JERUSALEM: US envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday as Washington pressed efforts to ensure the fragile Gaza ceasefire holds.
The truce, in effect since October 10, has largely halted the war that erupted after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
As part of its first stage, a series of prisoner and hostage exchanges have taken place in recent weeks.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed his meeting with Kushner but did not provide further details.
Israeli media said his visit coincided with ongoing US efforts to stabilize the truce and lay groundwork for its next phase.
The second stage of the truce aims to tackle some of the most sensitive issues: Hamas’s disarmament, Gaza reconstruction, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Hamas has repeatedly insisted that giving up its weapons is a red line.
Plans also include deploying an “international stabilization force” coordinated by US troops to maintain security across the territory.
Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye are potential participants, but the United Arab Emirates has indicated it is unlikely to join without a clear operational framework.
“Under such circumstances, the UAE will probably not participate in such a force,” Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate Forum on Monday.
Since the truce began, Hamas has returned all 20 living hostages and the remains of 24 captives, including 21 Israelis.
Four bodies of hostages killed in the October 2023 attack remain in Gaza.
‘We still do not feel safe’
In exchange, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 prisoners and returned 315 bodies of Palestinian captives.
The latest of those were the remains of 15 Palestinians handed over by Israel on Monday after Hamas a day earlier returned the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
Goldin, killed while attempting to destroy Hamas tunnels near Rafah, had been missing for 11 years.
“Time has stood still. It still feels like he just left and is already coming back,” his sister Ayelet Goldin said in a statement on Monday.
“How do you process fighting for a brother who’s gone? How do you fight for a soldier who went into battle, fighting to bring him home, when in reality he’ll return in a casket? How are you supposed to feel? I still don’t know,” she said.
Despite the progress in hostage returns, Gazans remain anxious about their future.
“We still do not feel safe. Shooting continues ... we try to protect our children from psychological trauma and to help them forget the war and its effects,” said Salma Abu Shawish, 40, a resident of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
“Life in Gaza is hard. We still lack food, and many families remain homeless. We only wish this nightmare would stop and never return.”
Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it killed two militants who approached the so-called “Yellow Line,” the boundary beyond which Israeli forces hold their positions in Gaza.
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