The latest:
Jared Kushner lands in Israel on Sunday alongside Tony Blair and Nikolai Mladenov to salvage a peace plan stuck at its second phase, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected a 15-point document drawn up by the Board of Peace. A Board official said talks in Israel and Egypt will address Israeli reservations and the next steps toward dismantling Hamas.
Details:
- The delegation: According to a Board of Peace official speaking to Asharq, the delegation includes Mladenov, the Board’s senior representative, and former British prime minister Tony Blair. The official did not give a date for the Egypt leg, nor name which Israeli officials the delegation will meet beyond an expected encounter with Netanyahu.
- The framing: The official said the United States and Israel agree on the desired end state — the dismantling of Hamas — and described continuing constructive talks on advancing Trump’s 20-point plan. The official said, “The most important thing is that we agree on the desired outcome and find ways to accelerate progress.”
- The rejection: Netanyahu turned down the Board’s 15 points in public. The New York Times assessed the move as courting his right-wing base ahead of October elections, while noting he simultaneously ordered a halt to strikes on Gaza in an apparent effort to placate the Trump administration.
- The core dispute: Israel wants Hamas fully disarmed before withdrawing its forces; the American plan uses a phased approach built on verifiable reciprocal steps. No mechanism for verification was disclosed, and no timetable for either track was published.
- Hamas position: Hamas said it accepts handing heavy weapons to a proposed new administration for Gaza, but tied that to Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state. The roadmap reportedly allows individuals to keep light weapons. Hamas has not commented on Kushner’s visit.
- The endgame: Bloomberg reported Trump’s original plan ultimately provides for the full exit of Israeli troops and tanks from Gaza and opens discussion of Palestinian statehood, conditioned on complete disarmament and stabilization after Hamas rule ends. No sequence of dates was reported.
- Governance model: The official said the vision involves Hamas ceding all authority in Gaza to a technocratic Palestinian government, clearing the way for reconstruction. Neither the composition of that government nor who would select it was disclosed, and no funding figure was given.
- On the ground: The Israeli military announced killing Hadifa Kawari, described as a company commander in Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade, in a strike in southern Gaza. A spokesman said he trained fighters and moved weapons. Earlier, the army updated on the killing of company commander Mohammed Mashtaha.
- Other fronts: Israel continued shelling Jabal Ali al-Taher in Lebanon, where it says Hezbollah fighters are encircled, and Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated refusal to withdraw from Lebanon, Gaza or Syria. Washington rejected an Israeli request to strike targets inside Syria. No US explanation was published.
Background:
The first phase of the ceasefire was implemented in October. The following phase stalled, while the Israeli military expanded the areas it controls inside the Gaza Strip.
Between the lines:
Two signals sit side by side and point in opposite directions: a public rejection of the 15 points read by the New York Times as electoral positioning, and a simultaneous halt to strikes on Gaza. The Board’s insistence that Washington and Israel share the same end goal implicitly concedes the disagreement is about sequencing — the same gap Hamas exploits by conditioning heavy weapons on withdrawal and statehood.
What’s next
Kushner’s Sunday arrival and his expected meeting with Netanyahu, the Egypt talks with mediators, whether strikes stay paused, and any Israeli response to the 15 points before October elections.
