Trapped Hamas fighters issue bedevils Gaza truce progress

US envoy Kushner and Netanyahu discuss ceasefire next steps; around 200 Hamas fighters trapped in tunnels in Israel-controlled Gaza; soldier's body returned to Israel on Sunday

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A Palestinian family sits around a fire amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 7.

(AFP)

US mediators met Israel's prime minister on Monday with attention turning to the second, far more complex, phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal and the immediate problem of a standoff over a group of Hamas fighters still holed up in tunnels.

The meeting between US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes a month after Washington and regional states pressed Israel and Hamas to a truce after two years of devastating war.

However, any progress in Trump's ceasefire plan will not only require both sides to agree on issues that have foiled previous peacemaking efforts, but also to resolve the immediate stalemate over the trapped Hamas fighters.

Israel's government spokesperson said Netanyahu and Kushner had discussed disarming Hamas, demilitarising Gaza and ensuring the group would never again have a governing role in the enclave - all issues to be resolved in the next phase of truce talks.