Peace Council and Israel agree to form two committees on Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US-backed Peace Council agreed on Monday to form two working groups focused on disarmament and demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.
The agreement was reached during a meeting in Israel between Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Peace Council Director Nickolay Mladenov, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“The Prime Minister and the Peace Council held in-depth and constructive discussions. It was agreed to form two working groups,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement posted on X.
The first group, it added, will focus on “disarmament and demilitarisation of Gaza,” in which both Israel and the Peace Council are determined that it be “carried out immediately and completed before any reconstruction takes place in Gaza.”
The second working group will focus on “sanitation, clean water, and other public health issues for the residents of Gaza” that also affect residents in Israel, according to the statement.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was also present at the meeting, according to a report by The Times of Israel citing unnamed sources.
Kushner said the nearly four-hour meeting with Netanyahu went “very, very well” and said they discussed a number of misunderstandings regarding the peace roadmap.
“I think there were some valid concerns that they raised and that they managed to address,” Kushner told Fox News.
He stressed that the US will not allow reconstruction to proceed before demilitarisation of the territory is completed.
Kushner explained that the US will not restrict “Israel’s right to self-defence” against imminent threats. He estimated that progress in weapons removal and tunnel filling could begin within as little as 30 days, while more significant developments are expected within the following 60 to 90 days.
He described the agreement as a “win-win” situation, saying that if Hamas fulfils its commitments, “a very significant security threat” will be removed. However, if Hamas does not, Israel will gain “more support from the US and other parties to complete the task.”
The talks took place after Kushner visited the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Sunday together with Mladenov and Blair. They discussed the same issues with Hamas officials.
Regarding his meeting with Hamas officials, Kushner said that although the group “said all the right things”, it remains difficult to trust an organisation that committed “horrific atrocities”.
He said the US administration will give the resistance group an opportunity to prove its commitment based on the “actions and steps” they take.
In October 2023, the Israeli military began a deadly assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 174,000 others.
Although a ceasefire has remained in effect since October 2025 as part of the first phase of the Trump-initiated Gaza peace plan, Israel has continued to attack the Palestinian territory, killing at least 1,260 people and wounding more than 4,100 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The second phase of Trump’s plan includes transferring governance of Gaza to a Palestinian technocratic committee, deploying international stabilisation forces, and placing weapons under international supervision.
Meanwhile, Israel is expected to carry out a gradual withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip so that reconstruction efforts can begin.