Gaza Herald _US envoy Jared Kushner has said the administration of President Donald Trump will not allow reconstruction in the devastated Gaza Strip to move forward until Hamas gives up its weapons, placing the future of rebuilding the enclave on a demand that remains at the center of the ceasefire dispute.
Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, but the talks failed to produce a breakthrough on implementing a US-backed roadmap for Gaza that Hamas had already agreed to.
“We have a plan to rebuild Gaza, but we will not allow Gaza to be rebuilt until the demilitarization occurs,” Kushner told Fox News in an interview.
“Nobody wants to put more money into a place that’s gone on for so long if it’s just going to be taken over by terrorists or blown up again.”
Under the US-backed process, Hamas agreed to disarm as part of a broader arrangement that would include an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to Israel’s deadly attacks on the Palestinian territory.
Israel, however, rejected the proposal earlier this month and has insisted that Gaza must be fully demilitarized before it makes further concessions.
Kushner echoed Israel’s position during the interview, emphasizing Hamas’ disarmament while maintaining that Israel would retain broad authority to respond to what it considers security threats.
“We’re also not going to restrict Israel’s right to defend itself if there are any imminent threats,” Kushner said. “And so we had to clarify what that means.”
Israeli forces have continued carrying out near-daily attacks across Gaza, killing at least 1,265 Palestinians in the enclave since the ceasefire came into effect last year.
Trump called for an end to the Israeli strikes on Monday, saying, “Israelis should not be striking in Gaza. Hamas agreed to lay down their weapons.”
The United States has provided Israel with roughly $25 billion in military aid over the past three years while continuing to support the Netanyahu government on the international stage, including through sanctions against International Criminal Court officials involved in investigations into atrocities committed in Gaza.
Kushner portrayed the proposed Gaza agreement as beneficial to Israel, saying that Hamas’ surrender of its weapons and tunnels would remove what he described as a major security threat.
“For Israel, we think this is a win-win situation, because if Hamas actually gives over the weapons and the tunnels willingly over the next 60 to 90 days, that obviously would be the elimination of a huge security threat for Israel, almost an unthinkable achievement,” he said.
He also warned that failure to implement the agreement would strengthen support in Washington and elsewhere for further Israeli military action.
“If they don’t follow through now on their commitment, everyone will see that they’re not genuine about peace, and then Israel will have a lot more support from the US and others to go and appropriately finish the job,” Kushner said.
Kushner also held a rare meeting with Hamas officials on Sunday as Washington continued efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
He described the talks as “very cordial” but said the United States would ultimately assess Hamas based on its actions rather than its statements.
“They said all the right things, but obviously, it’s very, very hard to trust a terrorist organization that committed these terrible atrocities,” Kushner said.
