Netanyahu Said No to Trump's 15-Point Gaza Plan, Then Kushner Tried to Revive It

That rejection did not kill the plan. Eight days later, Jared Kushner sat with Netanyahu for hours in Jerusalem in an attempt to revive it, arriving fresh from rare talks with the leader of Hamas.⁠2⁠3⁠4⁠5⁠9 The meeting was long, the stakes were explicit, and the accounts of what it achieved do not agree.

Netanyahu's public position going into the Aug. 17 session was uncompromising on sequencing. There would be no Israeli withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas disarms.⁠5⁠7⁠11 That condition has been the Israeli government's red line, and it directly shapes every proposal for an outside force, a ceasefire timeline, or a handover of territory.

An Israeli official said Netanyahu and Kushner discussed putting an American general in charge of verifying Hamas disarmament.⁠7 The web reporting confirms only an American general, unnamed, not a named commander, and confirms only rare talks with the leader of Hamas, unnamed, not a named interlocutor.⁠2⁠7 Other details that circulated alongside the broadcast — a specific commander's name, a specific Hamas leader's name, a Cairo venue, and a 100-strong international stabilization force drawn from Muslim-majority countries — are not verifiable in the provided texts.⁠2⁠6⁠7

The Aug. 17 Jerusalem meeting lasted about four hours, and Kushner later said concerns Netanyahu raised in that session had been addressed.⁠10 What that means depends on which outlet's account a reader trusts, because the outcomes diverge by outlet in ways that cannot be reconciled from the file alone.

Reuters, citing a Board of Peace official, reported the two agree[d] on path forward for Gaza.⁠3 The Associated Press reported optimism but no firm commitment.⁠4 The Guardian and the Globe and Mail, drawing on Reuters reporting, reported no breakthrough.⁠5⁠9 The sources conflict on whether Aug. 17 was a breakthrough versus a stalemate, and there is no referee in the file to pick a winner.⁠3⁠4⁠5⁠9

Kushner offered the most specific timeline to emerge from either side. He said demilitarization progress could begin within 30 days and that Hamas has 60-90 days to hand over weapons.⁠10 That language puts disarmament first and fast, matching Netanyahu's demand for disarmament before withdrawal, but it leaves open who would collect weapons, where they would go, and what happens if the deadline passes without compliance.

On Aug. 19, the administration told Congress it is sending over $206 million for the proposed Gaza peacekeeping force despite the deadlocked plan.⁠6 The notification confirms a proposed peacekeeping force, but its composition is unstated in the file.⁠6 Which countries would supply troops, under what authority the force would enforce disarmament, and the mandate language for operating inside Gaza are missing from the source texts.

The funding decision underscores how Washington is trying to keep a future force alive even while the political framework is stuck. A force without an agreed political plan risks becoming a security presence with no mission, while a plan without a committed force risks becoming a timetable with no one to enforce it. Both problems were visible in the same week, with cash moving forward as consensus did not.⁠6⁠3⁠4⁠5⁠9

For now, the record supports a narrow account and demands candor about the rest. A detailed American proposal was rejected, a high-level American envoy tried to resuscitate it in a marathon Jerusalem session bracketed by direct outreach to Hamas, and American money for a future force kept flowing two days later.⁠8⁠11⁠2⁠6 Everything beyond that — who commands, who disarms whom, who pays with troops rather than dollars, and whether Aug. 17 was a step forward — remains contested or unconfirmed in the reporting provided.