The US is lobbying foreign governments not to attend a UN conference next week sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The cable, sent to countries on Tuesday, warns them against taking "anti-Israel actions" and says attending the conference would be viewed by Washington as acting against US foreign policy interests (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The diplomatic demarche, sent on Tuesday, says countries that take "anti-Israel actions" following the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences from Washington (Read more at Bundle).
The US State Department declined to comment Tuesday on remarks by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee that the US is no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state. "I'm not going to characterize the ambassador's remarks. I'm not going to explain them or really comment on them at all. I think he certainly speaks for himself," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. Asked whether Huckabee was speaking on his own or if his remarks represented a change in the Trump administration’s policy, Bruce suggested that the reporter ask the White House (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The US on Tuesday sanctioned five individuals and five charities that it said were providing financial support to Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, in addition to one charity it said was supporting the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (PLFP). “Today’s action underscores the importance of safeguarding the charitable sector from abuse by terrorists like Hamas and the PFLP, who continue to leverage sham charities as fronts for funding their terrorist and military operations,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said in a statement (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Alexander’s release paved the way for the subsequent talks. But soon after the preliminary ceasefire deal was struck, Witkoff changed course and came up with a modified plan that was accepted by the Israelis, thus tossing the ball back into Hamas’s court. Clearly, Witkoff could not persuade the Israelis to accept what had been agreed with Hamas in Doha, instead adopting as his own Israel’s counterproposal - which, to Hamas, seemed nothing short of capitulation. The Israelis and their US backers might have concluded that after many months of war, Hamas had been severely battered and was too weak to reject the proposal. This is not the first time they’ve been proven wrong (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Trump did not elaborate and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for details of Iran’s involvement. The United States has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas (Read more at Dawn).
The former Arkansas governor chosen by Donald Trump as his envoy to Israel went further by suggesting that any future Palestinian entity could be carved out of “a Muslim country” rather than requiring Israel to cede territory. “Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there’s no room for it,” Huckabee was quoted as saying. Those probably won’t happen “in our lifetime”, he said (Read more at Guaridan).
A senior U.S. official told Axios the president sees both crisis as intertwined and part of a broader regional reality he is trying to shape. The meeting on Iran and Gaza was attended by Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, chief of staff Susie Wiles, special envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA director John Ratcliffe and other senior officials. Trump said Monday that "generals and admirals" also attended the meetings but declined to say what was discussed (Read more at Axios).
If the U.S. goes ahead with this massive funding, it will become the biggest donor to the foundation and will de facto "own" the operation. While such a move will increase the U.S. credibility in asking other countries to donate money to the foundation, it would also draw the U.S. deeper into active involvement in the Gaza war and make it more responsible for the humanitarian situation in the enclave (Read more at Axios).
The foundation began distributing aid last week as Gaza’s 2.3 million people face widespread hunger, with many having been displaced by the conflict. But its operations, which circumvent traditional humanitarian agencies, have drawn criticism from the UN and major aid groups, which say it does not obey humanitarian principles (Read more at The National).
The head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, said in a pre-recorded speech on Thursday the group had not rejected the latest US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel but demanded changes that would secure the end of the war on the enclave (Read more at The Dawn).
The US State Department announced sanctions on Thursday against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), targeting them over investigations involving the United States and its ally Israel. The sanctioned judges are: ICC Second Vice-President Reine Alapini-Gansou (Benin), Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda), Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza (Peru) and Beti Hohler (Slovenia). Alapini-Gansou and Hohler were targeted for their role as Pre-Trial judges in issuing arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The charges involve alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said only two sites in southern Gaza’s Rafah area would operate Thursday, after all sites were closed the day before for maintenance. GHF had opened three sites earlier in the week, and one of Thursday’s sites was in a new location, it said (Read more at NBC News).
The text, co-sponsored by Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia – collectively known as the E-10 – received 14 votes in favour, with the US casting the lone vote against (Read more at UN News).
Leavitt launched her attack on the BBC after being asked about reports that Israeli forces opened fire near a food distribution centre in Rafah. Brandishing a print-out of images taken from the BBC’s website, she accused the corporation of having to “correct and take down” its story about the fatalities and injuries involved in the attack. The BBC has defended its reporting on the war in Gaza and accused the White House of misrepresenting its journalism after Donald Trump’s administration criticised its coverage of a fatal attack near a US-backed food distribution site (Read more at Guardian).
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Tuesday named as its executive chairman an American evangelical Christian leader who has publicly backed President Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to take over the Palestinian enclave (Read more at Arabnews).
The GHF said it has asked the Israeli military to "guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks" near military perimeters; develop clearer guidance for civilians; and enhance training to support civilian safety. Hospital officials have said more than 80 people were shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points in a three-day period from Sunday, including at least 27 killed on Tuesday. Locals say Israeli soldiers opened fire on the crowds, who gather before dawn to seek food. The military has denied this, but acknowledged on Tuesday that soldiers had fired at "suspects" who had ignored warning shots and were approaching their lines (Read more at CBC).
"The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post," the newspaper said. "The Post didn't give proper weight to Israel's denial and gave improper certitude about what was known about any Israeli role in the shootings," it added. An archived version of the article indicates that an Israeli military statement about being "currently unaware of injuries caused by" the army was included in the second paragraph (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The race on Saturday was organised by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) USA at Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC. People of all ages and walks of life took part in the five-kilometre run, with supporters coming from Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. (Read more at Middle East Eye)
A Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said proposed amendments focused on “the U.S. guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.” There were no details. A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid. It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released ” in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.” Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead. Witkoff on social media instead described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died. He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week (Read more at AP).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Israel “backed and supported” the new proposal. Hamas officials gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer. “The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine,” Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, told The Associated Press. He said it “does not respond to any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine.” (Read more at AP)
The document, which says the plan is guaranteed by US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement. The aid will be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels (Read more at Dawn).
By late afternoon on Tuesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had distributed about 8,000 food boxes, equivalent to about 462,000 meals, after an almost three-month-old Israeli blockade of the war-devastated enclave (Read more at MSN).
Chaos at aid distribution sites in southern Gaza. The UN has distanced itself from the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that's backed by the US and Israel. What’s behind this move to establish a separate aid mechanism? And what needs to change to help desperate Palestinians? (Listen here).
