Kushner and Netanyahu Talks End Without Gaza Ceasefire Commitment
More than four hours of talks between Jared Kushner and Benjamin Netanyahu ended without a firm commitment to the US 15-point ceasefire plan for Gaza, which the Israeli prime minister rejected earlier this month. Mr Netanyahu called the progress “problematic” and insisted there would be no troop withdrawal until Hamas fully disarmed. The two agreed that any “demilitarisation” should begin with a weapons handover overseen by a US general.
The marathon meeting, coming days after Mr Kushner’s rare direct talks with Hamas in Egypt, shows Washington still straining to keep its plan alive against an Israeli veto that has hardened as elections approach at the end of October. Mr Netanyahu, bound to hardliners in his coalition, has every incentive to slow-walk a deal that would require withdrawal and reconstruction while Hamas survives. The proposed US-general-led disarmament mechanism is a genuinely new idea, but it depends on Hamas agreeing to give up its arms, which it has never done. Each stalled round is measured in lives in Gaza. Watch whether the mechanism wins any Israeli or Hamas buy-in.