Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told attendees of the Board of Peace meeting on Monday in Jerusalem that making progress on the US plan for Gaza was "problematic" because of the approaching Knesset elections in October, according to CNN.
Jared Kushner, Board of Peace head Nikolay Mladenov, and Tony Blair met with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials on Monday, continuing to apply pressure on Israel to move forward with the next stage of the US plan for Gaza and advance US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan, including the 15-point document on disarming Hamas.
Following CNN reports of Netanyahu's reticence to move forward with the plans, the Prime Minister's Office released a statement saying that the prime minister and the BoP had "deep and constructive discussions," and that they agreed to establish two working groups: one focused on Gaza disarmament and demilitarization, and another to focus on sanitation, clean water and other public health issues for the people of Gaza.
"The meeting was lengthy, in-depth, and very productive," a BoP official told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "We agreed with the PM on a path forward. The Israelis are going to give this a chance. Now it’s up to Hamas to show if it truly intends to comply."
Kushner, Mladenov, and Blair held meetings with Egyptian officials ahead of Jerusalem meeting
Ahead of the meeting in Jerusalem, a senior Board of Peace official told the Post on Sunday that Kushner, Mladenov, and Blair had held meetings in El Alamein, Egypt, with senior Egyptian officials and the other mediators, with the aim of turning the next steps in the roadmap into concrete measures for implementation.
The three also met with the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and reviewed plans with its members ahead of the transfer of governing authority in the Gaza Strip to the technocratic body.
According to the senior official, the talks in Jerusalem will focus on ways to accelerate the implementation of Trump's 20-point plan, with "the United States and Israel agreeing on the end state: a demilitarized Hamas."
The official added that the goal is to reach a demilitarized Gaza in which Hamas has fully relinquished governing authority to the Palestinian technocratic government, thereby allowing the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip to proceed.
Additionally, the official stated that the steps are intended to preserve the ceasefire, begin transferring all governing authority to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, and ensure that Hamas has no role whatsoever in managing the future of the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the process is intended to begin the comprehensive disarmament of Hamas and the decommissioning of its military infrastructure, enable the deployment of the International Stabilization Force, and accordingly allow Israeli withdrawals.
BoP attempting to speed up entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, begin rebuilding
The Board of Peace is also seeking to accelerate the entry of humanitarian aid and the reconstruction and rebuilding process in the Gaza Strip, while ensuring that aid is neither stolen nor diverted under threat. The official stressed that, from the Board of Peace's perspective, there is no longer any room for ambiguity regarding what is required of Hamas.
"Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure. Gaza can never again serve as a source of terrorism against Israel," he said.
Maya Zanger-Shamir contributed to this report.