MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
An update now on an effort to break a log jam in the Middle East. Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. Yesterday, the president's envoy - also son-in-law - held a rare meeting with Hamas officials in Egypt. Kushner is trying to save a U.S.-backed roadmap for post-war Gaza, a roadmap that Netanyahu has already publicly rejected. NPR's Daniel Estrin is following this from Tel Aviv. Hey, Daniel.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hey. So it might be helpful just to begin with the roadmap that Kushner is in the region, trying to advance - what is it?
ESTRIN: It's this huge plan for post-war Gaza with all kinds of details, but the bottom line is it wants Hamas to stop ruling Gaza and to transfer power to a new Palestinian governing committee. It wants to get an international stabilization force of foreign troops led by a U.S. general to get them into Gaza. But the main points of contention between Israel and Hamas are these - the plan calls for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw from the parts of Gaza that it still occupies.
Now, Trump's Board of Peace put out this 15-point roadmap a few weeks ago, and the roadmap says that this would happen in stages, that Hamas would disarm bit by bit and that Israel would withdraw its troops bit by bit. But Netanyahu came out and said he rejected that roadmap, and he said all disarmament of Hamas would have to be completed first before a single soldier moves from Gaza. So that's the background to this visit. Kushner is in the region to meet with both sides and try to make sure things are back on track.
KELLY: Yeah. And just figure out the sequencing here. And as we said, he has now met with Netanyahu. He's also met with Hamas. So both sides here. Are things looking like they might get back on track?
ESTRIN: Well, if you read the statement from the Board of Peace, they'd like you to think that things are getting back on track, but I think things seem very far from settled, especially when you talk about the sequencing of who does what and when. An Israeli official was speaking anonymously to me to talk about the closed-door meeting with Kushner today offering their take on the meeting, and some of it seems to contradict the original roadmap. Like, for instance, saying that Hamas weapons would have to be destroyed by a U.S. general instead of put in storage with a new Palestinian committee, which was the original idea.
And then there was another claim that the Israelis made that has caused quite a stir. The Israeli official speaking to me claimed that Kushner and Netanyahu agreed that Israel would continue its targeted assassinations of people in Gaza who were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel October 7, 2023. But then another source later walked that back. A source briefed on the matter said, actually, no, Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would continue those targeted killings, and Kushner made it clear he opposes that. So all of these statements that came out of the meeting today seem to have muddied the waters instead of clearing much up.
KELLY: It does sound like it's muddied the waters. So is Kushner going to go home with any progress on his plans for Gaza?
ESTRIN: That remains to be seen. I think it's clear to everyone that Netanyahu has his own considerations at home. He's running for reelection, and it's really hard for him to be seen as giving any concessions to Hamas. He also can't afford to give Kushner a trip home empty handed. So Israel did make a kind of gesture. It said, well, there will be no reconstruction anywhere in Gaza until Hamas fully disarms, but it has agreed to sanitation projects for public health. And maybe that's the kind of vague language that Israel needs to quietly live with some quiet progress on reconstruction or rehabilitation in Gaza. We'll have to see.
KELLY: NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Daniel.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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