US envoy Jared Kushner said on Monday that efforts to disarm Hamas and implement a US-backed peace plan for Gaza could begin within the next month, following high-level talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking to Fox News in Tel Aviv, Kushner expressed cautious optimism that initial steps towards demilitarising Gaza could be taken within 30 days.
“We could be seeing progress… in as little as 30 days, hopefully starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully, you know, filling in some of the tunnels as well,” Kushner said.
The possible timeline emerged after discussions between Kushner and Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where the two sides agreed that an American general would oversee and verify the removal and decommissioning of Hamas weapons.
Netanyahu, however, maintained that Israeli troops would not withdraw from Gaza and reconstruction would not begin until Hamas had been completely disarmed across the territory.
A senior Israeli official said the two sides had “agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza”.
Under the proposed arrangement, Hamas would initially surrender its weapons for decommissioning under direct US military supervision.
The agreement represents another effort by the Trump administration to address Israel’s concerns after Netanyahu publicly rejected the latest stage of Washington’s Gaza plan earlier this month.
An earlier framework accepted by Hamas on July 30 had proposed that the disarmament process be overseen by the International Stabilisation Force, which is expected to deploy to Gaza once fighting subsides. The force is commanded by US Army Major General Jasper Jeffers.
A Board of Peace official said all weapons collected under the arrangement would be permanently decommissioned. The official also stressed that Israel would retain its right to self-defence and could respond if Hamas attempted to rebuild its arsenal or launch attacks.
Monday’s meeting in Jerusalem lasted several hours and included other members of the Board of Peace delegation, including former British prime minister Tony Blair and diplomatic envoy Nickolay Mladenov.
The discussions followed Kushner’s meeting in Egypt a day earlier with senior Hamas officials, including the group’s political leader Khalil al-Hayya.
According to sources involved in the negotiations, Kushner pressed Hamas to demonstrate its willingness to surrender its weapons and abandon any future role in governing Gaza.
A Hamas official said the group had reaffirmed its commitment to the Gaza plan during the talks and urged Washington to put pressure on Netanyahu.
The diplomatic efforts come as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister faces a challenging re-election campaign ahead of the October 27 vote. Polls indicate that many Israelis continue to support the continuation of the war, while diplomats believe Netanyahu is unlikely to make major concessions over Gaza before the election.
More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October, according to health officials in the territory.