Witkoff sounded an optimistic note speaking at the White House on Wednesday, saying, “I have some very good feelings about getting to… a temporary ceasefire and a long-term, peaceful resolution of that conflict.” US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a new ceasefire proposal from Witkoff, but added that Hamas had not yet accepted (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The White House is optimistic a new proposal from Trump envoy Steve Witkoff could help bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas and produce a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza soon. President Trump has made clear he wants to end a war that has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and more than 1,600 Israelis. Over the past two weeks, Witkoff has been negotiating with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his top adviser Ron Dermer, and with Hamas leaders in Doha through Palestinian-American businessman Bishara Bahbah (Read more at Axios).
The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Washington says operates independently, stated that “misinformation” had circulated about its operations on Tuesday and that it delivered supplies on Wednesday “without incident.” “Across the two sites, approximately 14,550 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 840,262 meals” (Read more at JNS).
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had faced criticism from aid groups even before this week’s chaotic rollout. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had said it would securely provide food supplies to the Gaza Strip, ending an Israeli blockade that UN officials say have led to the brink of a famine. Instead, early reports and leaked video of its operations that began this week have depicted a scene of chaos, with crowds storming a distribution site and Israeli military officials confirming they had fired “warning shots” to restore order. Gaza health officials said at least one civilian had been killed and 48 injured in the incident (Read more at Guardian).
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is taking over the handling of desperately needed aid under a new, U.S. and Israeli-backed system despite concerns raised about the group from the United Nations and the recent resignation of its executive director (Read more at AP).
"We want to see if we can stop that. And Israel, we've been talking to them, and we want to see if we can stop that whole situation as quickly as possible," he said. Many of Israel's international allies, aside from Trump, have already broken publicly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his decision to expand the Gaza operation, suspend humanitarian aid, and oppose a long-term ceasefire. Trump has so far declined to publicly pressure Netanyahu (Read more at Axios).
The move comes after a Swiss NGO submitted a request for a probe into GHF's aid plan, which the United Nations has opposed, saying it is not impartial or neutral and forces further displacement and exposes thousands of people (Read more at WAFA).
Negotiations have shown little progress. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces are proceeding with an operation to displace all 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to a "humanitarian zone" and flatten most of the enclave (Read more at Axios).
The United Nations says the U.S.-backed distribution plan does not meet its long-held principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence. U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher has said time should not be wasted on the alternative proposal (Read more at AOL)
He is upset by images of suffering of Palestinian children, and has told his aides to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he wants him to wrap it up, two White House officials said (Read more at Axios).
The firm, Safe Reach Solutions, or SRS, says it is actively looking for “Humanitarian Liaison Officers” who will “serve as vital connectors between our operational teams and the broader humanitarian community,” according to one job description (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Palestinian Lebanese film student, Maya Abdullah, 23, ended up in hospital on 18 May after she fainted on the ninth day of her hunger strike, while seeking to pressure her university to divest from Israel. Hunger strikes in solidarity with Gaza are spreading across US campuses as Palestinians face a humanitarian catastrophe (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“If Hamas wants to come forward and make a legitimate offer they’re willing to stand by and release hostages, we’re always open to that,” the U.S. hostage affairs envoy said. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) had stated unequivocally that “we have to completely destroy Hamas” at a conference at the Pierre hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Monday. But on his way out, he was intercepted by relatives of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old Israeli hostage held captive by Hamas in Gaza, and his comments grew more nuanced. Many families of the hostages and other Israelis are calling for an immediate deal to free the remaining captives in the Gaza Strip, even if Hamas retains power for the time being (Read more at JNS).
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the Israeli government for letting just nine aid trucks into Gaza. The “trickle of aid” will “do nothing to relieve the threat of famine” for “two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza”, CAIR said in a statement (Read more at Aljazeera).
The Trump administration is trying to stave off a massive Israeli operation in Gaza, release more hostages, and allow aid into Gaza to prevent starvation and a humanitarian catastrophe. Now, White House envoy Steve Witkoff has given Israel and Hamas an updated proposal for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal and is pressing the parties to accept it (Read more at Axios)
After a joint US-Israel plan to deliver aid into Gaza drew heavy criticism, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday invited alternative suggestions while stressing that the US was troubled by the humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave. "We are for all the aid we can get without Hamas being able to steal it from people" Rubio said (Read more at France 24)
Congresswoman says measure aims to recognise forced displacement of Palestinians during the establishment of the Israeli state. “The Nakba is well-documented and continues to play out today,” Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, wrote on Twitter. “We must acknowledge that the humanity of Palestinians is being denied when folks refuse to acknowledge the war crimes and human rights violations in apartheid Israel.” The Democratic congresswoman said the resolution is cosponsored by her fellow progressives Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Read more at Aljazeera).
Eight anti-Israel protesters were busted during a wild march late Thursday – and cops are still hunting a ski mask-wearing agitator who bashed an NYPD cop in the face with a metal barricade, police said (Read more at AOL).
The President says the US will ‘take care of’ the situation in Gaza on the final day of the Persian Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi. Israeli officials have consistently denied that the tight blockade imposed on the devastated territory more than 10 weeks ago has caused hunger, and Trump’s comments will be seen as further evidence of tensions between Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s closest ally (Read more at Guardian).
United Nations: The United Nations said on Thursday it will not take part in a US-backed humanitarian operation in Gaza because it is not impartial, neutral or independent, while Israel pledged to facilitate the effort without being involved in aid deliveries (Read more at deccanherald).
"Gaza has been a territory of death and destruction for many years," Trump said. "I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good — make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone." (Read more at NPR)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized “the deep U.S. commitment to its historic relationship with Israel and the ironclad U.S. support for Israeli security” in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, according to Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman (Read more at JNS).
A U.S.-backed humanitarian organization will start work in Gaza by the end of May under a heavily-criticized aid distribution plan, but has asked Israel to let the United Nations and others resume deliveries to Palestinians now until it is set up. No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation - a quarter of the population in the enclave where Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have been at war since October 2023 (Read more at MSN).
One of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream said that he could not call himself an American without putting his “body on the line” after he was arrested during a Senate health committee hearing for protesting against US support for Israel’s war on Gaza (Read more at Middle East Eye).
A Virginia court issued an injunction for a nonprofit group advocating for Palestine to turn over financial documents as part of an investigation by the state’s attorney general (AG) into whether they have provided material support to "terrorist" organisations (Read more at Middle East Eye).
