IN BRIEF
- Five Arab countries and Türkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia have condemned Israel's rejection of the Gaza peace plan.
- An October ceasefire has failed to end Israeli attacks in Gaza.
United States President Donald Trump's son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner met Hamas' new leader in Egypt overnight in a push to revive a Gaza peace plan rejected by Israel.
Two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump's Gaza plan by saying it would hand over weapons to a new governing committee, Kushner pressed for verifiable disarmament, a key demand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu rejected the Gaza peace plan on 9 August, saying Trump's latest roadmap for peace was "unacceptable".
Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya took part in the discussions in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein, making his first trip since assuming leadership of the group in July.
In talks with Kushner, Hamas again voiced its commitment to the plan, a source familiar with the talks told Agence France-Presse.
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The group said afterwards that it had called on mediators and Trump's so-called Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to "approve the roadmap ... and begin establishing a timetable for its implementation".
A picture released by host Egypt did not include al-Hayya, but showed Kushner at a table alongside members of the Board of Peace, including former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair. Qatar and Türkiye, key mediators alongside Egypt, also joined.
For years, the US refused contact with Hamas, but the Trump administration has increasingly been comfortable with direct contact in hopes of ending the devastating conflict, negotiating the October ceasefire agreement.
On Monday, Kushner will see Netanyahu, a longtime hawk who faces a tough re-election fight in October.
Countries condemn Israel's rejection of peace plan
The three regional mediator countries and five other countries — Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Indonesia — condemned Israel's rejection of the plan on Sunday.
In a joint statement, they said "Israel bears direct and full responsibility" for obstructing peace, adding that its refusal "directly threatens to derail extensive efforts" by Trump.
In response, Netanyahu's Likud Party charged that "the Arab countries want to bring down the prime minister" in the election.
The inclusion of the United Arab Emirates is significant as it normalised relations with Israel five years ago.
Netanyahu expressed opposition to the US plan even after he was assured by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, that Israel would not need to pull troops out of the war-battered territory until complete disarmament by Hamas.
The board had initially said Israel would start a phased withdrawal in tandem with Hamas' disarmament.
Israel keeps up strikes on Gaza
Israel has resumed airstrikes in Gaza after a lull following Trump's promotion of the peace plan, though the October ceasefire had never fully halted the Israeli army's violence in the strip.
Several people were injured Sunday after Israeli aircraft targeted a house west of Nuseirat, said Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza's civil defence agency.
Several others were wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on tents housing displaced people west of Khan Younis, where separately the body of a child, Suhail Shallouf, was recovered after he was killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.
Israel has killed at least 1,262 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October last year, according to figures by Gaza's health ministry.
The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period.
In September 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which does not speak on behalf of the world body and has faced Israeli criticism, found that "genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur".
The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, in September last year passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
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