Hamas urges Trump's envoy team to pressure Israel for Gaza ceasefire deal

A fresh round of diplomatic maneuvering unfolded on

A fresh round of diplomatic maneuvering unfolded on Sunday as Hamas pressed the Trump administration's peace delegation to use its influence on Israel, insisting that Washington must “compel” the Israeli government to accept a proposed ceasefire framework for Gaza.

The appeal came during meetings in Cairo, where White House envoy Jared Kushner and Nickolay Mladenov, the Trump peace board's special representative for Gaza, held talks with regional mediators. A diplomatic source confirmed that Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya took part in several of these sessions, marking a rare direct engagement between the militant group and senior American officials.

Kushner is now expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming days, following the Cairo discussions. The visit is seen as a critical juncture for the 15-point peace plan floated by President Donald Trump earlier this month, which has already hit a wall in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu has publicly rejected the US blueprint, insist…

Netanyahu has publicly rejected the US blueprint, insisting that no Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza will take place until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed.” In a blunt statement, the prime minister rejected the plan outright, saying the Israeli Defense Forces would not leave the territory under any partial terms. “We are not accepting the 15-point document,” he said, adding that disarmament must cover heavy weapons, light arms, and everything in between. “We are talking about real disarmament, not a fiction.”

While Israeli officials have signaled openness to continued US-brokered discussions, the gap between the two sides remains wide. Hamas has demanded a complete Israeli pullout and a durable halt to hostilities, while Netanyahu's government treats any such move as contingent on the group's total disarmament—a condition Hamas has dismissed as unrealistic.

Mediators on the ground have described the Cairo talks as constructive but fragile, with both parties wary of further escalation. The coming days will test whether Kushner's shuttle diplomacy can bridge the impasse or whether the peace plan will join a long list of stalled initiatives in the region.