President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after rare talks with the leader of Hamas, in a new push to revive the peace plan for Gaza that Israel has rejected.As the U.S.
tries to advance the fragile ceasefire brokered in October, Kushner met with a delegation led by Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Sunday, a Hamas official briefed on the matter told NBC News.Details of Kushner’s meeting with Netanyahu were not immediately clear.The U.S.and Israel have shown rare public divisions over the road map for the future of the Palestinian enclave, as well as the Israeli government’s approach to a mounting crisis in the occupied West Bank.Add to GoogleU.S.
Ambassador Huckabee condemns ‘Israeli terrorists’ for siege of West Bank homes04:03The renewed diplomatic effort comes as Netanyahu faces growing domestic pressure ahead of October elections, including from the far-right faction upon which his fragile coalition government relies.Powerful National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned efforts toward peace over the weekend and called for the “targeted” killing of “30 or 40” people in Gaza every night.Netanyahu earlier this month rejected the 15-point plan, which requires Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, with the Israeli leader vowing there would be no military pull-out until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed.” Hamas on Monday welcomed a joint statement from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, center, and Jared Kushner, second left, in El Alamein, Egypt on Sunday.Egyptian Presidency Handout / Anadolu via Getty ImagesHamas has said it will disarm, but that Israel must end its strikes and begin withdrawing from Gaza.
It has also previously said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would un...