Egypt tells US Hamas disarmament will only be possible under Israel’s next government

Senior Egyptian officials disclosed to U.S. officials that dismantling Hamas' weapons is contingent upon the composition of Israel's next government, according to discussions during meetings in Egypt with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser. The Egyptian officials expressed skepticism about achieving meaningful progress under Israel's present administration and cautioned that Hamas would only strengthen.

They argued that the sole pathway to significant advancement in the Gaza Strip would arise subsequent to Israel's electoral cycle and the establishment of a new government. These remarks emerged as the U.S. intensified endeavors to negotiate a framework for concluding the war in Gaza. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conversed with Kushner for a four-hour session as the U.S. envoy endeavored to advance a conclusive framework for halting the war.

The meeting commenced with an individual dialogue before Board of Peace chairman Nikolay Mladenov, Tony Blair, and other representatives joined. The preceding day, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and multiple other regional nations released a united statement rebuking Israel's refusal to adopt Trump's Gaza plan. The declaration, also signed by Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, and Turkey, asserted that Israel "should bear responsibility for impeding peace endeavors in Gaza and the Palestinian territories" and cautioned that rejecting the proposal might undermine Trump's efforts to bring an end to the war.

Separately, following Kushner's encounter with senior Hamas officials in Egypt, reports from Saudi-owned Al Arabiya indicated that both Kushner and Mladenov had declined a proposal from Hamas regarding the storage of its weapons. According to these reports, they insisted on Hamas relinquishing its weapons and dismantling its military infrastructure.

"Kushner affirmed to Hamas leaders that the organization's weapons would be removed from the Gaza Strip and would not be stored there," the sources claimed. However, the veracity of these reports remains unconfirmed. If authentic, they would contradict earlier assertions that Hamas weapons could be kept in storage within Gaza. Israel has insisted on the complete removal of weapons from the Strip to prevent their accessibility to Hamas or other terrorist factions.