Kushner Meets Hamas Leaders in Egypt to Push Trump's Gaza Peace Plan

US presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with senior Hamas representatives in Egypt on Sunday, August 16, 2026, in an effort to revive President Donald Trump's stalled peace plan for Gaza. According to multiple news agencies, including AFP, the meeting included Hamas's new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, and other delegation members. Diplomatic sources described the encounter as rare, since direct contact between senior US officials and Hamas—designated a terrorist organization by the United States—does not typically occur.

At the center of the talks was a 15-point roadmap that calls for the full disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli withdrawal from the war-torn Gaza Strip. According to sources familiar with the discussions, the Hamas delegation reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement. In turn, Kushner reportedly pressed for verifiable and extensive disarmament, while also ruling out any future role for the group in governing Gaza. That demand mirrors a central condition set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Kushner was scheduled to meet the following day.

Alongside the meeting with Hamas, additional diplomatic talks took place in Cairo. Trump's envoys, including Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as the Gaza representative for the so-called Board of Peace, met with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. According to a diplomat, Hamas officials were present at some of these meetings as well. Separately, a Hamas delegation led by al-Hayya met Egypt's intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad, in the city of El-Alamein to discuss implementation of the postwar plan. According to Egyptian state media, the delegation also intended to raise alleged Israeli violations of the ceasefire.

While the diplomatic push continued, Israel kept up airstrikes on Gaza, raising questions about the actual willingness of all parties to move forward with implementation. Israel's government had previously publicly rejected the roadmap for full implementation of the plan, drawing widespread international criticism.

In response to Israel's rejection, foreign ministers from eight Muslim-majority countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—issued a joint statement condemning Israel's position. They said Israel now bore responsibility for obstructing international efforts to end the war. The statement was widely covered across Arab and Asian media and interpreted as a strong signal of regional unity against Israel's stance.

Hamas, for its part, said in its own statement that it had asked the Board of Peace and mediating countries to "compel" Israel to fully implement the first phase of the agreement, including ending all ceasefire violations and approving a roadmap for the plan's second phase.

The outcome of the negotiations remains uncertain. While both Hamas and the mediating Arab states have signaled general support for Trump's plan, continued Israeli military operations and Israel's explicit rejection of the proposed implementation roadmap raise significant doubts about an imminent resolution. Kushner's upcoming meeting with Netanyahu is likely to determine whether the positions can be further reconciled. For the roughly two million people in Gaza, and for the reconstruction of the war-devastated territory, the stakes remain exceptionally high.