Trump Says Israel Should Stop Striking Gaza
Trump Says Israel Should Stop Striking Gaza as Kushner Pushes Disarmament Talks
Bharatmorningnews.com – In a sharp public rebuke of his closest ally, President Donald Trump said Israel should stop its military operations in Gaza, arguing that Hamas had already agreed to surrender its weapons. The statement, delivered to Fox News on Monday, marked the most visible fracture yet between Washington and Jerusalem over how to end the war and transition governance in the enclave.
Kushner’s Diplomatic Push in El Alamein
Jared Kushner—Trump’s son-in-law and one of his most trusted advisers—traveled to the Egyptian city of El Alamein on Sunday to conduct direct negotiations with Hamas representatives. According to sources familiar with the meetings, Hamas political leader Khalil Al-Hayya attended portions of the sessions. Kushner pressed the group to take immediate, concrete steps toward transferring authority to a new civilian body and decommissioning its arsenal, while assuring Hamas that Israel would reciprocate with phased withdrawals.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who also serves on the Board of Peace, accompanied the Kushner delegation alongside Nickolay Mladenov, the board’s chief Gaza envoy, one person familiar with the talks confirmed.
Trump’s Public Rebuke and Its Aftermath
The president’s envoy met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in an effort to salvage what has become a floundering initiative to disarm Hamas and bring the war to a close. Trump’s insistence that Israel should stop striking came hours after Netanyahu rejected a phased disarmament proposal, underscoring how quickly the two leaders’ positions had diverged.
“Ultimately, they are giving up their guns,” Trump told Fox chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
The 15-Point Road Map and Its Stalemate
In late July, Trump announced that Hamas—a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States—had accepted a 15-point road map. Under the framework, Hamas would ultimately transfer its weapons to Palestinian authorities in exchange for a phased Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The two adversaries, however, remain locked in disagreement over sequencing. Israel has declined to withdraw its forces until Hamas has been fully disarmed. Netanyahu rejected the phased disarmament proposal last week, and following a brief lull, resumed near-daily strikes against Palestinian militants in the enclave, including operations Israel says targeted participants in the October 7, 2023, attack and hostage-taking.
From Ceasefire to Standstill
The peace architecture began with an October ceasefire that halted the heaviest combat and enabled the successful exchange of remaining hostages held in the enclave for nearly 2,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. Momentum then evaporated: Hamas declined to lay down arms, Israel kept striking, and roughly two million Gazans were left suspended in uncertainty. The majority of the population has been displaced, many sheltering in squalid tent camps or shattered buildings where survival depends on humanitarian aid.
Trump’s latest iteration of the plan was crafted to jump-start the disarmament sequence so that governance could pass to a new Palestinian civilian body and reconstruction could commence. The administration has promoted the initiative as a diplomatic achievement even as it contends with a parallel war against Iran.
Netanyahu and figures across the Israeli political spectrum remain convinced that Hamas must be eliminated as both a military and governing entity before any war can conclude. That pressure intensifies with elections approaching in October, where polling indicates the prime minister’s party is shedding support. Israel had briefly paused its Gaza operations in early August after consultations between Israeli officials and Mladenov, but the tempo of strikes has since picked up again.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Trump mean when he said Israel should stop striking Gaza? The president was responding to what he described as Hamas’s agreement to surrender its weapons under the 15-point road map. He argued that continued Israeli strikes undermined the disarmament process and risked collapsing the ceasefire framework entirely.
Where are the Kushner-Hamas talks taking place? Negotiations are being held in El Alamein, Egypt, with Kushner, Blair, and Mladenov representing the peace board and Hamas political leadership on the other side of the table.
What happens if the sequencing stalemate continues? Without agreement on whether disarmament precedes withdrawal or the two proceed in parallel, both sides risk a return to full-scale combat. The administration has signaled it will continue diplomatic pressure on both parties while exploring additional back-channel contacts.