Hamas disarmament could begin within a month, says Trump envoy Kushner
Tel Aviv, August 17, 2026: Jared Kushner, the United States President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and envoy, said on Monday that progress towards disarming Hamas and implementing a Gaza peace plan could begin within 30 days. His remarks came after meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and separate talks with Hamas officials in Egypt.
Speaking to Fox News from Tel Aviv, Kushner said, “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.” He did not specify the exact modalities or timelines for these steps.
An Israeli official told AFP that Kushner and Netanyahu agreed that an American general would verify Hamas’s disarmament. The official added that Netanyahu insisted there would be no Israeli redeployment or withdrawal from Gaza until the disarmament is completed.
The understanding represents a fresh attempt by the Trump administration to address Israel’s concerns after Netanyahu, facing a difficult re-election campaign, publicly rejected a recent component of the US-backed plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza.
Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law and a longstanding family friend of Netanyahu, met the Israeli leader in Jerusalem a day after holding rare direct talks with Hamas in Egypt. A Hamas official confirmed that the group, represented by its new leader Khalil al-Hayya, reiterated its commitment to the plan and urged pressure on Netanyahu to proceed.
According to a senior Israeli official, the two sides “agreed that no redeployment or reconstruction would take place in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed throughout Gaza.” The official further stated 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.”
A roadmap agreed by Hamas on July 30 had said that the decommissioning of weapons would be supervised by the International Stabilisation Force, a nascent unit led by US Major General Jasper Jeffers, which aims to deploy to Gaza if the situation calms. Hamas has pledged to hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body, an arrangement that Netanyahu has viewed with scepticism but which President Trump has hailed as a breakthrough.
An official from Trump’s “Board of Peace” implementing the deal said that “every weapon collected will be fully decommissioned so it cannot be used again.” The official also stressed that Israel “retains its full right of self-defence,” adding, “If Hamas resorts to terror, violence or attempts to rearm, Israel will retain the right to act accordingly.”
Other Board of Peace members who joined Kushner in the discussions included former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the talks in Egypt, Kushner had reportedly demanded that Hamas prove it is giving up its weapons and renounce any future role in governing the Palestinian territory, according to sources in the negotiation.
The Gaza war began after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli figures. Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced nearly the entire population of the enclave, according to Gaza’s health ministry and the United Nations. The conflict has drawn widespread international condemnation and repeated calls for a ceasefire.
While the latest statements signal cautious optimism, the practical challenges of disarming Hamas and filling tunnels remain immense. Analysts note that verifying compliance and ensuring durable peace will require sustained international oversight and trust-building measures on both sides.
