Big Kushner: The United States has resumed the settlement in Gaza
The situation in the Gaza Strip has received a new impetus — the United States has returned to negotiations to move on to the second phase of the settlement. American Special Representative Jared Kushner checked his watch with all parties to the conflict. The process is underway, but it is still not possible to achieve the complete disarmament of Hamas, Dmitry Gendelman, adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister, told Izvestia. Until then, the Jewish state will not make concessions on the withdrawal of troops. The American plan for the exclave may eventually turn into a formality. It is impossible to achieve long-term peace in the Middle East now, experts emphasize to Izvestia. Washington is trying to resolve the situation only in the Gaza Strip, completely ignoring the problem in the West Bank.
A new stage of settlement in the Gaza Strip
The US Special Representative for Peace, Jared Kushner, held a series of talks to defrost a settlement in the Gaza Strip. On August 17, he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. Key figures of the "Peace Council" created by Donald Trump arrived at the meeting with the American envoy: High Representative for Gaza Nikolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. As a result, the parties agreed to establish two working groups for the Gaza Strip: on disarmament and demilitarization of the city, as well as on sanitation, clean water and other public health issues. At the same time, the demilitarization of the exclave must be completed before the start of reconstruction work. The meeting took place against the background of deep disagreements between the allies.
First of all, the parties disagree on the order of steps towards a settlement. Washington proposes to withdraw the IDF troops in parallel with the disarmament of Hamas. However, Netanyahu insists that not a single soldier will leave the region until the group's arsenals are completely eliminated. The new stage of contacts did not solve the problem.
"Negotiations on the second stage are underway, but the main thing has not yet been decided — Israel demands the real disarmament of Hamas before any withdrawal of troops," Dmitry Gendelman, Netanyahu's adviser, told Izvestia. — No departure from the "yellow Line" until the genuine disarmament of Hamas is expected and will not be.
Views on the scale of demilitarization also differ. If Donald Trump's plan calls for the withdrawal of mostly heavy weapons from Hamas, then Israel insists on total disarmament. Because of this harsh stance, eight Muslim countries — Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have already accused the Jewish state of disrupting the peace process.
Before meeting with Netanyahu, Kushner held talks in the Egyptian city of El Alamein with the new leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya. These are the first direct contacts between the parties in almost a year — in October 2025, they led to the signing of an armistice agreement and the launch of a phased settlement. So far, the Palestinian movement has agreed to transfer only heavy weapons. And Hamas links the total surrender solely to the creation of a fully-fledged independent Palestinian state, which the Israeli government categorically rejects. At the same time, according to Axios, citing sources, after the meeting with Kushner, Hamas nevertheless agreed on a certain plan of action for disarmament.
Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's envoy, meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
However, all this is possible only after Netanyahu publicly commits to withdrawing troops. The main argument of the Palestinian group is the same — the IDF has not stopped the strikes. At the moment, the Israeli army controls more than 70% of the territory of the exclave. Earlier, the Palestinian ambassador to Russia, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, told Izvestia that the death toll had already exceeded 75,000 and 250,000 injured.
And this is far from the only stumbling block. According to the US peace plan, civilian authority in the exclave should be transferred from Hamas to the National Committee for the Management of the Gaza Strip. The group has already taken a counter step: on July 6, its leadership publicly announced the dissolution of the Government Committee for Emergency Situations, which, in fact, served as the center throughout the war. Thus, Hamas demonstrates the seriousness of its intentions to facilitate the transit of power. However, the Israeli side sees no guarantees of further non-interference in this.
"Israel insists that in any future configuration of power in the Gaza Strip, it should be without Hamas, without the Palestinian Authority and with the preservation of Israeli security control in this territory,— Gendelman stressed.
As a result, members of the National Committee created under the auspices of the United States are still unable to enter Gaza, as Israel has blocked their access to the exclave. Because of this, the headquarters of the committee is still forced to be based in Egypt. Kushner probably brought the technocrats' position to Netanyahu. In El Alamein, Kushner also discussed in detail with the committee the steps for the transit of power.
Are there any prospects for long-term peace
If Hamas is still ready to "cede" the civilian sphere, then the Palestinian movement clearly does not intend to destroy its military potential without guarantees from Israel. It is the clash of counterclaims that drags out the conflict.
And this is already causing reputational damage to Washington, Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia. The expert pointed to UN statistics, according to which Israel causes the greatest negative reaction around the world, and the United States, remaining its main ally, is hitting its own image. It is noteworthy that the White House is negotiating with Hamas, despite the fact that the movement is recognized as a terrorist organization in the United States, international political scientist Elena Suponina added. In her opinion, such direct contacts probably raised many questions from the Israeli side.
At the same time, the issue with Gaza is not the only reason for Kushner's visit to Israel, Blokhin believes. The parties will also discuss the confrontation with Iran. Trump cannot get out of the conflict without new agreements: the Republican had the temerity to publicly call Barack Obama's previous nuclear deal the worst in history. As a result, the American administration has driven itself into a dead end — Trump needs to conclude a new agreement with Tehran on more favorable terms. To do this, the White House needs the support of key states in the Middle East, but Washington cannot fully rely on it because of the unresolved crisis in Gaza, the expert concluded.
Meanwhile, the US congressional elections are inexorably approaching, and the voters have nothing to demonstrate in the Middle East direction. Any unfulfilled promises by the American leader, including a settlement in the exclave, will cause serious damage to the Republican Party. In this regard, there is a small chance of concluding a gas deal "in the style of Trump," Elena Suponina believes.
We are talking about signing a framework document with general formulations, which will be presented as a solid agreement, but which will not be respected in practice and will lead to a new escalation. At the same time, a long-term peace agreement between Israel and Hamas cannot be expected. The problem is not being solved fundamentally, since the current negotiations concern only the Gaza Strip, which makes up only a small part of the lands designated for the Palestinian state, the expert stressed.
According to UN resolutions, Palestine should consist of two geographically separated parts. At the same time, the West Bank of the Jordan River occupies 93% of the territory of a potential state, but Trump's plan does not concern it. The issues of the West Bank are raised only in the context of Washington's statements about the inadmissibility of its annexation. The Palestinians will not agree to a settlement in which they will be left with the destroyed Gaza Strip, but will be deprived of their rights to the main historical lands. Since the American initiative completely ignores this issue, it is still impossible to achieve long-term peace without reviewing it.
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