. Other Board of Peace members joining Kushner in the talks included former British prime minister Tony Blair.
In the talks in Egypt, Kushner demanded that Hamas prove it is giving up its weapons and that the group renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, according to sources in the negotiation. A Hamas official said the group, represented by its new leader Khalil al-Hayya, told Kushner it was committed to the Gaza plan and wanted pressure on Netanyahu. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister whose job is on the line in October 27 elections, has increasingly been willing to defy Trump, whose support he once highlighted in his campaign.
The prime minister has also made clear his unhappiness with Trump's decision to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February and instead pursue a settlement with Tehran's clerical leaders. In a controversial interview, Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's cabinet, said that Israel should kill 30 to 40 people every night in Gaza. President Isaac Herzog, who plays a largely ceremonial role, offered more upbeat words as he met Kushner, praising the Board of Peace's 'efforts to ensure a brighter and more secure future' for Israel, Gaza and the region. Israeli operations have killed at least 1,265 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, according to figures by Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas.
