Israel will not withdraw from Gaza and reconstruction of Palestinian territory will not begin until Hamas has disarmed. The United States and Israel have agreed on this, Israeli government sources told AFP. Islamist Hamas has not commented on the reports.
Jared Kushner said after the nearly four-hour meeting that he believes Hamas's disarmament could begin within a month.
"Hopefully we can start taking the weapons within 30 days and hopefully also fill in some of their tunnels," he told Fox News.
Success can come quite quickly, but it requires cooperation from both sides.
The Peace Council pays tribute
Netanyahu earlier in August rejected the Gaza plan praised by US President Donald Trump and the document presented by Trump's peace council. And what is now said to have been agreed to only partially follows the peace plan.
One of the 15 points in the document states that a newly formed non-political Palestinian group (NCAG) will take care of the weapons that Hamas will hand over. But during Monday's meeting, according to AFP, Netanyahu demanded that this work be supervised by an American general, and that the weapons be destroyed and not end up in Palestinian hands, to which Kushner is said to have agreed.
According to The Times of Israel, the Peace Council praised the meeting and said it showed that Israel was giving the American plan a chance.
Hard to trust Hamas
Kushner met with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya on Sunday. Asked by Fox News if he trusts the terrorist organization to truly want peace, he replied:
It is of course very, very difficult to trust a terrorist organization that has committed terrible acts. But we should give them a chance.
A carrot for Hamas would be that the US will provide even greater support to Israel "to finish the job" if Hamas does not voluntarily hand over its weapons, Kushner said.
We will not limit Israel's right to defend itself if there is an imminent threat, the envoy says, noting:
For Israel, this is a win-win situation.
