Sir Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held an unexpected meeting with senior Hamas figures ahead of high-stakes talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at rescuing the Gaza peace deal.
The former British prime minister and the US envoy met Hamas representatives in Egypt for discussions focused on disarmament, a central obstacle in negotiations. Israel continues to control large parts of Gaza and has said it will not withdraw its forces until Hamas gives up its weapons.
Progress has stalled since a peace agreement was reached in October to bring an end to the Gaza war and set the stage for the territory’s reconstruction.
On Sunday, Sir Tony, who sits on the executive board of the Board of Peace established to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, joined Mr Kushner in Cairo for a two-hour meeting with Hamas leaders. The group is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, UK and several other governments. During the talks, the pair pressed Hamas to surrender its arsenal.
Today, Blair and Kushner met Netanyahu for an hour, just days after the Israeli leader rejected a 15-point, US-backed roadmap designed to advance the ceasefire agreement.
Following the meeting, an Israeli official said the parties had agreed that an American general should oversee the disarmament of Hamas, adding that Israeli troops would remain in place until that process was completed.
The two sides “agreed that the first step toward the demilitarisation would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general,” the Israeli official said.
Jared Kushner (second from left), the US Special Envoy for Peace, met Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday
Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair attending the inaugural Board of Peace meeting at the US Institute of Peace in Washington in February 2026
Hamas senior official Khalil al-Hayya pictured at a news conference in Damascus, Syria, in October 2022
Hamas says it has agreed to the roadmap, which includes disarmament, and the group is urging mediators and the US-created Board of Peace to ‘compel’ Israel to sign up to it. But Israel, which under the roadmap must gradually withdraw from Gaza, says Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal.
The new leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, emerged as a pivotal figure in the militant group during the Gaza war as Israel assassinated its other leaders.
He served as part of a five-member council that ran the group from 2024 after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar – one of the masterminds of the October 7, 2023, attacks that ignited the Gaza war.
Hayya was named Hamas’ overall leader in July, having narrowly escaped assassination himself in a 2025 Israeli airstrike in Qatar that killed his son and aides.
Sunday’s historic Cairo meeting marked Hayya’s second meeting with Mr Kushner, having met in October 2025 with US envoy Steve Witkoff helping to clinch a deal that led to a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages.
The meetings have marked a departure from Washington’s longstanding policy of shunning Hamas.
The focus of the meeting was to get Hamas to agree to disarm the terrorist group as part of the next point of the US peace plan
When he was Prime Minister, Sir Tony’s meetings with the leadership of the IRA eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement after 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
There is a lot at stake in Gaza, including the lives of some two million Palestinians, reconstruction of the war-demolished enclave and future control over it.
Several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a statement on Sunday condemning Israel’s rejection of the roadmap, saying, ‘Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza’. Other signers included Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the ceasefire mediators.
The foreign ministers’ statement called on the Board of Peace and the US to take ‘immediate and concrete measures’ to keep any party from obstructing the plan’s implementation. Israel had no immediate response.
Last week, Israel rejected Trump’s 15-point plan for peace, which also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw and for Gaza to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
The rejection came after the president’s Board of Peace said it had reached an agreement for the ‘complete disarmament’ of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza last month.
