Yasin Gungor
18 August 2026•Update: 18 August 2026
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid hindering the Trump administration’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, according to US media reports.
Kushner pressed Netanyahu to move forward with the plan, CNN reported Monday, citing an Israeli source.
He specifically told Netanyahu to “not create obstacles” in the implementation of the plan, according to the news outlet.
The meeting followed Kushner’s direct engagement with senior Hamas officials in Egypt.
Despite a nearly four-hour session, Israeli media indicated that the leaders failed to reach an agreement on several critical issues. Netanyahu reportedly remains unpersuaded and continues to insist on maintaining attacks in Gaza as national elections approach.
The Israeli leader previously rejected the second-phase roadmap proposed by the US-backed Board of Peace.
In earlier remarks to Fox News, Kushner characterized the discussions as “very, very good,” claiming they addressed several misunderstandings.
While Kushner noted that Hamas representatives “said all the right things” during the meeting in Cairo, he acknowledged the difficulty of trusting the group. He said the US will evaluate Hamas based on “actions and steps” on the implementation of the peace framework.
In October 2023, the Israeli army began a deadly offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000.
Despite a ceasefire that has remained in place since October 2025 as part of the first phase of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, Israel has continued to attack the Palestinian enclave, killing at least 1,260 victims and injuring more than 4,100, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The second phase of Trump’s plan envisages the transfer of governance in Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic committee, deploying an international stabilization force, and placing weapons under international supervision.
Israel is expected to carry out a phased withdrawal from Gaza to allow reconstruction efforts to begin.
