Hamas leader heads to Cairo for Gaza talks ahead of Kushner visit

Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo amid ongoing Gaza tensions.

Hamas political leader and chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya is travelling to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, according to Hamas sources, ahead of a planned Middle East visit by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Jared Kushner.

In his first visit to the country since taking over Hamas’s leadership in late July, al-Hayya is expected to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad on Sunday morning, Hamas sources told the AFP and Anadolu news agencies.

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Next week, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will travel to Israel and Egypt in an effort to narrow differences over a Gaza plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.

Kushner is set to be accompanied by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza.

Former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov (third from left) and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (third from right) attend Trump’s Board of Peace presentation in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, 2026 [Chip Somodevilla/Getty]

The trip follows Netanyahu’s public dismissal of a 15-point plan under which Hamas had agreed to hand its weapons to a new Palestinian governing committee.

“We continue to await pressure from the mediators and the US side on Netanyahu and his government to compel him to abide by the roadmap,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim told AFP on Friday.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks have continued in Gaza.

On Saturday, Israeli fire killed two Palestinians and wounded 14 others after the military carried out air strikes, artillery shelling and demolitions in different parts of the strip, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.

More than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect in October last year, according to Palestinian official sources, with the overall death toll since October 2023 exceeding 73,300.

Netanyahu formally rejected the Board of Peace plan last Sunday, saying Israeli forces “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed”.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said this week that troops would also remain in occupied “security zones” in Lebanon and Syria, declaring there will be a continued Israeli military presence across all three fronts.