U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East team arrived in Egypt on Thursday as part of a regional tour to discuss a blueprint for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, before their expected visit to Israel on Friday.
Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo, the White House said in a statement.
The meeting in Cairo touched on "the need to facilitate humanitarian relief to Gaza," the statement said.
The visit was part of efforts to overcome the towering obstacles in the way of the peace agreement the team is in charge of drafting. The blockaded and densely populated Gaza Strip, ruled by the Hamas terrorist group, is mired in a deep humanitarian crisis, particularly after the recent rise in violence amid weekly protests at the border with Israel.
Greenblatt on Thursday tweeted in Hebrew and in Arabic against Hamas and its aggression toward Israel.
In Hebrew, he wrote: "Hamas continues to hurt the Palestinian population in Gaza – flaming kites and balloons, mortar shells and missile strikes against Israelis. How can the international community help when the murderous Hamas leaders continue wasting Gaza's resources?"
He continued, "The people of Gaza deserve better. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which have been fighting one another for more than a decade, cynically claim the U.S. is trying to divide Gaza and the West Bank instead of admitting that we are trying to help the Palestinians in Gaza. What hypocrisy."
On Sunday, Palestinian officials told Israel Hayom that officials in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, as well as top officials in the Palestinian Authority itself, are pressuring PA President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with the American envoys during their regional visit.
Kushner has been leading efforts to broker a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians. However, a source familiar with the issue told Israel Hayom that the White House said last week it was unlikely to present its Middle East peace plan before August. Israeli officials confirmed they had no information on an earlier rollout of a peace plan.
The Trump team met Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Wednesday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who acknowledged the talks only afterward.
Later on Thursday, the team traveled to Qatar and met with its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the White House said. They discussed increasing cooperation between the two countries, ways to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza and possible avenues for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Thursday's meeting in Cairo also dealt with increasing Egyptian-American cooperation, the White House said, without elaborating.
Egypt's presidency released a statement after the meeting saying it mainly discussed the Palestinian-Israeli peace efforts and cooperation. It said the meeting was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the acting head of general intelligence Abbas Kamel.
The United States gives Egypt some $1.3 billion in annual military assistance and hundreds of millions more in civilian aid that is linked to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and underpins a U.S.-Egyptian security relationship that is now mostly aimed at fighting terrorism.
Jordan's King Abdullah will visit Washington next week, the White House said on Thursday.
In a statement, Trump's office said that King Abdullah and Queen Rania will visit on Monday to discuss "terrorism, the threat from Iran and the crisis in Syria, and working towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Abdullah in Amman to discuss ways to advance regional peace.
