US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jared Kushner met with Hamas to discuss the US-backed peace plan for Gaza.
According to CBS News, Trump's son-in-law and negotiator on Middle East affairs, met with Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday, August 16, to discuss the latest US-backed peace deal that seeks the group's disarmament and a road map for the transfer of power to a new government, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting.
The meeting was aimed at translating the plan negotiated by Trump's international Board of Peace into concrete, verifiable steps, including maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, beginning to transfer all governing responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, ensuring Hamas has no future governing role in Gaza, facilitating Israeli withdrawals and deploying an international stabilizing force to the region, among other things.
The rare meeting in Egypt with Hamas' Khalil al-Hayya was also confirmed to the Associated Press by a regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Last month, Trump said that the Board of Peace "reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza."
However, in a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week rejected the peace plan and vowed there would be no military withdrawal until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.
Kushner, who met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi earlier on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, is set to travel to Israel on Monday, where he is expected to meet with Netanyahu.
Ahead of Monday's meeting, several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a statement condemning Israel's rejection of the road map, saying that "Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza."
Other signers included Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the ceasefire mediators.
A source with knowledge of the meeting said that in order to move forward, there can be no ambiguity, Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure, while Gaza can never be a source of terror for Israel.
