Netanyahu Meets Kushner Amid Gaza Truce Road Map Rejection
Hamas agrees to U.S.-backed plan as regional powers condemn Israel's stance ahead of critical election.
Carla Rooney
Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Pakistan, alongside ceasefire mediators, issued a joint statement condemning Israel's rejection of the road map.
They declared Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing efforts to bring peace in Gaza.
Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing efforts to bring peace in Gaza.
The foreign ministers' statement also called on the Board of Peace and the US to take measures preventing obstruction of the plan.
Nickolay Mladenov, director of the Board of Peace, will attend the upcoming talks.
More than 150 UN member states recognize a Palestinian state encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu faces an election on October 27th, with the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel also approaching.
Israeli figures show 1,200 people were killed in that attack.
Donald Trump announced last month that he had transformed the ceasefire into a permanent deal where Hamas would disarm and hand over power to a new Palestinian authority in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
Donald Trump’s envoys reportedly met with Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday.
A meeting between Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year reportedly helped secure the original ceasefire.
Relations between the US and Israel are reportedly at their worst in decades.
The Israeli military stated on Sunday that its aircraft struck two Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants in Gaza’s Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
Separately, Israeli settlers have reportedly encircled houses and cut off water and electricity in the West Bank.