Sawt Falasteen - Kushner meets Netanyahu after talks with Hamas on Gaza plan

The meeting comes two weeks after the Palestinian Islamist group endorsed the latest stage of Trump's Gaza plan, which Netanyahu has refused to support, insisting any settlement must ensure the group is "genuinely disarmed".

A diplomatic official confirmed to AFP that the meeting in Jerusalem had begun late Monday morning.

Kushner -- Trump's son-in-law -- met Hamas's new leader Khalil al-Hayya in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of El-Alamein on Sunday, sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP, the latest of once-unthinkable talks between the United States and a group it classifies as terrorists.

Kushner demanded that the group verify it is giving up its weapons, a key sticking point for Netanyahu, and that Hamas -- whose unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack against Israel launched the Gaza war -- renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, the sources said.

Netanyahu is expected to meet behind closed doors with Kushner, who has long family connections with the Israeli leader, as well as Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza on Trump's "Board of Peace" implementing the plan.

Israeli media reported that former UK prime minister Tony Blair, now a senior Board of Peace official, would also attend.

A Hamas official said the group told Kushner it was committed to the Gaza plan and wanted pressure on Netanyahu.

"Hamas is demanding that the US administration... pressure Netanyahu's government to adhere to and implement the roadmap agreement. Hamas is awaiting the US administration's response regarding Israel's position on the agreement," the Hamas official told AFP.

The Trump administration has become increasingly comfortable with engaging directly with Hamas in the hope of ending the devastating conflict, and negotiated the October ceasefire agreement that led to the release of remaining Israeli hostages.

- Hardline rhetoric -

Netanyahu, who is facing elections in October that polls show will be tight, has increasingly been willing to defy Trump, whose support he once highlighted in his campaign.

The prime minister has also made clear his unhappiness with Trump's decision to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February and instead pursue a settlement with Tehran's clerical leaders.

After initially voicing muted criticism of the Gaza plan, Netanyahu last week told his cabinet that he rejected it and vowed not to pull troops from the Palestinian territory.

The stance came even though Mladenov had assured him that Israel would not need to withdraw until a full disarmament by Hamas, backtracking on the Board of Peace's earlier calls for Israel to start a phased withdrawal.

In an interview, Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right national security minister in Netanyahu's cabinet, called for mass killings in Gaza.

"I think targeted eliminations should be carried out in Gaza every night. Take out 30 or 40," Ben Gvir said on a podcast with a former Gaza hostage.

"Not only those who endanger you right now. These are people who shouldn't be alive," he said. "I'm paying them a compliment by calling them humans."

On Sunday, eight Muslim-majority countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates -- whose relationship with Israel is considered by Netanyahu to be a key achievement -- condemned Israel's rejection of the Gaza plan in a joint statement.

Israel has resumed airstrikes in Gaza after a lull following Trump's promotion of the peace plan, although the October ceasefire had never fully halted the violence in the Strip.

Israeli operations have killed at least 1,265 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, according to figures by Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas. Its figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during Gaza operations over the same period.

M.AlAhmad--SF-PST