JERUSALEM (VINnews) U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with Hamas political leaders on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet with Israel’s prime minister on Monday.

The talks aim to salvage the new 15-point, U.S.-backed road map for Hamas to disarm in Gaza and Israel to withdraw from the region after three years of almost constant warfare.

A meeting between Kushner, fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders in Egypt last year helped clinch the ceasefire, whose progress until now had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas’ disarmament.

The rare meeting in Egypt with Hamas’ Khalil al-Hayya was confirmed by a regional official and a Hamas official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Kushner was one of a trio of envoys meeting with al-Hayya, with officials from mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey also present there.

Kushner was sharply criticized for the meeting with Hamas by Israeli political analyst  Zvi Yechezkeli.

According to Yehezkeli, the i24NEWS’ Arab affairs analyst, the very fact that the meeting took place represents a significant achievement for the terrorist organization.

“The meeting itself is a victory for Hamas. It grants the organization legitimacy and recognition for the day after the war,” he said.

Yehezkeli argued that the meeting contradicts the objectives Israel set at the outset of the war. “Nearly three years after the war began, whose declared goal was to eliminate Hamas both militarily and politically, such a meeting is truly a slap in Israel’s face,” he stated.

He urged Israel not to allow the meeting to influence its policy toward Hamas. “Israel must act as though this meeting never happened and continue fighting Hamas, both as a military force and as a political entity,” he said.

At the conclusion of the discussion, program host Miri Michaeli also addressed the meeting, saying: “I wonder whether Kushner would have been willing to meet with Hitler.”