US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan remains the subject of high-level diplomatic negotiations, as efforts intensify to overcome disagreements over its implementation. Against this backdrop, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Jared Kushner, travelled to Egypt last week before heading to Israel in an effort to revive the stalled process. The latest phase of negotiations has increasingly centred on two contentious issues: Hamas’s disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected any Israeli withdrawal until Hamas is "truly" disarmed, making the issue one of the principal obstacles to the plan’s implementation. Against this backdrop, Kushner’s diplomatic efforts appear aimed at preserving the existing framework while preventing the ceasefire agreement from coming under further strain. In Cairo, Kushner first met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who stressed the need for all parties to comply fully with the provisions of the agreement signed in Sharm el-Sheikh in October 2025.
The emphasis on compliance reflects the growing importance of implementing existing commitments as negotiations move towards the agreement’s next stage. Kushner then held talks with Egyptian, Turkish and Qatari mediators involved in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as well as Nikolay Mladenov, a senior representative of the Board of Peace for Gaza. Kushner also met directly with a Hamas delegation led by the movement’s new leader, Khalil al-Hayya.
The meeting marked his first high-level contact with al-Hayya since the ceasefire agreement was reached last year and brought the US envoy into direct engagement with Hamas at a particularly sensitive stage of the peace process. Kushner arrived amid visible friction between the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the future of Gaza. Netanyahu's position has been blunt: Israel will not withdraw its forces until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.
It should be noted that Israel’s next parliamentary elections will be held on October 23. The upcoming vote could be one of the reasons why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Trump’s Gaza plan. For the first time in 38 years, elections to the Knesset will take place exactly on the date originally stipulated by law, without being brought forward.
The basic outline of the current U.S.-backed plan is known. It envisions a phased end to the war in Gaza, the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops, the transfer of governance to a new Palestinian civilian or technocratic administration, and a process leading to the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups. On paper, this formula gives each side something it can present as essential.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
