US envoy Jared Kushner has held rare direct talks with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Washington seeks to revive its stalled Gaza roadmap.
“They said all the right things, so we’re going to give them a chance to perform,” Kushner stated, while emphasizing that trust remains a major obstacle and the group will ultimately be judged by its actions.
The diplomatic push remains deadlocked over sequencing, with Netanyahu insisting on full Hamas disarmament before Israeli forces withdraw or reconstruction begins, while Hamas demands reciprocal Israeli steps and guarantees prior to surrendering weapons.