US Special Envoy Adam Boehler and Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, met families of hostages for almost two hours in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Of the 58 hostages held in Gaza, about 20 are said to be alive. US officials told families of hostages still held in Gaza they see a better chance of a deal for their release after Washington reached an accord with militant group Hamas for an American hostage that largely bypassed the Israeli government (Read more at MSN).
The backchannel talks that led to the release of Edan Alexander began with a message from a Hamas official to Bishara Bahbah, the former leader of "Arab Americans for Trump," (Read more at Axios).
The group confirmed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards securing a ceasefire in the war-ravaged enclave and getting aid flowing again to a suffering Palestinian population (Read more at Aljazeera).
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce gave few details about the new mechanism but referred to a "charitable foundation" that she said would be carrying out the plan. "I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly," Bruce said (Read more at Reuters).
"The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security, because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food, or even in the bringing of the food into Gaza," Washington's ambassador to Israel, Huckabee told reporters in Jerusalem (Read more at France 24).
Two Egyptian security sources told Reuters at the end of April that negotiations held in Cairo to reach a ceasefire in Gaza were on the verge of a significant breakthrough. Hamas still insists on its full-package ceasefire deal in return for an end to the war, while Israel doesn’t want to end the war (Read more at Strait Times).
The New York police department arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied part of the main library building on Columbia University’s campus (Read more at Guardian).
Other unnamed nations "would be invited to take part" in the provisional U.S.-led administration, which "would draw on Palestinian technocrats but would exclude Islamist group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority." (Read more at Common Dreams)
The US Office of Palestinian Affairs will now report to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and will be merged with the other sections of the main embassy to Israel in the coming weeks (Read more at: deccanherald).
The aid mission was beset with challenges from the start, including rough seas that tore the structure apart, ships that ran aground and the death of a U.S. soldier (Read more at Washington Post).
The US government said on Tuesday it will review an incident at the University of Washington (UW) in which pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a university building while demanding the school cut ties with Boeing over its contracts with the Israeli military. President Donald Trump's administration labelled the incident as anti-Semitic activity. While it praised university and law enforcement officials for their response, it urged the school to take enforcement actions and make policy changes (Read more at Times Live).
The Trump administration urged a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday to allow immigration authorities to continue to detain students at Tufts University and Columbia University who were arrested after engaging in pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus (Read more at AOL).
Concern about civilians in Gaza has risen since Republican President Donald Trump, who is a staunch supporter of Israel, began his second term on January 20. The six senators - Chris Van Hollen, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Peter Welch - wrote to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro asking him to launch an investigation by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office of the U.S. government's implementation of laws regarding the delivery of humanitarian assistance (Read more at AOL).
"If there is no hostage deal, Operation 'Gideon Chariots' will begin with great intensity and will not stop until all its goals are achieved," he said, following a decision by the security cabinet to approve an expanded operation (Read more at Reuters).
President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. would help supply food to people in Gaza while blaming Hamas for the dire humanitarian situation in an enclave that has been devastated by more than 18 months of Israeli bombardments. Trump’s statement during a White House news conference came after Israel approved a plan to take more control of aid delivery as part of an effort to isolate Hamas (Read more at Politico).
The United States, Israel and representatives of a new international foundation are close to an agreement on how to resume the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza without it being controlled by Hamas (Resource: Yahoo).
Rhodes, who served as deputy national security advisor, says: “Israel doesn’t want to end the war … if they were willing to end the war, they would get the hostages out. The idea that they need to continue to fight the war against Hamas in Gaza - I’m sorry, there’s no security need to do it. You’re just talking about an already traumatised people, including a lot of injured people, who are being bombed in tents with no food and medicine.” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was released from US immigration custody on April 30, after a judge ruled he should be free on bail to challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests. Mr Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was arrested earlier in April upon arriving for an interview for his US citizenship petition. A judge swiftly ordered President Donald Trump’s administration not to deport him from the United States or take him out of the state of Vermont (Read more at Straits Times).
The United States told the International Court of Justice Wednesday that Israel must provide aid to Gaza, but the country does not have to work with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (Read more at NPR).
The initiative was championed by Representative Mindy McAlindon and supported by American Friends of Judea and Samaria (AFJS). Founders Yigal Dilmoni and Rafi Lizerovitz praised the decision, calling it a powerful step in “spreading the historical truth about Judea and Samaria to the world.” Arkansas’ decision may set a precedent for other pro-Israel states across the country. Governor Sanders, daughter of newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, has made clear her strong support for Israel and its historical claims. Similar legislation is reportedly under consideration in Washington State (Read more at 5 Towns Central).
Held by a three-star general, the role involves coordinating between political and military officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority to try to avoid and contain security crises. It has become especially important as the security situation in the occupied West Bank has continued to deteriorate. Sources who spoke to Axios expressed concern that eliminating it could lead to further destabilization in the West Bank at a time when the war in Gaza is still ongoing (Read more at Axios).
The Trump administration has reversed the US government’s longstanding position that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was protected from civil liability. The new position was unveiled in a letter the Justice Department filed in federal court in New York on Thursday as part of a lawsuit that aims to hold the agency accountable for the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 (Read more at Aljazeera).
No aid has been delivered to the Palestinian enclave since March 2. Israel has said it would not allow the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza until Palestinian militant group Hamas releases all remaining hostages. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked whether concerns about humanitarian aid access came up in his phone call with Netanyahu earlier this week. "Gaza came up and I said, 'We've got to be good to Gaza ... Those people are suffering,'" Trump said (Read more at APA Group).
The evacuation of US citizens trapped in the besieged Gaza Strip is planned to take place in the coming week and is likely to occur on or before 7 May. Approximately 20 Palestinian Americans will be evacuated from Gaza and bussed to Jordan (Read more at Middle East Eye).
