Kushner Heads to Israel After Netanyahu Rejects Gaza Plan
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- Jared Kushner will travel to Israel and Egypt next week accompanied by Board of Peace director general Nickolay Mladenov and executive committee member Tony Blair to address Netanyahu's rejection of the Trump-backed 15-point plan.
- Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the provision requiring Hamas to gradually disarm by transferring weapons to a Palestinian third party while Israel concurrently withdraws troops from Gaza; Hamas had approved the preliminary agreement and says it remains committed.
- Since the ceasefire took effect, Israel has been blamed for near-daily violations that killed at least 1,260 Palestinians in Gaza, bringing the total death toll since October 7, 2023 to 73,389, with Israel now controlling roughly 70 percent of the enclave.
- Settler violence in the West Bank has surged, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documenting 3,033 attacks between January 2025 and June 2026—averaging six per day—and 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, killed in 2026.
- Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel and a vocal settlement supporter, issued a rare rebuke after settlers targeted the home of a dual US citizen in the village of Qusra, calling the act "horrific" and labelling the perpetrators "Israeli terrorists."
Why it matters: Netanyahu's rejection of the disarmament-withdrawal tradeoff—the core mechanism of Trump's 15-point plan—forces Kushner's Board of Peace delegation into direct negotiations while Israel already controls 70 percent of Gaza and 1,260 Palestinians have died since the ceasefire took effect. Huckabee's public condemnation of settlers as "terrorists" marks a rare break for a US official who has consistently defended settlements.
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