US envoy Kushner says Israel acting 'a little irrational' in Gaza due to elections, affirms agreement on outcomes

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and peace envoy, Jared Kushner, said on Sunday that Israel is being “a little irrational in certain regards” over the situation in Gaza.

Kushner’s remarks came during a visit to Kyiv for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia regarding the ongoing war in that region. 

“We’re working through some political issues in Israel,” Kushner said. “I think we agree with them on the end state; they just have a crazy election and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards, but we’re very determined and we’re working through these things.”  

Kushner recently visited Israel, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli leader rejected the 15-point Gaza plan proposed by the Trump administration.

Israel cited a lack of trust in Hamas' commitment to disarm, after multiple senior officials of the terror organization have rejected disarmament over the past few months. 

In announcing the rejection of the plan, Netanyahu said, “The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed. And when I say the disarming of Hamas, it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. And we are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.” 

Following the meeting with Kushner, Netanyahu reiterated that the IDF would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is disarmed.

Speaking in Kyiv, Kushner also discussed some of the difficulties involved in implementing the U.S. plan for Gaza.

“There’s a new government, a Palestinian technocratic government, that’s neither the PA nor Hamas, that’s built a plan to go forward,” Kushner said, referring to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which was founded as part of the Trump plan. 

Jared Kushner on Gaza: "We're working through some political issues in Israel. I think we agree with them on the end state. They just have a crazy election, and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards." pic.twitter.com/dnLYieLaa6

— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson_) September 6, 2026

Kushner acknowledged that Hamas’ refusal to disarm has prevented progress in implementing the plan, echoing previous statements by the Gaza Board of Peace. 

“You can’t go in if there’s guns. You can’t send a government in to a place,” Kushner added. 

He also acknowledged that Washington is only beginning to understand the extent of Hamas’ militarization of the Gaza Strip, an issue that Israel has been warning about for years. 

“By the way, we’re now starting to understand the scope of the militarization of Gaza, it is beyond your comprehension,” Kushner stated, “and so demilitarizing it is not going to be easy. We worked with Hamas for over four months; you talk about interesting people to be working with, and they signed an agreement saying they were going to demilitarize.” 

The United States has been negotiating with Hamas for over four months, Kushner said, which resulted in the terror group agreeing to hand over its weapons. 

Several right-wing parties in the coalition government have expressed support in recent days for encouraging voluntary emigration from Gaza, a proposal the U.S. government does not support.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the Jewish Power party, recently reaffirmed his intention to pursue “voluntary emigration” from Gaza, which he has been pushing for since the start of the Gaza War. 

Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir:

We are talking about our targets: 250,000 leave Gaza in the first year. It is possible.

1 million leave Gaza within three years. Within seven years, we can reach almost 1.9 million who will leave Gaza.

It is possible. It is… pic.twitter.com/P4Q1beC6cl

— Tabz (@TabzLIVE) September 3, 2026

In a recent campaign speech, Ben Gvir said that 250,000 Palestinians could be encouraged to leave the Strip within a year, with as many as 1.9 million – most of Gaza’s population – potentially leaving within three years.

Critics have described the proposal as ethnic cleansing, while the forced displacement of civilians can constitute a war crime under international law.