FBI and local law enforcement raided homes of students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Michigan. Amir Makled, an attorney representing some of the students who were targeted, called the raids a "witch hunt" designed to deter students from pro-Palestinian demonstrations (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Many online say the US ambassador to Israel has unmasked US support for Israel's humanitarian blockade of Gaza. The new ambassador to Israel – who served as governor of Arkansas and later as a Fox News commentator – published a video response to the WHO official on Monday, saying: "How about we put the pressure where it really belongs – on Hamas." "When that happens, and hostages are released – which is an urgent matter for all of us – then we hope that humanitarian aid will flow, and flow freely, knowing that it will be done without Hamas being able to confiscate and abuse their own people by not allowing those resources to get to the people who desperately need it." (Read more at Middle East Eye)
The armed wing of Hamas said on Saturday it did not know the fate of Alexander, after noting that the guard holding him was killed. Adi Alexander, whose son Edan was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured on October 7, 2023, called on the United States to engage in direct talks to free the remaining hostages – dead and alive – abducted during the deadly attack launched by Hamas two years ago in southern Israel (Read more at Arabnews).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the State Department to review the social media accounts of foreign applicants for United States visas who have visited the Gaza Strip in the past 18 years. The cable covers all immigrant and non-immigrant US visas – including students and tourists – of people who have spent “any length of time in an official or diplomatic capacity” in Gaza on or after January 1, 2007 (Read more at Aljazeera).
Nejwa Ali, who was in charge of vetting asylum seekers, was placed on administrative leave pending an “investigation” by then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Oct. 19, 2023. She was not officially fired until the Trump administration did so on Feb. 10 (Read more at JNS)
Many have lashed out at the veteran senator for looking on as the banner was removed and protesters were ejected from the venue. During the rally, Sanders is reported to have said: "Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself from terrorism, but it does not have the right to wage all out war against the Palestinian people" and "not one more nickel to Netanyahu" (Read more at Middle East Eye)
Boehler will coordinate across agencies on hostage issues and report to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Boehler faced a political firestorm in March after Axios revealed he had met directly with Hamas officials — making him the first U.S. official ever to do so. Although those talks were approved by Trump, they sparked anger among some Senate Republicans, some of whom took the issue up privately with the White House. The new appointment is temporary and does not require Senate approval (Read more at Axios).
US immigration authorities on Monday arrested another Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests, detaining him as he attended an interview to become an American citizen. Mohsen Mahdawi's lawyers, in a court filing seeking his release and a halt to any imminent deportation, also claimed President Donald Trump's mounting crackdown on immigrant student protesters violates the US Constitution -- the latest judicial challenge to the Republican administration (Read more at France 24).
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army. In the video, he says he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays (Read more at Arabnews).
A Louisiana immigration judge ruled Friday that activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported. During a hearing at the remote Louisiana detention center where Khalil is being held, Judge Jamee Comans said Friday that she had no authority to question Rubio's determination. Khalil will not immediately be deported. His attorneys have said that if he were ordered deported, they would appeal the judge's ruling. Comans gave Khalil until April 23 to request a stay of his deportation if his attorneys believe he qualifies for one. And the judge said if they don't meet that deadline, she will order him deported either to Syria, where he was born, or to Algeria, where he is a citizen (Read more at NPR).
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced it has charged 12 people, ranging in age from 19-32, with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The office said the demonstrators did hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage after they broke windows and furniture, splashed fake blood and disabled security cameras during their takeover of the facility (Read more at The Hill).
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said progress was being made regarding the return of the hostages being held in Gaza and that he was dealing with both Israel and Hamas, but he gave no other details about the talks (Source: Reuters).
The Department of Homeland Security shared a two-page memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that accuses the Columbia University graduate student of participating in "antisemitic protests and disruptive activities." The memo does not accuse Khalil of any crime. But Rubio writes that Khalil's continued presence in the U.S. would have "potentially serious adverse foreign consequences, and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest." (Read more at NPR)
“We are certainly aware of that dynamic,” the State Department spokesperson said. “There is an investigation that is going on. We are aware of the reports from the IDF that this was a counterterrorism act, we need to learn more about the nature of what happened on the ground.” (Read more at Arabnews)
1. Trump said the U.S. would hold direct talks starting Saturday with Iran over its nuclear weapons programs. 2. Trump said the U.S. is working to get hostages released by Hamas and put in place a new ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 3. Trump appeared to raise U.S. military assistance to Israel as potential leverage amid trade negotiations. 4. Trump said to Netanyahu, “Any problem that you have with Turkey, I think I can solve. I mean, as long as you’re reasonable, you have to be reasonable. We have to be reasonable.” (Read more at The Hill)
According to the lawsuit, Bashar Masri, a wealthy developer, operated hotels and an industrial site in Gaza to “construct and conceal” a labyrinthine network of tunnels that allowed Hamas to “store and launch its rockets at Israel.” (Read more at New York Times)
the three leaders called on the international community "to push for a cessation of Israel's war on Gaza, to reinstate the cease-fire and implement all its phases, and to resume the flow of sufficient humanitarian aid to stop the deepening crisis faced by Gazans." (Read more at Daily Sabah)
The mayor of Turmus Ayya, Adeeb Lafi, told Reuters earlier in the day that Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler at the entrance to Turmus Ayya and that the Israeli army pronounced him dead after detaining him. The incident is the latest in a surge of violence and near-daily confrontations in the volatile West Bank, where settler violence and clashes between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians have kept it on edge (Read more at Reuters).
A pro-Palestinian protest by Microsoft employees has interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, the latest backlash over the tech industry’s work to supply artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military (Read more at Aljazeera).
Israel is in “serious talks with several countries” to relocate large numbers of people out of the Gaza Strip, a senior diplomatic source told JNS and other media outlets during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary (Read more at JNS).
The plaintiffs are U.S. citizens injured in terrorist attacks in Israel, as well as the families of U.S. citizens killed in such attacks. At issue is whether a law enacted by Congress six years ago to allow U.S. victims of terrorist attacks to sue the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization in federal courts in the United States violates the Constitution’s guarantee of due process. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in the latest chapter of the justices’ efforts to lay out rules for personal jurisdiction – whether courts have the power to hear a case against certain defendants. Tuesday’s case is a particularly high-profile dispute, and one that the federal government says has national security and foreign policy implications (Read more at scotusblog).
"We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas,” Rubio said at a press conference. “At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.” (Read more at Arab Weekly)
He said the tactic would pave the way for Israel to take control of Gaza and implement “the Trump plan" to evict Palestinians from the enclave. Mr Netanyahu's remarks, along with the move to appoint an official to lead a newly created body aimed at advancing the “voluntary” displacement of Gazans, suggest his government is pursuing Mr Trump's proposals for the enclave (Read more at The National).
Most eyes were on former governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. envoy to Israel, during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Tuesday. But Reed Rubinstein, nominee for legal adviser to oversee some 300 U.S. State Department attorneys and staff, also addressed areas of interest and concern to American Jews and those who care about Israel (Read more at JNS).
