Jared Kushner, serving as US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, arrived in Israel on Monday as mediators confront a fresh complication threatening to derail progress on the fragile Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The issue is that the dozens of Hamas fighters are reportedly hiding in underground passages beneath Rafah in southern Gaza. These warriors are left behind what negotiators call the Yellow Line, which is now territory governed by Israeli militants.
Mediators are faced with various disputes that are not resolved and would take months to be resolved. The major points of contention are the threat of Hamas laying arms, the proposal to rebuild the infrastructure of Gaza, and the idea of who will control the land in the future and the international peacekeepers.
Last week, the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, suggested the option of granting amnesty to combatants who were ready to renounce their weapons. He proposed that this is a way that Washington can use in dealing with such cases in Gaza. Witkoff asserted that about 200 fighters are trapped in the tunnels, and this fact is not confirmed by anyone.
Media houses claimed that Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed this issue at their meeting in Jerusalem on Monday. Hamas has denied the option of surrender. The group demands that its warriors be guaranteed a safe exit from the region. Israel has not accepted such terms to date.
Image Credit: Financial Times
A representative of the Israeli government claimed that Netanyahu and Kushner discussed matters concerning the first phase of the ceasefire that continues. Their discussion concerned the process of re-taking the remaining hostages and future steps that involved disarmament of Hamas, total demilitarisation of Gaza, and the exclusion of Hamas from any Gaza government in the future.
The conflict in Gaza broke out due to a large-scale attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack, which occurred, killed around 1,200 people and left 251 people as its captives. According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, the Israeli military actions in Gaza have killed over 69,000 people since. These statistics are considered credible by the United Nations officials.
The initial phase of the ceasefire that commenced last month focused on the prevention of active fighting, the captivity of all detainees, and the drastic growth of humanitarian aid reaching the territory of Gaza. Twenty living hostages have been set free together with the remains of 24 who had died in captivity. Four bodies are left somewhere in Gaza.
Israel has responded by setting free 250 Palestinian prisoners in their prisons and 1718 prisoners in Gaza detainees that had not been charged or tried formally. The Israeli officials have also repatriated the bodies of 315 Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas have been accusing each other of violating the contents of the ceasefire. Israel accuses Hamas of deliberately halting the delivery of hostage remains. Hamas retaliates that Israel has already killed at least 240 Palestinians since the truce ceasefire and remains obstructing sufficient shipments of aid.
Hamas in the past denied demands to disarm by saying that it would only look into giving up arms when a Palestinian state was recognised. Israel is strongly opposed to giving any way to the Western-supported Palestinian Authority to run Gaza. The same Palestinian Authority is today controlling areas of the conquered West Bank.
Countries hesitate to contribute soldiers to any proposed multinational peacekeeping force. They worry about committing troops without clearly defined objectives, fearing their personnel might end up fighting Hamas militants and other Palestinian armed groups. Israeli forces currently occupy 53% of Gaza’s land area. The ceasefire plan calls for additional Israeli withdrawals in the coming phases.
Reconstruction discussions appear likely to focus exclusively on Israeli-controlled zones. Arab nations have voiced alarm that the current territorial division might harden into a lasting partition of Gaza. Trump’s proposal contains no provisions for establishing Palestinian statehood, a goal that Israel categorically rejects.
