In the long shadow of a ceasefire that stopped the guns but not the suffering, Jared Kushner traveled to Egypt in August 2026 to sit across from Hamas's political leadership — a rare encounter meant to breathe life into a 15-point American peace roadmap that Israel's own prime minister had just publicly rejected. The meeting, joined by mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, was an attempt to hold together a fragile architecture of diplomacy before it collapsed entirely under the weight of an ancient impasse: who must yield first. With over 1,200 Palestinians killed since the October 2025 cea
Kushner meets Hamas as diplomatic push aims to break Gaza ceasefire stalemate
Over 1,200 Palestinians killed and 4,100 wounded in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire; 2 million people's lives at stake pending reconstruction and implementation.
Netanyahu refused to leave Gaza until Hamas was completely disarmed.
Mark
Why does it matter that Kushner met with Hamas directly? Couldn't this have been done through intermediaries?
Mimi
Because it signals that the Trump administration is willing to engage with Hamas as a negotiating partner, not just as an obstacle to be removed. That's a shift. It also gives Hamas a chance to make its case directly to someone with real influence.
Mark
And Netanyahu rejected the roadmap anyway. So what did Kushner actually accomplish?
Mimi
That's the question. The meeting was partly about securing Hamas's commitment before Kushner went to Netanyahu to try to convince him. But Netanyahu had already said no publicly. Kushner was walking into a conversation where one side had already drawn a line.
Mark
The core problem seems to be that both sides want the other to disarm or withdraw first. Is there any way to break that deadlock?
Mimi
The roadmap tries to do it gradually—both things happening at once, overseen by a neutral committee. But that requires trust, and there's almost none left. Netanyahu says he won't move until Hamas is gone. Hamas says it won't surrender weapons while Israeli forces occupy the territory.
Mark
What about the Palestinian committee that's supposed to run Gaza? Why hasn't it entered yet?
Mimi
Because there's nowhere for it to enter. Israeli forces control 60 percent of the territory. The committee can't govern what it doesn't have access to. It's a chicken-and-egg problem—reconstruction can't start until the committee is there, but the committee can't get there until Israel withdraws.
Mark
Netanyahu has an election in October. Does that change anything?
Mimi
It makes him less likely to make concessions. His coalition partners want a harder line, not a softer one. An election is a moment when politicians tend to move toward their base, not away from it. That's the real clock ticking here.
The Pulse
- A ceasefire that halted major fighting ten months ago has produced almost no progress — no reconstruction, no international forces deployed, no Palestinian governing committee inside Gaza.
- Netanyahu's rare public rejection of the American-backed roadmap fractured the alliance dynamic, drawing a joint rebuke from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, who placed the blame for obstruction squarely on Israel.
- Israeli forces have expanded control to roughly 60 percent of Gaza, with Netanyahu signaling intent to reach 70 percent — a trajectory running directly against the roadmap's requirement for gradual withdrawal.
- Hamas insists it will commit to the plan but demands Israel halt attacks and pull back to an undefined boundary first, while also tying its disarmament to the creation of a Palestinian state that Netanyahu's government refuses to recognize.
- With Israeli elections set for October 27 and the third anniversary of the October 7 attack approaching, Netanyahu faces intense domestic pressure that makes any decisive diplomatic concession politically treacherous.
- Kushner's shuttle between Hamas and Netanyahu — accompanied by Tony Blair and Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov — represents a last attempt to prevent the ceasefire from becoming a permanent, hollow stalemate.
In the long shadow of a ceasefire that stopped the guns but not the suffering, Jared Kushner traveled to Egypt in August 2026 to sit across from Hamas's political leadership — a rare encounter meant to breathe life into a 15-point American peace roadmap that Israel's own prime minister had just publicly rejected. The meeting, joined by mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, was an attempt to hold together a fragile architecture of diplomacy before it collapsed entirely under the weight of an ancient impasse: who must yield first. With over 1,200 Palestinians killed since the October 2025 ceasefire began and 2 million lives suspended in uncertainty, the question of sequencing — disarmament before withdrawal, or withdrawal before disarmament — has become the hinge upon which an entire people's future turns.
On a Sunday afternoon in August, Jared Kushner sat down with Hamas political chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt for a meeting that lasted more than two hours. Around the table were officials from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey — the mediators trying to rescue a 15-point American-backed peace roadmap that had stalled almost completely. The plan's promise was straightforward in outline: Hamas would surrender its weapons, Israel would withdraw from Gaza, and the territory's 2 million residents could begin rebuilding. In practice, it had gone nowhere.
More than ten months had passed since the October 10, 2025 ceasefire ended the major fighting, and the central deadlock had not shifted. Hamas wanted Israel to withdraw before disarming. Netanyahu refused to leave until Hamas was fully disarmed. The roadmap required both to happen in sequence, but neither side would move first. In the meantime, Israeli forces had expanded their footprint to roughly 60 percent of Gaza, and Netanyahu had stated publicly his intention to push further — the opposite direction from what the plan demanded.
