Kushner Holds Direct Talks with Hamas Leader on Trump’s Gaza Plan

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, has concluded a meeting with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, CNN reported.

The meeting took place in El Alamein, Egypt, and was also attended by Nickolay Mladenov, director of the Board of Peace. The talks come as mediators seek to revive President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace initiative, which Israel opposed last week.

Details of the meeting’s outcome have not yet been disclosed. In addition to his talks with the Hamas representative, Kushner also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. He is also expected to consult with other regional leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as efforts continue to resolve disagreements over the proposed ceasefire and Gaza’s postwar future.

Direct contact between a senior US envoy and the Hamas leadership is considered rare. The development follows stepped-up diplomatic efforts to salvage the US-backed plan after Netanyahu rejected several of the proposal’s key elements.

On Sunday, the foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement. In it, they condemned Israel’s rejection of the roadmap linked to Trump’s peace plan and warned that opposition to the framework could undermine efforts to end the war and achieve a lasting political solution.