The seized funds, which were registered to Palestinians living in Turkey and other countries, were used to launder more than $1.5 million for Hamas since October 2024, the U.S. government said. A group chat allegedly associated with Hamas solicited donations via a group chat to a changing set of some dozen and a half cryptocurrency addresses. “These seizures show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas, wherever it is found, and in whatever form of currency,” stated Edward Martin, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia (Read more at JNS).
They were sued on Monday 24 March in Manhattan federal court for allegedly functioning as Hamas’s “propaganda arm” and “in-house public relations firm” in New York City and on campus. The lawsuit was filed by nine US and Israeli citizens who were victims of Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, including relatives of people murdered or taken hostage, and two affiliated with Columbia who reported mistreatment there (Read more at University World News)
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, stated at the beginning of the committee hearing that he launched the investigation “demanding answers about their activities on college campuses.” “This group’s leaders have ties to Hamas and helped create the group Students for Justice in Palestine,” Cassidy said. “I also requested information from the Justice Department and several universities on these groups.” (Read more at JNS)
A judge has ruled that Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old Korean American student at Columbia University who is being sought for deportation by the administration of President Donald Trump, cannot be detained as she fights attempts to remove her from the United States over her pro-Palestinian views. “As of today, Yunseo Chung no longer has to fear and live in fear of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] coming to her doorstep and abducting her in the night,” Chung’s lawyer Ramzi Kassem said after the court ruling on Tuesday (Read more at Aljazeera).
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court, names Khalil as one of the heads of the anti-Israel protests that engulfed the Morningside Heights campus last year, which the families claimed effectively helped to spread Hamas’ hateful rhetoric (Read more at NYPost).
Egypt proposed an alternative to Trump's colonial plan for the US to cease Gaza and deport its Palestinian population, suggesting a $53 billion plan that would be carried out in three phases over 5 years. Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty said Palestinian factions have consented to Egypt's proposal to form a non-factional technocratic committee to oversee Gaza as part of the newly ratified Arab-Islamic Gaza reconstruction plan (Read more at Al Ahram).
A senior Hamas official said long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages (Read more at Arabnews).
The US and Israel have contacted officials from Sudan, Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland to discuss using their territory for resettling Palestinians from Gaza, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing US and Israeli officials who confirmed the contacts. Sudan officials said they rejected the proposal by the United States, and officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were unaware of any contacts (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The White House accused Hamas on Friday of making “entirely impractical” demands and stalling on a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage in exchange for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire. Hamas said earlier on Friday it was ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four others, after the Palestinian militants and Israel resumed indirect Gaza ceasefire negotiations (Read more at Defense Post).
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Tager presented the proposal in Qatar. The proposal calls for Hamas to continue releasing hostages in exchange for prisoners based on a previously established formula. It also extends the phase-1 ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza (Read more at Business Standard).
During a meeting at the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Trump hammered Democratic Party lawmakers for the response to his March 6 speech to a joint session of Congress. “Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said Wednesday. “He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.” (Read more at The Hill)
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem has welcomed United States President Donald Trump’s apparent retreat from his proposed permanent displacement of more than two million Palestinians from Gaza. The statement by the Hamas official came after Trump said on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza” in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin (Read more at Aljazeera).
According to the New York Police Department, around 150 individuals dressed in civilian attire entered the Trump Tower – US President Donald Trump's New York residence and a property of the Trump Organization – shortly before noon. Once inside, they removed their outer layers to reveal red T-shirts bearing pro-Palestinian slogans and began a sit-in. Footage from the scene captured protesters seated in the lobby, clapping and chanting "Free Palestine." (Read more at Shine)
The Proportion of Americans who sympathise with the Palestinians is at its highest since Gallup started collecting data. Only 46 percent of Americans polled said their sympathies are with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians during Israel’s current assault on Gaza. The second lowest approval rating was 51 percent in 2001, a year after the Second Intifada (Read more at Middle East Eye).
President says in post his administration ‘will not tolerate’ actions of protesters at Columbia and other US universities. Trump added: “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again (Read more at Guardian).
President Donald Trump's hostage envoy Adam Boehler's direct meetings with Palestinian militant group Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza was a "one-off situation" and as of now "hasn't borne fruit," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. "That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so," he added (Read more at Reuters).
Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s pledge to detain and deport student activists. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody (Read more at AP).
White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha on Tuesday evening in an effort to broker a new hostage-release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The talks would be the first since President Trump took office and since the original agreement between Israel and Hamas that established a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza (Read more at Axios)
Boehler said his meetings with Hamas leaders in recent days were designed to pinpoint what the group's end game was with the goal of bringing hostilities to a close. He did not rule out additional encounters with the Palestinian militant group (Read more at Reuters).
Other graffiti that read “Free Gaza” was spotted on part of a building at Trump Turnberry. On X, the activist group issued a threat to the president. “Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach,” the post said (Read more at News Nation Now).
The “Catch and Revoke” project, launched by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will see "AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts [and] marks a dramatic escalation in the US government's policing of foreign nationals' conduct and speech”. Rubio took to X on Thursday to announce measures against students, saying the US has “zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists. Violators of US law”. According to reports, the State Department has already revoked the visa of one unidentified student (Read more at Middle East Eye).
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday said they agreed to strengthen dialogue and enhance collaboration in a meeting Wednesday focused on the two countries' economic partnership. "This is a critical time to shape a new strategic economic future for both countries, reinforcing American global leadership and Israel's role as a key economic partner," the two men said in a joint statement released by the Treasury (Read more at AOL).
Militant group accuses the US president of seeking to undermine deal with his ultimatum for release of hostages. The militant Islamist organisation said Trump’s threats constituted support for attempts by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to back out of the ceasefire agreement (Read more at Guardian).
Witkoff told reporters at the White House that gaining the release of Edan Alexander, the 21-year-old man from New Jersey believed to be the last living American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, is a "top priority for us." Witkoff said he will travel to the Middle East next week with stops planned in four countries. Witkoff also said the U.S. does not believe Hamas has been forthright (Read more at Reuters).
“It may seem like he makes empty threats,” Boehler told anchor Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” “Until he carries out the threat. And then it’s not so empty. And then you’re dead.” (Read more at Politico)
President Trump told Hamas he will greenlight additional Israeli military strikes on Gaza unless the group releases its remaining hostages. Trump issued the ultimatum after a meeting with six hostages who were released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Among the remaining hostages are five Americans, including 21-year-old Edan Alexander who is believed to be alive (Read more at Axios).
