US envoy Jared Kushner said on Sunday that political considerations in Israel were complicating efforts to advance US plans for Gaza, even though Washington and Jerusalem agree on the desired outcome.
“We’re working through some political issues in Israel. I think we agree with them on the end state,” Kushner told reporters in Kyiv. “They just have a crazy election, and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards, but we’re very determined that we’re working through these things.”
Kushner also said the United States was only beginning to grasp the scale of Gaza's current militarization.
“We’re now starting to understand the scope of the militarization of Gaza,” Kushner said. “It is beyond your comprehension, and so demilitarizing it is not going to be easy.”
He said that the US had worked with Hamas for more than four months and that the terrorist organization had signed an agreement committing to demilitarization.
“You can’t go in if there are guns, right? You can’t send the government into a place,” he said.
Kushner, Witkoff arrive in Ukraine to discuss security with Zelensky
Kushner, along with US envoy Steve Witkoff, arrived in Ukraine on Sunday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and discuss security and diplomacy.
Zelensky said the talks were "very substantial," adding that they discussed security and economic guarantees for Ukraine, supplies of air-defense missiles, and a winter support package.
He also said he hoped trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia, and the US would resume soon.
On Saturday, the two Americans had also visited Moscow in order to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Reuters contributed to this report.