U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner said on Monday (August 17, 2026) that progress towards disarming Hamas and moving forward with a Gaza peace plan could begin within a month after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We could be seeing progress… in as little as 30 days, hopefully starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully, you know, filling in some of the tunnels as well,” Mr. Kushner told Fox News while in Tel Aviv.

The comments came as Mr. Kushner and Mr. Netanyahu agreed that an American general would verify Hamas’s disarmament, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no Israeli pullout from Gaza until then.

The understanding marks a new attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to satisfy Israel after Mr. Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a U.S. plan aimed at “ending the devastating Gaza war”.

Mr. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a long-time family friend of Netanyahu, met the Israeli leader in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks in Egypt with Hamas, which has publicly committed itself to the plan.

The two sides “agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza”, a senior Israeli official told AFP.

“It was also agreed that the first step toward the demilitarisation of the Strip would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general,” the official said.

A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilisation Force, the nascent unit that aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. It is led by U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers.

Hamas had pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that brought scepticism from Netanyahu but which Trump hailed as a breakthrough.

An official with Mr. Trump’s “Board of Peace” implementing the deal said that “every weapon collected will be fully decommissioned so it cannot be used again” and said that Israel “retains its full right of self-defence”.

“If Hamas resorts to terror, violence or attempts to rearm, Israel will retain the right to act accordingly,” the official said.

Other Board of Peace members joining Kushner in the talks included former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr. Kushner in the talks in Egypt had demanded that Hamas prove it is giving up its weapons and that the group — whose unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack against Israel launched the Gaza war — renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, according to sources in the negotiation.

A Hamas official said the group, represented by its new leader Khalil al-Hayya, told Mr. Kushner it was committed to the Gaza plan and wanted pressure on Mr. Netanyahu.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner ​met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday (August 17, 2026), ⁠a day after holding a rare meeting with Hamas’ leader in Cairo in a bid to push forward the U.S. president’s Gaza plan.

Mr. Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition is trailing in Israeli opinion polls ahead of ‌an October national election, publicly rejected this month a U.S.-backed agreement that would see Hamas surrender its arms in exchange for Israel withdrawing from ‌Gaza. Mr. Trump had said the agreement would be carried out in phases, with Israeli ‌forces ⁠withdrawing from Gaza as disarmament proceeded and an ‘International Stabilisation Force’ worked with a ⁠new Palestinian police force to secure the territory.

But Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, has said the country’s military will only withdraw once Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza have been completely disarmed.

Diplomats say Israel ​is unlikely to make any major ‌concessions over Gaza ahead of the October 27 election.

Kushner seeks to push ahead with stalled Gaza plan

Mr. Kushner was joined in the Jerusalem meeting with Mr. Netanyahu by Nickolay Mladenov, Mr. Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, the two sources said, speaking ‌on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss the ​matter publicly.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Mladenov, a former U.N. official with close ties to the United Arab Emirates, helped broker last month’s disarmament agreement and is widely seen as leading efforts to implement Mr. Trump’s original 20-point plan to end the war, which ‌Israel and Hamas agreed to last year.

However, there has so far been little progress, with Israel continuing to carry out strikes on Gaza despite agreeing to a ceasefire as part of Mr. Trump’s plan. Hamas last month agreed to a new U.S.-backed 15-point roadmap aimed at moving Mr. Trump’s plan forward. Israel rejected that roadmap. Earlier, a source said Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya had been present at some of the meetings in Cairo ‌on Sunday (August 16, 2026) that mediators held with Mr. Kushner and Mr. Mladenov.

It marks Mr. Kushner’s second known meeting with representatives of Hamas, ​the Palestinian militant group designated a terrorist movement by the United States.

Mr. Kushner previously met Hamas officials alongside U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in October ⁠2025, helping clinch a deal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza and the release ⁠of remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Mr. Trump said in late July a deal had been reached for ‌the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. Hamas has said it agreed to the plan but the deal’s implementation would depend on Israel first ​meeting its own commitments, including withdrawal and halting attacks.