It occurred over the release of U.S. hostages held in Gaza and the possibility of a broader deal to end the war. The talks — held by U.S. presidential envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler — are unprecedented. The U.S. had never before engaged directly with Hamas, which it designated a terrorist organization in 1997 (Read more at Axios).
If the Arab summit’s counter-proposal was intended to assert regional agency over Gaza’s future, the US-Israeli response left little doubt as to who still holds the reins. Will Arab states be able to withstand the relentless push of the American-Israeli agenda, which seeks to shape not just the geography of Gaza, but its very identity and political direction? (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Trump was asked whether phase two would come to fruition. "We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows, but we'll see what happens," he said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "We have some pretty good talks going on." (Read more at Yahoo News)
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, said on Tuesday that removing Hamas from power in Gaza was a “red line” for the Trump administration as Israel and Hamas prepare for the next round of ceasefire negotiations. Speaking at the launch of the American Jewish Committee’s Center for a New Middle East in Washington, Witkoff told attendees that “Phase 2” of those negotiations could begin as soon as Sunday (Read more at Israel Today).
Critics say the video, set to upbeat music with lyrics proclaiming “Trump Gaza is finally here,” portrays a vision of the region that erases its current destruction and suffering while proposing an American-led redevelopment project (Read more at Euronews).
Hunter College faculty and staff union condemns Kathy Hochul’s order to take down listing, calling it ‘overreach of authority’. In the job listing, Hunter College wrote that the institution is seeking “a historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to: settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality”. (Read more at Guardian)
Two Barnard College students were expelled for disrupting a class at Columbia University on the history of modern Israel, in what appear to be the first expulsions for pro-Palestinian activism on the campus since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks (Read more at NY Daily News).
The trial began on Tuesday for a killing that marked one of the earliest and worst alleged hate crime incidents in the United States since the eruption of U.S. ally Israel's military assault on Gaza after an October 2023 attack by Hamas. The family's landlord, Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged with murder and hate crimes and had earlier pleaded not guilty (Read more at MSN).
The leaders of Gulf Arab states are expected to strategize with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts Friday in an effort to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to redevelop the Gaza Strip under U.S. control and displace its Palestinian residents. The meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, is in preparation for a broader Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4 (Read more at Japan Times).
"When the president talks about this, it means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian and Gazan people who live there," US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff added (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
It is part of the global freeze on US foreign aid. It comes at a critical time as the PA struggles to maintain stability in the occupied West Bank and prepare for a potential role in governing Gaza. While some international donors have stepped in to offset the shortfall, a Palestinian security training official revealed that certain programs have already been cancelled, and a planned security meeting with US officials regarding operations in Jenin has been postponed (Read more at New Arab).
Hundreds of pro-Palestine people attended a demonstration organised by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda (Pal-Awda) on Tuesday in New York City's borough of Brooklyn to protest against a real estate event advertising land for sale in occupied Palestine, with protests turning violent (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The security assistance that has been suspended to the PA is from the State Department and Department of Defence. “Most of the PA’s aid doesn’t come from the State Department. It comes from the CIA. Last I heard, they haven’t changed their policy on the PA.” (Read more at Middle East Eye)
U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham dismissed President Donald Trump's proposal to seize Gaza and force out the Palestinians, while Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said he expects Arab states to put forward a workable alternative. Graham, a longtime ally of Trump and a key Republican in Congress with influence on foreign policy and national security matters, told reporters there was little appetite in the Senate "for America to take over Gaza in any way, shape or form." (Read more at AOL)
In an arrest report, police alleged that Brafman had “spontaneously stated that while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both” (Read more at Aljazeera).
The Trump administration welcomed on Wednesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's decision to revoke the system of payments to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or to families of Palestinians who were killed or wounded during attacks against Israelis (Read more at Axios).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, during talks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that any deal on the future of war-torn Gaza must boost regional security, the US State Department said (Read more at France 24).
He told Fox News that he had “very productive and constructive” calls on Sunday with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s director of intelligence. Witkoff said they spoke about “the sequencing of phase two, setting forth positions on both sides, so we can understand ... where we are today, and then continuing talks this week at a location to be determined so that we can figure out how we get to the end of phase two successfully.” (Read more at Arabnews)
It is not clear whether Trump is going to accept the release of only three hostages or call for the end of the ceasefire when his demand isn't met. Other than Dekel-Chen, Hamas is still holding five American hostages. One, Edan Alexander, is still alive (Read more at Axios).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intention from day one of his "revenge" attack on Gaza, launched 16 months ago, was either ethnic cleansing or genocide in Gaza. His ally in genocide for the next 15 months was former US President Joe Biden. His ally in ethnic cleansing is current US President Donald Trump (Read more at Middle East Eye).
"I don’t know what’s going to happen at 12 o’clock. If it was up to me, I’d take a very hard stance. I can’t tell you what Israel is going to do," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Anadolu Ajansı).
In remarks made during the World Government Summit in Dubai, the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Al-Otaiba acknowledged the complexity of the situation, stating, “But at the end of the day, we’re all in a solution-seeking business, we just don’t know where it’s going to land yet.” During the same summit, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan engaged in discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, emphasizing the importance of a two-state solution (Read more at Roya News).
Egypt has said Trump had extended an open invitation to Sisi to visit the White House earlier this month. Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, will not travel to Washington for talks at the White House as long as the agenda includes US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Jordan’s King Abdullah appeared uncomfortable during a meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, at which Trump discussed his Gaza plan (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Speaking alongside the Arab country's ruler in the White House, Trump signalled he would not budge on his idea that involves moving the Gaza Strip's shell-shocked residents. Trump has infuriated the Arab world by saying that Palestinians would not be able to return to their homes under his proposal to redevelop the enclave. King Abdullah said later that he reiterated to Trump Jordan's "steadfast position" against the displacement of Palestinians (Read more at Business Standard).
Egypt's foreign ministry said Abdelatty, in a meeting in Washington, stressed the importance of achieving "a just and lasting peace that ensures Palestinians’ rights, including the establishment of an independent state on their entire national territory”. A statement by the US State Department after the meeting did not explicitly mention Trump's plan but added that Rubio "reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza" and said "Hamas can never govern Gaza again" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
President Trump on Sunday said he was losing patience with the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas after seeing footage of the Palestinian terrorists releasing Israeli hostages over the weekend, whose appearance he compared to Holocaust survivors. “They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. “I don’t know how much longer we can take that … at some point we’re going to lose our patience.” (Read more at AOL)
US president says other countries in the Middle East could be tasked with rebuilding parts of the war-ravaged enclave (Read more at Aljazeera).
