Kushner's talks with Israel, Hamas end without breakthrough on Trump Gaza plan

NO BREAKTHROUGH IN JERUSALEM

But Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition is trailing in opinion polls ahead of an October national election, rejected the deal this month, insisting Israel would not pull back until Hamas was completely disarmed.

An official with Trump's Board of Peace, which is trying to implement the plan, said Kushner and Netanyahu had agreed there would be "no redeployment" by Israel's military until Hamas was fully disarmed and all of Gaza was demilitarised.

"Every weapon, light and heavy, and every tunnel," the official said, adding that Israel retained the right of self-defence and that Israel would be able to "act accordingly" if Hamas "resorts to terror, violence, or attempts to rearm".

However, the official said Netanyahu was told that Hamas had committed to fully disarm and "cease immediately all military activity, including rearmament and tunnel digging."

An Israeli official said Netanyahu was clear in the meeting that troops would not withdraw and that the military would continue to operate as it sees necessary, including targeting Palestinian militants who took part in the Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu and Kushner also agreed that Gaza's reconstruction would not start until Hamas was disarmed, the Israeli official said.

The meeting, which was also attended by Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, a former United Nations official who is widely seen as leading efforts to implement the plan to end the war, lasted several hours, two sources said.

Hamas has demanded Israel adhere to the ceasefire and withdraw its forces from Gaza. Both sides have disputed the sequencing of how Trump's plan to end the war should be implemented. More than 1,200 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since last October, according to Gazan health officials and the Israeli military.

Netanyahu and Kushner also agreed to establish a working group covering disarmament and another on sanitation, clean water and other public health issues, the prime minister's office and the Board of Peace official said separately.