The UAE joined seven other Arab and Islamic nations in condemning Israel for rejecting renewed efforts to implement US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, as his son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner held talks with Hamas in Egypt on Sunday to help push it through.
The UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt also condemned Israel’s rejection of Palestinian statehood, in a joint statement released by their foreign ministers.
“Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” they said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last Sunday that his government would not agree to the plan put forward by the US-backed Board of Peace for disarming Hamas – a key step in advancing Mr Trump’s plan.
Mr Kushner's visit to Egypt on Sunday is part of an effort involving the high representative of Gaza's Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, and former UK prime minister Tony Blair to advance Mr Trump’s plan.
Mr Kushner on Sunday met Hamas leaders in the Egyptian coastal city of Al Alamein, along with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, including the head of Egypt's intelligence service Hassan Rashad, according to sources.
While Hamas said it accepted the Board of Peace's 15-point framework for its disarmament and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza, unveiled at the end of July, Mr Netanyahu rejected it in comments to his Cabinet on August 9.
Mr Kushner's meeting with Hamas, which the US has designated a terrorist organisation, underlines the seriousness of the Trump administration's renewed effort to see the Gaza peace plan implemented.
Hamas leader Khalil Al Hayya led the group's delegation to the meeting with Mr Kushner. The delegation included Mohammed Darwish, Zaher Jabareen and Bassem Naim, according to the sources.
The sources did not divulge details of the meeting, which was preceded by talks between Mr Al Hayya and Mr Rashad.
Hamas said its delegation briefed Mr Rashad on political and military developments in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including what it described as daily Israeli violations.
The group also accused Israel of failing to honour its part in Mr Trump’s plan, and of rejecting the roadmap proposed by the Trump-led Board of Peace.
Earlier on Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met Mr Kushner in Al Alamein. The pair stressed the need for all parties to fulfil their obligations under the Trump plan, the Egyptian Presidency said.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Mr Rashad attended that meeting.
Responding to the Board of Peace's plan, which Mr Trump welcomed and praised as a breakthrough, Mr Netanyahu said Israel would not withdraw from its current positions in Gaza “until Hamas is completely disarmed”.
Mr Netanyahu, who is facing a general election in October, has vowed to eliminate threats to Israel from Hamas and other Iran-backed groups in the region, and joined the US in launching a war on Iran in February.
On Sunday he posted a picture on X of a giant billboard with the faces of Iranian supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani – an outspoken critic of Israel's war in Gaza – and Naim Qassem, leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, with the message: "Don't let them win."
The implementation of Trump's Gaza plan began with a ceasefire deal last October under which Hamas released hostages it had held since its October 2023 attack on southern Israel that started the Gaza war.
Israel, in exchange, freed hundreds of Palestinians detained in its prisons.
However, it has not fully honoured the first phase's provisions for allowing sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza or for the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory to begin.
Israel occupies about 70 per cent of the enclave, about 20 per cent more than it is entitled to under the ceasefire deal.
It has yet to allow members of a UN-approved, non-partisan committee of Palestinian technocrats to enter Gaza. The committee is mandated under the Trump plan to run the day-to-day affairs of Gaza.
An International Stabilisation Force, also provided for under the plan and approved by the UN, has yet to be fully assembled and posted in Gaza to maintain security.
This month, sources said Hamas has agreed to hand over its weapons, military installations and bases to a committee comprising mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.
The mediators would in turn hand over everything to the independent Palestinian committee of technocrats. Hamas has said control of its weapons and facilities must remain in Palestinian hands.
The group also insists that commanders of its military wing are allowed to keep firearms – pistols in this case – for self-defence, in the face of Israeli-backed militias opposed to Hamas, the sources added.
