Donald Trump envoy Central East Jared Kushner has held lengthy talks with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister's spokesman told the BBC, in a bid to restart the peace plan The stalled US-backed Gaza. The Israel's prime minister's office said Israel and the council agreed that there would be no reconstruction in Gaza without the complete disarmament of Hamas. Hamas said earlier that it had asked the Peace Council to “force” Israel to accept the peace plan, after Kushner held rare talks with the group on Sunday.

Illustration. Last week Israel rejected 15Trump's proposed peace plan, which called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and Gaza being rebuilt under a new Palestinian civilian government. Trump heads the Peace Council, which was created as an international organization initially aimed at bringing peace to Gaza, but later expanded to include conflicts around the world.

According to Israeli media reports, Council Peace envoys Nicolay Mladenov and Tony Blair also met Netanyahu on Monday. Illustration. In a statement after the meeting, theIsraeli prime minister's office struck a diplomatic tone, sayingNetanyahu and the board of directors had had "in-depth and constructive discussions."

It said they "agreed to establish two working groups, one working group on disarmament and demilitarization of Gaza, which Israel and the Peace Council believe must be carried out immediately and completed before any reconstruction takes place in Gaza." They added that the second working group "will focus on sanitation, clean water and other public health issues for the people ofGazaand that also impact the people ofIsrael." Illustration.

In a telephone interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump reportedly said that Hamas was “giving up its weapons” and that Israel should not carry out an attack on Gaza. The US outlet did not elaborate on its comments. Israel's President Issac Herzog posted a photo of himself at the X sitting with members of the PeaceCouncil's delegation

The Peace Council wants to show that the peace plan for Gaza is still viable - even though Netanyahu has firmly rejected the new roadmap.

Hamas has agreed to hand over its weapons in exchange for a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops. But Israel insists that Hamas must completely disarm before Israel withdraws. They also want any weapons Hamas surrender to be destroyed, rather than kept by a committee of Palestiniantechnocrats, so that Hamas cannot get them back.

In addition, there has been resistance to Türkiye and Qatar being involved in examining whether Hamas is meeting its requirements under the deal.