In a desperate attempt to salvage what is left of Trump’s “peace deal” in Gaza after it was blatantly rejected by Israel, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, hopped on a plane and embarked on a mission to the Middle East. Bizarrely, this self-proclaimed expert on the region – by virtue of having skimmed through 25 books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – chose not Israel, the very party that renounced the deal, as his first destination.

Instead, on Sunday, 16 August 2026, Kushner went to the Egyptian coastal city of El-Alamein to meet with a Hamas delegation led by its new chairman of the Political Bureau Khalil al-Hayya. Also present were former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Board of Peace Director Nickolay Mladenov, and Qatari, Turkish and Egyptian mediators. This is emblematic of the Trump administration’s foreign policy conduct. The US had for years refused direct contact with Hamas, which it dubs a “terrorist organisation”. But the Trump administration, recognising the reality of power and who actually holds influence on the ground, has increasingly become comfortable with direct contact with Hamas.

During the meeting, Hamas briefed Kushner on ongoing Israeli ceasefire violations in Gaza. Since the fragile “ceasefire” went into effect, there have been near-daily Zionist violations, with at least 1,260 Palestinians killed in Gaza. All of the supposed deliverables on the Israeli side have been blatantly ignored, including halting attacks, allowing full humanitarian aid to enter, opening the Rafah crossing and withdrawing from Gaza. Instead, Israel has gradually expanded its area of control in Gaza, now controlling about 70 percent of the enclave.

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Yet, it seems their pleas fell on Kushner’s deaf ears. Instead of holding Israel accountable and responsible for the failure to resolve the quagmire, it was the Palestinian........

© Middle East Monitor