Israel must 'find a way to help' Palestinians for integration: US envoy

JERUSALEM

Israel should help the Palestinians "thrive" if it seeks regional integration after the Gaza war is over, U.S. envoy Jared Kushner has said.

"The biggest message that we've tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better," Kushner told CBS News in an interview that aired on Oct. 19.

Regarding Kushner’s vision for the Palestinian people, and what he believes allowing them to “thrive” would look like, Kushner said that the U.S. is “focused on creating a situation for joint security and economic opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians so that they can live side by side in a durable way.”

“What you end up calling it over time, we’ll allow the Palestinians to determine that themselves,” he said, in answer to a question about a path to Palestinian statehood.

Kushner, who is also U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, helped broker landmark deals during his first term in office that saw several Arab governments normalize ties with Israel.

On Oct. 20, Kushner returned to Israel alongside Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff for a visit that is expected to see them meet with Israeli government officials.

Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing in to Gaza for aid shipments,, after it was closed briefly on Oct. 19, following the killing of two Israeli soldiers.

In response, Israel carried out dozens of strikes targeting Hamas across Gaza, accusing the militant group of carrying out "a blatant violation" of the truce.

But both sides insisted that they remained committed to the ceasefire and U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters in Washington that as far as he was concerned, it was still in effect.

Gaza's civil defense agency, meanwhile, said Israeli strikes killed at least 45 people across the territory on Oct. 19 alone.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is also expected to visit Israel, as he called on Gulf Arab countries to establish a "security infrastructure" to ensure that Hamas disarmed.