The president’s comments come as Jared Kushner meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected Trump’s plan for disarming Hamas.

Updated on: Aug 17, 2026, 19:33:10 IST

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TEL AVIV—President Trump said Israel shouldn’t be striking targets in Gaza, as his envoy Jared Kushner met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to salvage the president’s floundering plan to disarm Hamas and end the war.

In a rare public break between the close allies, Netanyahu last week rejected Trump’s plan for a phased disarmament by Hamas and after a brief pause resumed near-daily strikes against Palestinian militants in the enclave, including some that Israel says took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and hostage taking.

Trump told Fox News on Monday that Israel shouldn’t be carrying out those attacks, because he said Hamas has agreed to lay down its weapons.

“Ultimately, they are giving up their guns,” Trump said, according to Fox chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

Netanyahu’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Trump announced in late July that Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, had agreed to a 15-point road map that would ultimately lead to Hamas surrendering its weapons to Palestinian authorities in exchange for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.

But the two foes disagree over which side must go first. Israel has refused to pull back until Hamas has been disarmed.

The visit by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, signaled the president’s growing frustration over the stagnating plan, which his administration has touted as a diplomatic success while it struggles to wind down its war with Iran.

Kushner met Sunday with Hamas officials for direct talks in the Egyptian city of El Alamein, people familiar with the talks said. Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya was present for some of the meetings, the people said.

Kushner pressed Hamas to take the first concrete steps toward transferring authority to a new civilian body and decommissioning its weapons to push forward the plan, the people said. He assured the group Israel would follow suit, they said.

Trump’s peace plan for Gaza began with a ceasefire in October that stopped the heaviest fighting and successfully swapped the remaining hostages held in the enclave for nearly 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Progress then stalled as Hamas refused to disarm and Israel continued to carry out attacks in the enclave, leaving some 2 million Gazans in limbo. Most of the population has been displaced, and many are living in squalid tent camps or bombed out buildings where they are reliant on humanitarian aid.

Trump’s latest plan was designed to jump-start the disarmament process so power could be transferred to a new Palestinian civilian governing body and reconstruction could begin.

Netanyahu and many across the Israeli political spectrum are resolved that Hamas must be destroyed as a fighting and governing force before the war can end. The pressure is heightened by elections looming in October where polls show the prime minister’s party is losing support.

Israel briefly paused attacks in Gaza in early August after talks between Israeli officials and Nickolay Mladenov, the chief Gaza envoy for the Board of Peace. But they have since picked up the pace.

Mladenov and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is also a top Board of Peace official, joined the delegation led by Kushner, one of the people familiar with the talks said.

Write to Feliz Solomon at feliz.solomon@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com

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