\n<\/p>\n
GAZA CITY: Hamas said on Tuesday it remained committed to the US-backed Gaza peace deal after White House envoy Jared Kushner spoke to Israel about steps towards the group\u2019s disarmament.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHamas is committed to this agreed-upon process. It is clear that, so far, the Israeli side has not given the mediators clear approval of the roadmap,\u201d Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are timelines and procedural steps that need to be worked out in detail, but there must first be Israeli approval of the roadmap,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kushner, President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law, held a rare meeting with Hamas on Sunday in Egypt before meeting the following day in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Kushner, in a Fox News interview after the talks, said that Hamas\u2019s disarmament could begin in about 30 days and that reconstruction of Gaza would not begin until that happens.<\/p>\n Kushner also said that the United States is \u201cnot going to restrict Israel\u2019s right to defend itself if there are any imminent threats\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas fully disarm. In his talks with Kushner, the two sides agreed that a US general would oversee the surrender of weapons, according to an Israeli official.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d implementing the deal has also told Netanyahu that Israel does not need to start withdrawing from Gaza until full disarmament, walking back an earlier call for Israel to start a phased pullout.<\/p>\n Israel has kept up airstrikes in Gaza despite the peace push.<\/p>\n The Israeli military claimed Tuesday that a strike two days earlier had killed a commander of the Islamic Jihad group.<\/p>\n Israeli operations have killed at least 1,265 Palestinians since a ceasefire came into effect on October 10, according to figures from Gaza\u2019s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.<\/p>\n The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks from Gaza operations over the same period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n