Kushner Admits Failed Gaza Operation Pushed Israel Towards Hamas Deal

Former Trump envoy Jared Kushner revealed in a video call from Malta that a targeted Israeli assassination attempt in Doha last September was an operational failure that led to international isolation. Kushner stated that Washington leveraged this "failure" to pressure the Israeli government into accepting a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

This admission contrasts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's earlier assertion that the operation's primary goal was to send a message and denied it was a failure. Kushner's comments were made during a visit to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following discussions in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin. The remarks come amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the Israeli government regarding the implementation of a peace plan for Gaza.

The Doha operation on September 9, 2025, involved six strikes with 12 missiles targeting Hamas leaders who were meeting to discuss a proposal from then-President Donald Trump. According to Turkish media reports based on a Hamas internal investigation, senior figures were present under strict security protocols. The attack reportedly killed Mamam al-Haya, son of Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Haya, Jihad Lubbad, and other Hamas members, while also hitting al-Haya's home and office.

Kushner indicated that this "dynamic" of U.S. influence over its ally was later translated into the Israeli government's approval of the war-ending and hostage-release deal. He and another Trump envoy, Steve Witkoff, were present when the deal was approved and later appeared at a rally for hostages. Kushner also recently met with Netanyahu for four hours to advance the peace plan, agreeing that no reconstruction in Gaza would occur without Hamas's disarmament.

During his Ukraine visit, Kushner expressed agreement with Israel on the final status of Gaza but criticized Israel's decision-making processes, attributing some of it to "crazy elections" making them "a little irrational." Kushner's acknowledgment highlights a divergence between Israel's official narrative of the Doha incident as a message-sending success and the White House's perception of it as a diplomatic leverage point.