Kushner to travel to Israel, Egypt to discuss Gaza plan, sources say

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East envoy, is set to travel to Israel and Egypt next week to discuss how the Trump administration's Gaza peace plan will be carried out, according to sources cited by Axios on Friday.

Kushner is expected to be accompanied by Nickolay Mladenov, the U.S.-led Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, and Tony Blair, a member of the board's executive committee. The delegation plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials before proceeding to Cairo for discussions with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

The visit follows Netanyahu's rejection of the Board of Peace's 15-point roadmap for implementing Trump's Gaza plan. Netanyahu objected to provisions that tie an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza to the phased disarmament of Hamas and other terrorist groups. He has stated that Israel will not leave Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed, calling for "real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament."

The Board of Peace announced on July 31 that Hamas had accepted the framework, which includes the group's disarmament, a shift to Palestinian technocratic governance and a phased Israeli withdrawal. Hamas officials have stated that implementation hinges on Israel halting military operations and withdrawing its forces first.