Jared Kushner, a central figure in the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement, has declared that Hamas is acting in good faith and is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the deal. Kushner made these remarks during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, where he stated that the militant group appears to be diligently working to return Israeli hostages.
However, Israel has accused Hamas of failing to deliver all the deceased hostages, claiming the group is deliberately slowing the exchange process. Hamas has responded by stating it is unable to locate the missing bodies due to the extensive destruction in Gaza caused by Israeli operations. The situation remains tense as both sides face pressure to uphold the ceasefire agreement, with Washington working to mediate and prevent further escalation.
Kushner and another key figure in the mediation process, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, arrived in Israel on Monday to discuss the next phase of the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Washington has been actively working to speed up the exchange and “push both sides to be proactive… instead of blaming each other for breakdowns,” Kushner stated.
On Sunday, Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, carrying out multiple airstrikes on what it called “terror targets” and killing more than 40 people across Gaza, according to local health authorities. Hamas denied violating the ceasefire, while media reports indicated the Rafah incident was caused by an Israeli engineering vehicle hitting an unexploded munition. Following the strikes, Israel said it returned to “enforcing the ceasefire” in the Palestinian enclave.
On Monday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the truce to be broken, arguing that the return of all the surviving hostages was enough. “Now we need to go back to war, we need to take action against [Hamas] immediately,” the minister said in a televised speech.