A Top US Official Met with Hamas to Talk About Ending the Gaza War
US presidential envoy Jared Kushner met with Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday, August 16, to push the group to follow through on a promise to give up its weapons in Gaza. The meeting, reported by Axios, brought together a high-level group: Trump's Board of Peace high representative Nickolay Mladenov and board member Tony Blair joined Kushner on the US side. Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya attended alongside Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, Qatari diplomat Ali Al Thawadi, and a senior Turkish official.
Neither Hamas nor the US envoy had publicly confirmed the meeting took place as of reporting time.
The talks aimed to save a 15-point, US-backed plan for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory, according to PBS NewsHour. A source told Axios the goal was turning Hamas's promise to disarm into concrete, checkable steps. Diplomatic sources told AFP, speaking anonymously, that Kushner pushed specifically for Hamas to disarm and to give up any future role in running Gaza. A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP that Hamas said it was committed to the disarmament agreement during the meeting.
The broader context here is a peace plan that both sides have nominally accepted but remains stuck over how to actually carry it out. Trump announced the previous month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, to which both Israel and Hamas had agreed. Hamas said it accepted the plan to avoid the war restarting, adding that it would only follow through if Israel first met its own commitments, including pulling out its forces and stopping attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the latest version of the plan as "unacceptable." Trump, for his part, said Israel was "very happy" about the disarmament announcement by Hamas.
Trump's plan calls for the immediate end of military operations in Gaza, Hamas disarming as Israeli troops leave the area, and Gaza being rebuilt under a new Palestinian civilian administration. Kushner's trip to Israel and Egypt was an effort to narrow differences over that plan. Earlier in the visit, Kushner met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to el-Sisi's office, while al-Hayya met separately with intelligence chief Rashad, per Reuters.
A senior Israeli official said Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on Monday. Israel, according to that official, was concerned about Washington's demand to end targeted assassinations — Israel's practice of killing specific Hamas fighters it sees as threats — of Hamas fighters in Gaza. That demand goes to the core of Israel's military approach in the territory.
The meeting also took place against a backdrop of renewed violence. Israel resumed its air strikes on Gaza in the days before the meeting despite an October 2025 ceasefire, which is a formal agreement to stop fighting. At least five Palestinians were injured after an Israeli strike hit a tent encampment in Khan Younis, and a separate air strike hit an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp wounding several people, medics said. More than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect, with the overall death toll since October 2023 exceeding 73,300, according to Palestinian official sources.
The meeting itself broke a longstanding rule. The United States had for years refused to have any contact with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organisation, but the Trump administration had become increasingly willing to talk to the group directly to end the conflict. The inclusion of Mladenov and Blair alongside Kushner signals an attempt to give more official weight to the disarmament effort. The presence of Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish officials shows the network of Middle Eastern governments working behind the scenes to help broker a deal.
Looking at what this means for the conflict's path forward, several tensions remain unresolved. The biggest question is about timing: whether Hamas disarms at the same time as Israel withdraws, or whether one side acts first. Hamas says it will only comply if Israel withdraws and stops its attacks. Israel says it needs proof that Hamas is actually disarming and rejects limits on targeted strikes. The gap between Hamas saying it is committed in a Cairo meeting and actually giving up its weapons is where the plan will either hold or fall apart. Kushner's scheduled meeting with Netanyahu on Monday will show whether Israel sees the Cairo talks as enough progress, or as a concession to a group that Israel still does not consider a legitimate governing authority.
