TEL AVIV, Israel, August 17 (ANI): In a significant diplomatic push to revive the stalled Gaza peace process, a high-level delegation led by U.S. envoy Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace Director-General Nickolay Mladenov met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, according to Israeli media.
The meeting comes on the heels of a direct meeting Sunday between the delegation and Hamas leadership in El-Alamein, Egypt, aimed at salvaging a 15-point U.S.-backed “road map” for the reconstruction and governance of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The U.S.-led Board of Peace, an international body inaugurated in February 2026 to oversee postwar Gaza, has been working to transition authority to a Palestinian technocratic government. The board has installed U.S. President Donald Trump as chairman for life.
The U.S.-backed board is working to advance the 15-point road map to implement Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, which Hamas said it had agreed to, but Netanyahu publicly rejected, asserting that the group must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, according to The Times of Israel.
Hamas has said it accepted the plan but that its implementation would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawing its forces and halting attacks, according to Al Jazeera.
Last week, Board of Peace officials confirmed that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, would lead a delegation to break the diplomatic deadlock, visiting Egypt and Israel.
Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and other regional powers have been actively mediating the talks, even as several Arab nations recently criticized Israel’s public rejection of the road map, warning that it could obstruct long-term regional stability.
The foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement Sunday condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map linked to Trump’s peace plan.
The ministers warned that rejecting the framework could undermine international efforts to end the war and establish a lasting political settlement in Gaza. (ANI)
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