US and Israel Form Working Groups to Advance Gaza Disarmament

White House envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hours on Monday, resulting in an agreement to set up two working groups—one on disarmament and another on public health—in the Gaza Strip. The talks followed Netanyahu’s public rejection of a U. S. -Hamas 15‑point plan that called for Hamas to hand over weapons and for Israel to withdraw its troops. The Board of Peace, which drafted the roadmap, stated that Israeli forces will not redeploy from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed and all weapons and tunnels are removed. The meeting also saw former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov in attendance. While Hamas officials described the roadmap as allowing storage of heavy weapons, the Board’s statement demands the decommissioning of every pistol, heavy weapon, and tunnel before any withdrawal, a standard many experts view as practically impossible.