Kushner Gaza Talks End Without Deal
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- Jared Kushner left Jerusalem on Monday without a breakthrough after two days of talks with Israeli and Hamas leaders, calling his nearly four-hour meeting with Netanyahu "good" and saying Hamas representatives "said all the right things."
- Netanyahu rejected the 15-point Board of Peace roadmap earlier this month, insisting Israel will not withdraw troops until Hamas disarms every weapon and destroys every tunnel.
- Both sides agreed to launch working groups on disarmament and on sanitation, clean water, and public health, but reconstruction won't begin until Hamas disarms — the sequencing dispute that blocked broader progress.
- Netanyahu's coalition trails in polls ahead of the Oct. 27 election, and most Israelis want the war to continue, making pre-vote concessions unlikely, diplomats say.
- Since the October ceasefire, more than 1,200 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to Gazan health officials and the Israeli military.
- Trump announced last month that Hamas agreed to lay down arms in phases under the Board of Peace roadmap tied to an Israeli military withdrawal.
Why it matters: With Netanyahu's coalition trailing in polls ahead of the Oct. 27 vote and most Israelis wanting the war to continue, diplomats say the prime minister has little incentive to accept a withdrawal timeline — leaving reconstruction frozen until Hamas disarms and 1,200+ Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers killed since October without a diplomatic off-ramp.
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