Why Kushner's Gaza Diplomacy Is Stuck on a Simple Question: Who Goes First?
Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on August 17, 2026, according to Israeli media. The visit capped a two-day trip through Egypt aimed at keeping Trump's 15-point Gaza plan from falling apart.
Kushner arrived in Jerusalem carrying messages from meetings in Cairo the day before. On Sunday, August 16, he spent over two hours with Hamas political chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt, where they discussed giving up weapons, according to a regional official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Guardian
Kushner was not alone in the room. Officials from the three countries helping broker the ceasefire — Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey — were also present. Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, participated as well. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received Kushner at New Alamein, with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in attendance. The Guardian
The meeting's purpose was to get Hamas to agree to the disarmament part of the roadmap before Kushner went to see Netanyahu. NPR reported that securing that commitment on giving up weapons was the session's specific objective, ahead of later steps. Tony Blair, part of the Board of Peace structure, was also set to join Kushner and Mladenov for the Netanyahu meeting on August 17. NPR
This was the second known meeting between Kushner and Hamas. The first, in October 2025, took place alongside US envoy Steve Witkoff and helped secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of remaining hostages seized in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. A ceasefire is an agreement to stop fighting. That ceasefire ended major military operations. More than 10 months later, Israeli forces still largely control the strip of land home to roughly 2 million people, and Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Gaza since agreeing to the truce. The Guardian
The roadmap at the center of these talks was proposed by the Board of Peace in July 2026. Its 15 points said that Hamas must give up its weapons in exchange for a full Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and an eventual handover of power to an independent Palestinian National Committee. Trump said the agreement would be carried out in stages. Netanyahu, however, rejected the plan earlier in August, stating that no military pull-out would happen until Hamas was genuinely disarmed. He wanted full disarmament first. The Guardian
Hamas's position is the mirror image of that dispute. The group agreed on July 30 to the Board of Peace's disarmament plan, and Kushner pressed al-Hayya to begin implementing it during the Cairo meeting. But Hamas has said it will only begin disarming if Netanyahu publicly commits to the plan, according to a diplomat. The group also said it would hand over heavy weapons only if Israel ended all forms of aggression and withdrew its forces from Gaza. During the Egypt meeting, Kushner pressed Hamas to stop displays of armed force throughout the Strip, which had included the deployment of armed fighters, despite Israel's rejection of the plan. Times of Israel
A Hamas official said the group is committed and waiting for mediators to start a 14-day negotiation period. Hamas also called on mediators and the Board of Peace to pressure Israel into approving the roadmap for next steps.
Eight Muslim-majority countries — Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan — issued a joint statement during Kushner's visit condemning Israel's rejection of the roadmap, saying it undermines collective efforts for peace. The statement called on the Board of Peace and the US to take immediate and concrete measures to prevent any party from blocking the plan. The Guardian
The structure of this diplomatic push is worth noting. Kushner is operating within a framework that did not exist during the first Trump administration. The Board of Peace, with Mladenov as its Gaza envoy and Blair in a supporting role, provides a permanent structure for ongoing engagement with all parties, including Hamas — a group the US lists as a terrorist organization. That Kushner has now met Hamas twice, each time with regional mediators present, reflects a shift in how Washington is pursuing a Gaza settlement: direct engagement with all parties, channeled through a multinational body, rather than one-on-one deal-making.
The core obstacle remains the question of who goes first. Netanyahu demands disarmament before withdrawal; Hamas demands withdrawal — or at least a public Israeli commitment to the plan — before disarmament. Both sides have agreed to the same 15-point framework in principle. Neither will move first. Kushner's visit was designed to break that deadlock by securing Hamas's commitment in Cairo and then pressing Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Whether Netanyahu changes his public stance will likely determine whether the 14-day negotiation period Hamas says it is waiting for can begin.
The eight-country statement adds another layer of pressure. It places Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia collectively behind the roadmap and explicitly against Israel's rejection of it. That coalition includes the three ceasefire mediators — Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey — and several of the Gulf states whose warming ties with Israel have been a central thread of regional diplomacy. Their unified call for concrete measures against obstruction signals that the roadmap's credibility is now a shared interest among major regional powers, not just a US project.
