Decision on trapped Hamas fighters to be made in collaboration with US, says Israel after Kushner-Netanyahu meeting | World News

Kushner arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Netanyahu on implementing the US plan to end the Gaza war. (Photo: X/ PMO Israel)

Any decision on trapped Hamas fighters will be made in collaboration with the Trump adminration, the Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday. The statement came after Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met Israeli Prime Miner Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Hamas fighters trapped in Gaza

There are around 200 fighters in the tunnels under Rafah in the Gaza zone still controlled Israel’s military, with Hamas demanding they be allowed to depart – something Israel has so far resed.
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US envoy Steve Witkoff had last week described efforts to resolve the standoff giving the fighters safe passage back into Hamas-controlled Gaza areas in return for disarming as a test case for future steps in the wider ceasefire plan.

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches amid the ruins of destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Two Western diplomats told the Associated Press that Israel was reluctant to allow any safe passage either to elsewhere in Gaza or to Egypt.

will not surrender: Hamas

A Hamas official told AP that talks on the issue were continuing. Hamas was keen to resolve the dispute and “remove any pretext Israel could use to undermine the ceasefire agreement”, he said, but added that Hamas rejected the fighters surrendering.

Another Palestinian source told AP that mediators had stepped up their efforts to resolve the dispute, believing any armed attempt to force their surrender could risk the entire ceasefire.

Hamas gunman stand in guard as ICRC vehicles transporting released Israeli hostages head toward the Israeli border in Khan Younis. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

One month of Gaza ceasefire

According to the spokesperson, the two discussed disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza, and ensuring Hamas has no role in Gaza ever again.

Kushner arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Netanyahu on implementing the US plan to end the Gaza war. Monday’s meeting comes a month after the US-brokered peace deal came into effect after two years of devastating war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.