Kushner, Mladenov and Blair to Visit Israel and Egypt for Gaza Talks After Netanyahu's Plan Rejection

Board of Peace envoys announced August 14, 2026 that Jared Kushner, Director General Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member Tony Blair will travel to Israel and then Cairo the following week to press forward on the US-backed Gaza roadmap, after Prime Minister Netanyahu's August 9 rejection of the plan's disarmament-for-withdrawal terms. A Board of Peace official said the delegation will "hear the concerns that have been raised and talk about next steps." In Israel, the group is expected to meet Netanyahu and senior officials to address opposition to provisions requiring simultaneous Hamas disarmament and IDF withdrawal; in Cairo they will meet Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators working with the Palestinian technocratic committee slated to administer Gaza. The trip comes amid continued reports of ceasefire violations, with at least 1,260 Palestinians killed and 4,150+ wounded since the October 2025 truce took effect, and a surge in settler violence in the West Bank.