Five Arab countries together with Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia have jointly condemned Israel’s rejection of Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza, as the US president’s special envoy meets Hamas representatives for talks.
In a joint statement, the countries including Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, said the rejection threatened Mr Trump’s intensified efforts to end war in Gaza.
On July 30, Hamas said it would hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body as part of the latest stage in a Gaza ceasefire declared by Mr Trump, who hailed their agreement as a “major milestone.”
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a tough re-election fight in October, said Israel rejected the agreement and voiced scepticism that Hamas would actually give up its weapons.
Mr Netanyahu expressed opposition to the plan even after he was assured by Gaza’s representative on Mr Trump’s Board of Peace that Israel would not need to pull troops out of the Gaza Strip until complete disarmament by Hamas.
In the joint statement, foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt said they condemned Israel’s rejection of the plan.
“Rejecting the Road Map constitutes an explicit refusal to proceed with the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, and directly threatens to derail the extensive efforts exerted by US President Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza and establish the conditions for lasting peace,” the statement said.
“They further stress that Israel bears direct and full responsibility for any consequences resulting from its continued rejection, obstruction, delay or non-compliance, including any resulting deterioration of the situation on the ground and disruption of ending the war in Gaza.”
Two weeks after Hamas publicly signed on to the latest phase of the deal, Jared Kushner, who is Mr Trump’s son-in-law and special envoy, flew to Egypt ahead of expected talks on Monday in Jerusalem.
Mr Kushner met with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye, as well as Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza high representative in Mr Trump’s “Board of Peace” set up to implement the deal, Egypt’s government said.
Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya was also in Egypt, travelling late on Saturday to the Mediterranean city of El-Alamein in his first trip since taking over the Gaza-based Islamist movement last month.
A second Hamas source said the United States had sought clarifications from the group on several points, including “genuine, rather than merely symbolic, collection, consolidation and storage of weapons, as well as Hamas’s complete relinquishment of governance of Gaza.”
Mr Kushner also met with representatives from Hamas on Sunday evening, local time.
Talks came despite Israeli forces intensifying strikes within Gaza.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its aircraft struck two Islamic Jihad and Hamas fighters in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
At least five Palestinians were injured in the strike, which hit a tent encampment, medics in the enclave said.