Kushner in Israel to Oversee Implementation of the Second Phase of Trump’s Plan

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The visit comes amid U.S. pressure on Tel Aviv to allow the evacuation of a large number of Palestinian fighters trapped inside a tunnel in Rafah to areas outside the control of the Israeli army.

U.S. envoy Jared Kushner arrived in Israel shortly after midnight on Sunday to discuss the implementation of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for the Gaza Strip. This marks his second visit in about three weeks, according to Israeli media.

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The private daily Haaretz reported that Kushner had arrived in Tel Aviv to “discuss the implementation of the second phase of Trump’s plan for a Gaza ceasefire.”

Earlier, Israel’s public broadcaster stated that “Washington is pressing Israel to allow about 150 fighters to exit a tunnel beneath Rafah toward areas outside Israeli military control.”

According to the broadcaster, U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to arrive in Israel on Monday. The announcement of Kushner’s arrival confirmed that the visit is part of increasing U.S. pressure on Israel to approve a “safe corridor” for dozens of Palestinian fighters trapped in Rafah’s underground tunnels.

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This initiative is reportedly part of a broader American vision to accelerate the transition toward Gaza’s reconstruction phase, as outlined in Trump’s plan.

In September, President Trump unveiled a 20-point, three-phase plan for Gaza that includes ending the war, a gradual Israeli withdrawal, mutual prisoner exchanges, immediate humanitarian aid entry, and the disarmament of Hamas.

Israel, meanwhile, has proposed an alternative solution — not to execute the fighters if they surrender but to detain and interrogate them inside Israel. This is viewed as a compromise between U.S. demands and Israeli security considerations. Washington’s response has not yet been disclosed.

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The U.S. envoys’ visit coincides with the ongoing crisis involving dozens of Hamas fighters trapped in Rafah, in an area controlled by the Israeli army beyond what is known as the “yellow line,” which separates Israeli-controlled zones from the rest of Gaza accessible to Palestinians.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, “in recent weeks, Hamas has attempted to secure the release of around 200 fighters apparently trapped in Rafah’s tunnels, but all such attempts — including those of mediators — have failed so far.”

On Tuesday, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir set the return of the remains of officer Hadar Goldin, captured by Hamas in 2014, as a condition for considering any deal regarding the trapped fighters. However, he later stated in a cabinet meeting on Thursday that “there will be no deal with those fighters.” Israel received Goldin’s body on Sunday evening; he had been killed in August 2014 in Gaza, and Hamas had held his remains since then.

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In response, Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement on Sunday holding Israel responsible for any clashes involving its fighters in Rafah, asserting that “surrender does not exist in al-Qassam’s vocabulary.”

Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, until November 9, Hamas has handed over 20 Israeli captives alive and the remains of 26 others out of 28, most of them Israelis.

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Israel claims that one of the bodies it received does not belong to any of its captives, while another is a previously returned fragment. It says it is still awaiting the return of four remaining bodies before beginning negotiations for the second phase of the agreement. Hamas maintains that retrieving them requires time due to the vast destruction caused by Israeli bombardments.

The ceasefire ended Israel’s war on Gaza, which began on October 8, 2023, and resulted in more than 69,000 Palestinian deaths and over 170,000 injuries — most of them women and children. According to United Nations estimates, Gaza’s reconstruction is expected to cost around 70 billion dollars.

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