President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has once again stepped into the geopolitical arena, landing in Egypt alongside White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The presence of Kushner — who has largely stayed out of Trump’s White House during the president’s second term and holds no official role in the administration after previously serving as a senior advisor to Trump — signifies that the U.S. is “serious” about securing a deal between Hamas and Israel, bringing an end to the two-year war and returning all 48 hostages.
A White House official told Fox News Digital that Kushner, a “major architect of the Abraham Accords,” is an “extremely trusted voice on Middle East policy” and has been in contact with Witkoff throughout the Israel-Hamas negotiations over the last year.
The official said the White House is “grateful” for his expertise as it attempts to secure a deal and end the war this week, and remains “cautiously optimistic” that an agreement will be reached.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin talks to President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Shortly after, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the terms before Trump began pushing Hamas to respond.
Hamas appeared to accept the majority of the proposal over the weekend, though it flagged issues with certain elements of the 20-point blueprint, including the swift return of all the hostages, particularly the deceased hostages, some of whom it says are buried under rubble and, therefore, cannot be quickly retrieved.
Reports also suggested Hamas took issue with the call for it to completely disarm and flagged distrust that Israel would hold up its end of the bargain by ending its military ambitions in the Gaza Strip once all the hostages are returned.
Security experts have told Fox News Digital that Trump, after months of backing Israel’s aggressive military strategy in the Gaza Strip, is in a unique position to squeeze Netanyahu and force both sides to the negotiating table.
Smoke rises from Gaza City following intense Israeli military attacks on Oct. 5, 2025. (Khames Alrefi/Getty Images)
“It’s absolutely imperative for Israel’s long-term security and, frankly, for Netanyahu’s political future to keep the U.S. and Trump on side,” John Hannah, security expert and Randi & Charles Wax senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told Fox News Digital. “A flat-out rejection and confrontation with the United States would have been disastrous for Netanyahu as well as for Israel.”
Netanyahu is facing a precarious political front at home with immense frustration by the public over his failure to return the hostages, but also within his own coalition, which sees his negotiating with Hamas as a concession and collapse of his previous stated security aims.