Egypt said it had been in contact with Arab partners including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to firm up the region's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians after U.S. President Donald Trump said they should go from Gaza (Read more at AOL).
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Gaza currently is "not habitable" due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and that people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt (Read more at Yahoo News).
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere brings to mind an earlier suggestion by his son-in-law Jared Kushner about the potential value of “waterfront property” in the enclave. Kushner, a former aide to Trump, suggested last year that Israel should remove the population out of the Gaza Strip while it “cleans up” the area (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
“On the question of Gaza, the definition of insanity is attempting to do the same thing over and over and over again,” Mr Hegseth said before the start of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon. “The president is willing to think outside the box, look for new and unique, dynamic ways to solve problems that have felt like they were intractable ... We’re prepared to look at all options.” (Read more at Straits Times).
Russia’s RIA Novosti cited a senior Hamas official as saying, "In the past, we did not object to contact with the administration of (former US president Joe) Biden, Trump or any other US administration, and we are open to talks with all international parties." (Read more at Staits Times)
Hamas calls Trump’s idea a ‘recipe for generating chaos’ and says the people of Gaza will not allow their displacement. Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said the PLO rejects all calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland. While Trump claimed that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland, Saudi Arabia said it would not normalise ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. “He’s totally lost it,” Murphy, a Democrat, said on X. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.” “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said (Read more at Aljazeera and France 24).
Australia's prime minister restated Australia's "longstanding" support for a two-state solution but repeatedly refused to offer a view on Mr Trump's remarks. "I'm not going to, as Australia's prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president. My job is to support Australia's position," he told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday (Read more at ABC News).
"Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again," Rubio said on X. "Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people." While Trump had floated suggestions of Palestinian displacement since Jan. 25, statements issued since by Rubio's State Department on its websites after the top U.S. diplomat's subsequent calls with regional leaders did not explicitly mention Trump's suggestion (Read more at AOL).
Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More," with the president fixated on acquiring new territory even after campaigning on pledges to keep the nation out of foreign entanglements and "forever wars.” He has raised the possibility of the country taking back the Panama Canal, proposed the U.S. wrest Greenland from Denmark and repeatedly suggested that Canada should be absorbed as the 51st U.S. state. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows little public support for these ideas, even in Trump's Republican Party (Read more at Japan Times).
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the"Nakba", or catastrophe when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948 (Read more at AOL).
President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” (Read more at AP)
Some of the strongest criticism came from Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who said “The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First,” (Read more at Guardian)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States after fighting was over and the enclave's population was already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no U.S. troops would be needed on the ground. (Read more at USNews)
Johnson called Trump's proposal "a bold move – certainly far bolder than what's been done before" and said "we'll stand with the president on his initiative." He added, "I think you have to do something to eradicate the threat to Israel. Here's the problem. If you leave Gaza in its current form, there's always a risk of another October seventh" (Read more at NPR)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Republican's clear plan to help rebuild the war-torn strip saying it will "change history". He also said how America "will do a job with it" if they own the Gaza Strip and take full responsibility for dismantling it safely after years of torment for the people of Palestine (The U.S. Sun).
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” he added. “Gaza is not a place for people to be living, and the only reason they want to go back, and I believe this strongly, is because they have no alternative. … If they had an alternative, they’d much rather not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that’s safe.” (Read more at The Hill)
Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, instead demanding Palestinians be involved in the reconstruction process. Trump's repeated comments about moving Palestinians from Gaza alarmed many Arab countries who see that as a threat to the stability of Egypt and Jordan (Read more at Axios).
The United Nations and the UNRWA have not commented on the development, however, the decision is poised to coincide with the visit of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US who has earlier accused UNRWA of running anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being “involved in terrorist activities against Israel.” (Read more at Indian Express)
The release includes U.S. and Israeli dual citizen Keith Siegel, 65, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54. Kalderon also holds French citizenship. The three men were handed over Saturday morning to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, who transferred them to Israeli troops for the drive across the border into Israel. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over in Khan Younis, in Gaza's south; Seigel in Gaza City in the enclave's north (Read more at NPR).
Foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said Trump’s proposed move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace (Read more at Aljazeera).
Sisi expressed confidence that Trump could bring peace to the region. He invited Trump to visit Egypt. Egypt said the two leaders had a positive dialogue that stressed the importance of fully implementing the first and second phases of the ceasefire. The White House statement on the call did not refer to the ceasefire (Read more at Global South World).
New information suggests the money went to Mozambique's Gaza Province. On his second day in office, Trump signed an executive order suspending all foreign aid programmes, slamming the previous Biden administration for funding what he claimed was unnecessary assistance (Read more at New Arab).
The PA’s plan envisions the Gaza Strip ruled by a committee whose majority is from outside of the enclave. The plan was presented on Tuesday to Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Riyadh by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who has been floated as a successor to octogenarian Palestinian President Mohammad Abbas (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Trump administration wants to see the ceasefire continue and Gaza stabilized so it can move forward with its ambitious plans for the Middle East, which include getting a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel and trying to get a deal with Iran on its nuclear program (Read more at Axios).
In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump said the federal government would use “all available and appropriate legal tools” to prosecute and remove perpetrators of “unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence”. “Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault,” Trump’s order said. Under US immigration law, foreign nationals can be deemed “inadmissible aliens” under a range of scenarios apart from being convicted of a crime (Read more at Aljazeera).
Israeli news organizations reported that the country's military took Witkoff to inspect the Netzarim Corridor, which it created during the war to split the Gaza Strip in two (Read more at NPR).
Trump on Saturday floated a plan to "clean out" Gaza, where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, in comments that echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes. The suggestion by Trump was not mentioned in the U.S. State Department statement released on Tuesday after the call between Rubio and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (Read more at AOL).
The US envoy to the UN has said that they support Israel’s “sovereign decision” to shutter UNRWA in Jerusalem and that the agency is “exaggerating” the impact of an Israeli ban that experts and UN officials have said would have catastrophic impacts on humanitarian support for Palestinians (Source: MTV).
