Gaza talks stall
The Guardian reported Netanyahu told Kushner there could be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms, and an Israeli official said there was no breakthrough in the meeting.
NBC News said Netanyahu and Kushner agreed that Gaza “demilitarization” should start with a Hamas weapons handover supervised by an American military general, and that no reconstruction should begin before Hamas is disarmed.
NBC News also said Netanyahu “made it clear” that the Israel Defense Forces will not redeploy but will “continue to thwart” threats to its forces and the residents of Israel.
The BBC reported Kushner told Fox News that there could be “progress in as little as 30 days” on starting to take some of Hamas’s weapons out, while adding that “we do need cooperation from both sides.”
Disarmament, strikes, and pressure
In the meeting, Netanyahu once again insisted there could be no Israeli withdrawal or reconstruction without full Hamas disarmament, and he requested that a US general supervise the group’s handover of weapons, according to the Guardian.
The Guardian quoted Netanyahu’s office saying: “The prime minister and Board of Peace had deep and constructive discussions,” and it said the sides agreed to establish two working groups, one on disarmament and demilitarisation and one on sanitation, clean water and public health.
Haaretz reported that a source familiar with the talks said the Kushner-Netanyahu meeting ended with an agreement to allow Israel to continue carrying out targeted strikes in Gaza for now.
The Guardian also said the timing of the meeting was not auspicious as Netanyahu faced polls ahead of national elections later this year, and it noted that the Haaretz newspaper reported the US agreed Israel could continue striking Gaza.
CBS News said Kushner met Hamas leaders in Egypt over the Gaza peace plan, and the Washington Post said the meeting in Jerusalem made little progress toward fulfilling a plan for complete demilitarization of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Regional stakes and threats
Beyond Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reported Donald Trump confirmed the US has a backchannel to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials and warned that “if Oman gets in the way [of US control in the Strait of Hormuz], we’ll bomb the s*** out of them.”
“we’ll bomb the s*** out of them.”
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post also said an Iranian policy shift relying on offense rather than defense was cited by a senior Iranian official to Reuters, who said Iran will escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region if diplomacy with the US fails.
In Gaza, The Times of India said Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s rejection of the latest US proposal, saying the move “seriously undermines collective efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace.”
The Times of India quoted the joint statement urging the US to “compel Israel” to fully comply with commitments and arrangements in the comprehensive plan and its roadmap, while also citing Netanyahu’s insistence that Hamas must be fully disarmed before Israeli forces withdraw.
Al Jazeera reported that Kushner met Hamas’s political leadership in Egypt with the objective of translating the roadmap’s obligations into concrete, verifiable steps, and it said at least 1,260 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel since the ceasefire took effect.