Kushner: US used Israel’s isolation after ‘terrible’ Doha strike to secure Gaza deal

Jared Kushner, a special adviser to US President Donald Trump, has said that the US administration used Israel's growing diplomatic isolation following a failed strike in Doha, Qatar, to push the Israeli government toward a Gaza agreement. According to Kushner, the Israeli operation in Doha was "a terrible thing" and "unsuccessful as a military operation", leading to Israel being "globally isolated".

The Jerusalem Post reports that Kushner described the strike as "terrible" and said the Trump administration saw a diplomatic opportunity in the crisis, using the new dynamic to pressure Israel into a deal. Kushner claimed that the pressure ultimately paid off, saying "it turned out to be great for them" and "great for the people of Gaza, because now we have a new government there".

Kushner's comments were met with a response from Netanyahu's Likud party, which hit back at his remarks, saying the attack on a Hamas headquarters was a decisive factor in getting hostages out. The party also noted that the Prime Minister had previously apologized to Qatar for the strike, according to The Times of Israel.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Times of Israel, Daily Times, Haaretz, Arutz Sheva - Israel National News, Jerusalem Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.