He called it "ethnic cleansing" and a "war crime" and called on others to censure Trump for making the suggestion. Trump's comments received little outrage from leading progressives and puzzled some of his Republican allies (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Harvard Management Company reinvested $150 million in Booking Holdings Inc., a company under fire for its operation in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In 2018, Human Rights Watch found that Booking.com connects travelers to rental properties in the Palestinian territories and alleged the company is complicit in human rights abuses against Palestinians. The student governments of at least three graduate schools — Harvard Law School, Harvard Divinity School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design — passed resolutions urging the HMC to divest from institutions and companies that “aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine.” (Read more at Crimson)
Speaking at a press briefing in Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said that Germany maintains its commitment to the international consensus regarding Gaza's status. “There is a common position shared by the EU, our Arab partners and the United Nations, which is very clear: The Palestinian population cannot be expelled from Gaza, and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or resettled by Israel,” he said (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
Washington “celebrates the release of the four Israeli hostages held in captivity for 477 days. It is critical that the ceasefire implementation continues and that all of the hostages are freed from Hamas captivity and safely returned to their families,” according to a statement from the State Department (Read more at JNS).
"I'd like Egypt to take people," Trump said. "You're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it's over.'" Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, "I'd love for you to take on more, cause I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a mess. It's a real mess." (Read more at NPR)
The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources said. The latest official U.S. estimates have not been previously reported (Read more at AOL).
The contractors are poised to help secure a key zone that splits Gaza in two and is known as the Netzarim corridor. The contractors are intended to screen vehicles ferrying Palestinians from the enclave’s south for weapons (Read more at New York Times).
'I'm going to be a part of an inspection team at the Netzarim corridor, and also at the Philadelphia corridor,' Steve Witkoff says. The team’s role is to verify that those entering the areas are not armed and pose no threat (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
A senior Hamas official has told Newsweek that the Palestinian movement was surprisingly encouraged by the comments made by President Donald Trump during his inaugural speech and expressed hope he would commit to lasting peace and stability in the Gaza Strip. "It is striking that Israel was not mentioned in the president's inauguration speech, which is unusual, and that the president does not want wars and seeks to achieve peace," Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson Basem Naim said (Read more at Newsweek).
“It’s not our war. It is their war. I am not confident. But I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” he said in response to a question in the Oval Office while signing orders in the first hours of his presidency. Asked about the future governance of the Gaza Strip, the president said he believed “you certainly can’t have the people that were there,” in an apparent reference to the Iranian-backed Hamas terror organization. “Most of them are dead, by the way, right?” continued Trump. “But they didn’t exactly run it well. Run viciously and badly. You can’t have that.” (Read more at New York Post)
Some 25% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans favor Islamists over the Jewish state and 82% back the ceasefire. The 25-34 age group showed the highest support for Hamas, with nearly a third favouring the organisation over Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, plans to be a near-constant presence in the region in an attempt to prevent the deal from unraveling. For now, a top concern for Trump’s envoy is a rogue incident sparked by inevitable day-to-day interfacing between Israelis and Palestinians on the ground in and near Gaza, even given the ceasefire agreement (Read more at NBCNews).
He also added that if Hamas rejects the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, the United States will support Israel "in what it has to do." (Read more at RBC-Ukraine)
Palestinian Americans across the United States, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, celebrated a ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli fighters in Gaza that went into effect Sunday. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American serving in the U.S. Congress, made a post on Sunday condemning the "genocide" in Gaza and noting that she voted against banning TikTok, a platform where users had shared strong support for Palestinians that went dark Sunday (Read more at Yahoo News).
Several journalists who are outspoken critics of American support for Israel loudly lambasted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the war in Gaza on Jan 16, repeatedly interrupting his final press conference as he sought to defend his handling of the 15-month-old conflict (Read more at Strait Times).
The U.S. Education Department on Thursday noted concerns about discrimination against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and reached a settlement with the institution to resolve the issue. The university agreed to revise its nondiscrimination policies and procedures, including pertaining to protests and a definition of harassment that includes harassment based on actual or perceived shared ancestry (Read more at AOL).
Mr. Biden spoke with the MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell in his last television interview while in office and said, in the days after the war in Gaza began, He pushed Netanyahu to prevent civilian deaths during the Gaza war. He also defended his steadfast support for Israel (Read more at New York Times).
Biden’s last day as president, on 19 January, is also the first day of the planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that was reportedly pushed to the finish line by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. This has raised more significant criticism of Biden’s role in Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza, with the US providing $17.9bn in military aid since 7 October 2023 (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Gaza Strip ceasefire should begin on Sunday (Jan 19) as planned, despite the need for negotiators to tie up a "loose end" at the last minute, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said (Read more at CNA).
There has been much shock and awe among many Arabs in recent weeks at the brutal repressive campaign dubbed "The Protection of the Homeland" that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has launched against Palestinian resisters to the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The campaign's ultimate failure led the Israelis to intervene again this week by bombing the Jenin refugee camp, killing around 12 Palestinians (Read more at Middle East Eye).
In the wake of November’s election, the Trump and Biden teams began working together. “I think a lot of progress has been made. The fact that you have an outgoing and an incoming administration that have worked hand in hand to make the case for urgency, I think, has been noticed by all parties,” the ambassador said (Read more at The Hill).
Trump had dispatched his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to join the negotiations in Doha, and Witkoff was there for the last 96 hours of talks leading up to the deal. A senior Biden administration official, in a briefing with reporters, credited Witkoff with helping deliver the deal, working alongside Biden's envoy, Brett McGurk, who has been in Doha since 5 Jan (Read more at Business Standard).
Chuck Schumer: “It couldn’t have happened without steadfast diplomacy and until the potency of Hamas was radically reduced.” John Barrasso: “I think that the world is seeing Donald Trump coming into power in the United States, and we're seeing changes around the world to reflect a new strength in America." Hakeem Jeffries: “This long-overdue agreement will secure the release of many of those hostages, set the stage for others to come home.” Bernie Sanders: “Both sides must honor the deal and implement it as quickly as possible… The United Nations and other aid organizations must finally be allowed unfettered access to all areas of the Gaza.” Claudia Tenney: "After Biden's repeated failure to free the Israeli & American hostages being held by Hamas, President Trump has already negotiated a deal to release the hostages, & he hasn't even been sworn in yet. The world is a safer place with President Trump as America's Leader." (Read more at USNews)
