US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, held rare talks with Hamas leadership in Egypt on Sunday as Washington works to advance its proposed peace plan for Gaza.
Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, met with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in the coastal city of El-Alamein, according to an Arab diplomat who spoke to the Times of Israel. The meeting marked Kushner’s first sit-down with Hamas leadership since October 2025, when he took part in talks that helped finalize the ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Israel.
Focus on Disarmament
The talks centered on pushing Hamas toward concrete, verifiable steps to demilitarize Gaza — including decommissioning weapons and military infrastructure, transferring governing authority to a Palestinian technocratic administration, and ensuring Hamas plays no role in the territory’s future governance. Kushner was joined by Board of Peace senior envoys Nickolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with senior diplomats from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
Last month, Trump’s Board of Peace announced an accord calling for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. But Israel has pushed back against the broader US-backed plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed.
The plan also envisions rebuilding Gaza and standing up a new Palestinian civilian government to administer the territory under the Board’s supervision.
Growing International Pressure
Eight Muslim-majority nations — Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia — issued a joint statement Sunday criticizing Israel’s resistance to the US proposal, warning that its stance risks derailing Trump’s broader peace effort in Gaza.
Kushner Meets Egypt’s President
While in Egypt, Kushner also met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a meeting Egyptian presidential spokesperson Mohamed El-Shennawy said emphasized the need for all parties to fulfill their obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement. Separately, al-Hayya met with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad.
Kushner departed Egypt on Sunday evening for Israel, where he is expected to meet Monday with Netanyahu alongside Mladenov and Blair to press for progress on the disarmament roadmap.
Although the ceasefire that took effect on October 10 last year remains formally in place, Israeli forces have continued carrying out strikes in Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the truce. The current war began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
