Kushner joins Witkoff to meet Netanyahu adviser on Gaza
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President Trump with Jared Kushner (R) with his daugther Arabella. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty
In a sign of his growing influence on Middle East policy, Jared Kushner joined White House envoy Steve Witkoff for a meeting on Monday in Miami with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top adviser Ron Dermer, according to a U.S. official and a source with knowledge.
Why it matters: The meeting was to discuss a new U.S. proposal for ending the war and for what will come after peace is achieved. The White House is trying to reach a deal before Israel launches a massive planned offensive to occupy Gaza City.
The intrigue: Kushner was his father-in-law's top Middle East adviser in President Trump's first term, but is now a private citizen and investor. But he's been working on a plan for the "day-after" the war in Gaza, alongside former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Driving the news: Witkoff sent a new U.S. proposal last week to Hamas for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal through an Israeli peace activist.
- The new proposal includes the release of all 48 remaining hostages — 20 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for a ceasefire, the end of Israel's Gaza City operation and negotiations on the conditions for ending the war and a full Israeli withdrawal.
- "We're working on a solution that maybe could be very good. .. I think we're gonna have a deal on Gaza very soon. It's a hell of a problem," Trump said on Sunday.
Behind the scenes: Kushner has begun to play a more significant role in advising the White House on Gaza policy.
- Kushner and Blair met two weeks ago with Trump, Witkoff and other senior officials to present their ideas for a post-war plan for Gaza.
- Two sources with knowledge of the meeting said that during the meeting, Trump signed-off on Kushner's initial ideas and asked him to formulate a detailed post-war plan.
- Kushner and Witkoff spent several hours with Trump on Sunday during the U.S. Open tennis final.
Between the lines: The U.S. proposal that was given to Hamas includes a clause addressing how the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza would be carried out, according to two sources familiar with the details.
- The sources said this clause stipulates that "there will be a complete Israeli withdrawal — with no exceptions, including from the perimeter along to border between Gaza and Israel — subject to the ability of the new government in Gaza to enforce security."
- The sources said Israel is satisfied with this clause because it does not demand a full, immediate and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip.
- Hamas, on the other hand, calls this clause a trap and claims it would give Israel a veto over the withdrawal process and over the new post-war governance structure in Gaza.
What to watch: That dispute makes Kushner's post-war plan even more pivotal to hopes of ending the war.
- A U.S. official said the post-war war plan will take Israel's input into consideration, but "will not be a Bibi plan or a Dermer plan."
