Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and aide, is scheduled to visit Israel and Egypt next week to support a US-backed peace commission plan to permanently end Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
The visit, confirmed to Al Jazeera by peace committee officials, comes shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Trump’s 15-point plan for durable peace in the Palestinian enclaves.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu particularly objected to provisions in the plan that would require Hamas to gradually disarm and transfer weapons to Palestinian third parties, while at the same time Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza. In the meeting, Hamas announced that it had agreed to a provisional version of the agreement and said it continued despite Israel’s rejection.
Kushner will be accompanied by the commission’s executive director, former Bulgarian government minister Nikolai Mladenov, and former British prime minister Tony Blair, who serves on its executive committee, according to officials at the peace commission, which was formed as part of the broader Gaza “ceasefire” agreement reached between Israel and Hamas in late 2025.
The three will “listen to the concerns raised and discuss next steps,” the official said.
“What’s important is that we both agree on the desired outcome and find ways to accelerate progress,” the official said, insisting that both the peace committee and Israel “agreed on the final state of a demilitarized Hamas.”
The official said Mr. Kushner, Mr. Mladenov and Mr. Blair will meet with Egyptian and other mediators in Cairo to try to solidify a roadmap.
Repeated ceasefire violations
Hamas’ approval of the preliminary disarmament agreement is seen as a major step forward, although implementation details are not yet clear.
Gaza’s 20-point ceasefire plan, signed last year, was intended for both sides to cease fighting in order for Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups to lay down their weapons and clear the way for Israel to withdraw from Gaza.
The deal then calls for Hamas to transfer power to the technocratic Palestinian government, deploy an international stabilization force and launch a major reconstruction effort.
However, violations by Israel are almost daily, with local authorities reporting at least 1,260 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire took effect.
Overall, 73,389 Palestinians were killed in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, Israel gradually expanded its control over the Gaza Strip, now occupying approximately 70% of the enclave.
Settler violence soars
Kushner’s visit also comes amid a surge in settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Rights groups have long argued that settler violence is enabled by the Israeli military.
These include the Nablus government’s settler siege of the village of Qusra, where residents claim they have been cut off from water and electricity as part of an attempted land grab.
The violence prompted an unusual rebuke from Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, who pointed to specific instances in which settlers targeted the homes of dual U.S. citizens in Khusra.
“The actions of those who carried out this horrific act of terror designed to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. There is no excuse for the actions of such thugs,” Huckabee wrote in a post on X.
He added that the U.S. embassy was “very involved, and the (Israeli military) and Israeli police, at our request, went to eliminate the Israeli terrorists who were committing these acts.”
Huckabee remains an ardent supporter of Israel and is a vocal supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 3,033 attacks on settlers in the West Bank between January 2025 and June 2026, averaging about six attacks per day.
According to the United Nations, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 76 Palestinians in the occupied territories by 2026, including 18 children.
