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President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff — the pair largely responsible for Trump’s Israel-Hamas peace deal — provided rare insight into how the administration is trying to disarm the terror group and reestablish secure leadership in war-torn Gaza.
Kushner and Witkoff explained how they brokered the 20-point deal and what the next steps are on the Sunday episode of “60 Minutes” ahead of their trip to Israel on Monday.
Kushner warned that they expect Hamas to “try to reconstitute and take back their positions” within the power vacuum.
“The success or failure of this will be if Israel and this international mechanism is able to create a viable alternative. If they are successful, Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future,” Kushner said.
In recent days, Hamas has fired on Israeli troops in Rafah, breaking the cease-fire agreement, according to Israel and carried out gruesome public executions of Palestinians as the power-hungry group desperately tries to maintain control of Gaza.
Hamas leaders have also refused to commit to shedding its weapons — a contenious move thay threatens the success of the peace deal.
To convice the terror group to surrender their guns and other means of destruction, Witkoff said they will be arranging a “weapons buy-back program.”
The goal is to prevent Hamas from forcefully retaking authority of the Palestinian enclave.
Kushner revealed that they’ve started “putting out feelers” to try and organize an interim governing body in Gaza that would report to the Trump-chaired “Board of Peace” — which hasn’t been formed yet.
The committee would also include “qualified Palestinians and international experts,” according to the deal.
Kushner said it’s still “too early to tell” if there’s potential for a democracy in Gaza and that their only real order of priority is to “make it functional” during the shaky reconstruction period.
Kushner and Witkoff assured that everything they and the “Board of Peace” do will be “transparent” in order to inspire trust between all parties.
“You can’t replace a corrupt government with another corrupt government. The reason why — again, and this is an impossible thing to do, but Steve and I and President Trump are always aiming to try and accomplish impossible but rational things. So the goal here is to set up a transparent, good government. This can be very, very difficult to do, but we’re in the very early phases of trying to accomplish that,” Kushner said.
The Gaza Strip was decimated by Israeli bombardment, with tens of thousands of Palestinians slaughtered and most buildings leveled. Witkoff estimated that the reconstruction alone could cost upwards of $50 billion — with financial support coming from Middle Eastern and European governments.
“You’ll see European participation and so forth. I think the beginning of this plan is how to get it going. And that’s what me and Jared work on all the time. The money raising, we think is the easy part. We think that happens relatively quickly. But it’s the master plan, and we’re working with a group of people who have been working on master plans for the last two years,” Witkoff explained.
Other parts of the peace plan are already in motion, including the release of Israeli hostages — with the surviviors freed and the remains of the dead slowly being returned to their loves ones.
Still, Hamas’ recent activities, including a viral execution of Palestinians it accused of working with Israel, are raising doubts about how long both sides will abide by the cease-fire.
Israel paused aid and launched a wave of deadly strikes on Sunday, mere hours before the interview aired. The Israeli military claimed it was in retaliation for fatal attacks by Hamas on IDF soldiers over the weekend, but assured that air aid would continue on Monday.
The US State Department warned that Hamas was planning an attack “against Palestinian civilians” – and Trump promised “to go in and kill” members of the terrorist organization if any lives are taken.
Witkoff said that it is “highly unlikely” that American troops will be sent to disarm Hamas. Kusher added a flat-out “no” seconds after stuttering that sending the military in was “not the intent, but–” before cutting himself off.
Officials assured that appropriate measures would “be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the cease-fire” if any attack takes place.
English (US)