Days before Kushner's Egypt visit, Netanyahu had done something unusual: he publicly rejected the American roadmap, defying the Trump administration in a way that drew immediate condemnation. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia issued a joint statement holding Israel responsible for obstructing peace, and called on the United States and the Board of Peace to act. Netanyahu's Likud party responded by framing the regional criticism as foreign interference in Israeli politics ahead of the October 27 elections.
Kushner's purpose in Egypt was to secure Hamas's commitment to the plan before flying to meet Netanyahu the following day, alongside Tony Blair and Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov. A Hamas official said the group was ready to enter a 14-day negotiation period on implementation — but also made clear that Israel would first need to halt its attacks and pull back to a boundary that had never been clearly defined and that Israeli forces had long since crossed. Embedded in the roadmap itself was a deeper contradiction: Hamas had linked its disarmament to the establishment of a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu's government categorically rejected.
With elections weeks away, the three-year anniversary of October 7 approaching, and over 1,200 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began, the question hanging over all of it remained the same: whether either side could find a way to move, or whether 2 million people would continue waiting for a reconstruction that had not yet started.
Jared Kushner sat down with Hamas's political chief, Khalil al-Hayya, in Egypt on a Sunday afternoon in August, a rare conversation between the Trump administration's envoy and the militant group's leadership. The meeting stretched past two hours. In the room with them were officials from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey—the countries mediating the ceasefire that had ground to a halt. What they were trying to salvage was a 15-point American-backed roadmap that promised, in theory, a way forward: Hamas would surrender its weapons, Israel would withdraw from Gaza, and the territory's 2 million residents could begin the long work of rebuilding.
The urgency was real. More than ten months had passed since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, and the major fighting had stopped, but almost nothing else had moved. The stalemate centered on a single, seemingly insurmountable problem: who goes first. Hamas wanted Israel to pull back before handing over its heaviest weapons. Netanyahu refused to leave Gaza until Hamas was completely disarmed. Neither side would budge.
Kushner's visit to Egypt was meant to lock in Hamas's commitment to the roadmap before he flew to meet Netanyahu the next day. The Israeli prime minister had done something unusual just days earlier—he had publicly rejected the American plan, a rare act of defiance against the Trump administration, Israel's closest ally. That rejection had drawn sharp criticism from a coalition of regional powers. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia issued a joint statement saying Israel now bore responsibility for obstructing peace efforts in Gaza. They called on the Board of Peace, the American-created body overseeing the ceasefire, and the United States itself to take immediate action to prevent any party from derailing the plan.
Netanyahu's resistance was not abstract. His government had killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 4,100 since the ceasefire began. Israeli forces now controlled roughly 60 percent of the territory. In May, Netanyahu had stated plainly that the next step was to expand that control to 70 percent, to tighten the grip on Hamas from every direction. The roadmap called for the opposite: a gradual Israeli withdrawal paired with Hamas's gradual disarmament, overseen by a Palestinian technocratic committee that would manage daily life in Gaza. That committee had not yet entered the territory. Reconstruction remained frozen. International forces meant to separate Israeli troops from Palestinian governance had not been deployed.
The Hamas official who spoke to reporters said the group was committed to the roadmap and waiting for mediators to begin a 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation. But the official also made clear what Hamas was demanding: Israel had to halt its attacks on Gaza and withdraw to what was called the yellow line, a boundary that had never been precisely defined and that Israeli forces had already moved well beyond. The roadmap itself contained a deeper contradiction. It required Hamas to hand over its heaviest weapons to the Palestinian committee, but Hamas had linked that surrender to the creation of a Palestinian state—something Netanyahu's government flatly rejected.
Kushner's Monday meeting with Netanyahu was to include Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, and Nickolay Mladenov, the director of the Board of Peace. They were walking into a political minefield. Netanyahu faced an election on October 27, and his coalition included ministers who took an uncompromising line on Gaza. It was unclear whether he would make any decisive moves on the ceasefire before then. The three-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel was also approaching, a date that would carry its own weight in Israeli politics. Netanyahu's Likud party had already responded to the regional powers' criticism by claiming that Arab states wanted to topple him so that centrist challenger Gadi Eisenkot and center-left leader Yair Golan could give them what they wanted. That, the party said, would not happen.
The fundamental question remained unanswered: whether either side could move first, or whether the ceasefire would remain frozen in place, with 2 million people waiting for reconstruction that might never come.
Notable Quotes
Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza.— Joint statement from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and ceasefire mediators
Hamas is committed and waiting for mediators to start the 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation.— Hamas official
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