KOENIG

(photo: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump stated that "if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them," in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Trump told CNN that he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal.

"Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they’d do that," Trump was quoted as saying to CNN in a brief telephone call when asked what would happen if Hamas refused to disarm.

(photo: Flash90)

A senior Trump administration adviser told reporters on Wednesday that efforts are underway to demilitarize Gaza.

“We’re defining a path that makes everyone feel safe,” the adviser, who declined to be named, told reporters. “It’s not realistic to expect people to just drop arms.”

“The dynamic is complex, but the sentiment from Arab mediators and from Hamas is to keep working together toward a solution,” the adviser said.

The adviser and another senior U.S. adviser, who also spoke to reporters anonymously, told reporters that phase one of the Israel-Hamas war, which focused on deconfliction, entry of aid and returning bodies of hostages to Israel, has been a success.

The United States is looking to establish a basic stabilization of Gaza, and planning is underway for an international force to go into the Palestinian enclave, said a senior US adviser, speaking with Reuters on condition of anonymity, on Wednesday.

"Right now, what we're looking to accomplish is just a basic stabilization of the situation. The international stabilization force is starting to be constructed," said the senior US adviser.

Among the countries the US is speaking to about contributing to the force are Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, and Azerbaijan, said a second senior US adviser, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has instructed the IDF to prepare a comprehensive plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza should renewed fighting become necessary. 

The directive came during a high-level discussion on IDF preparations in Gaza with the Chief of Staff and senior military leadership.

According to Katz, the planning is contingent on Hamas failing to implement President Trump’s peace plan, which calls for the immediate return of all hostages and the disarmament of the militant group. Should Hamas refuse to comply, Israel, in coordination with a U.S.-led international force, would return to military operations with the goal of destroying terror tunnels and infrastructure throughout Gaza, and fully demilitarizing the territory to eliminate threats to the State of Israel.

It was a day after he ordered a missile attack against Hamas leaders in Doha, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defiant.

While international outrage continued to build, the premier declared in a video statement that the strike served not only as a warning to the Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital — who had prostrated themselves there in prayers of thanks as Hamas terrorists slaughtered Israelis on October 7, 2023 — but also “to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists.”

“You either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu vowed.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Hamas has told his top aides that it will disarm, and that the terror group could be dealt with “violently” if it refuses to do so. He also pressed the Palestinian terror group to follow through with its release of all the dead hostages still being held in the Strip.

“I spoke to Hamas, and I said, ‘You’re going to disarm, right?’ ‘Yes, sir. We’re going to disarm.’ — That’s what they told me. They will disarm or we will disarm them,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

He later clarified that this message, rather than in a direct conversation between the president and Hamas officials, was passed along via his “people,” apparently referring to US special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Around the world, Jews and decent people of all faiths and backgrounds greeted the liberation of the remaining living hostages held by the Hamas terrorists with joyous thanks, relief and tears. After two years of agony for those Israelis who were among the last of those kidnapped during the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, they are finally going home.

But once the prayers of thanksgiving are uttered and the hostages are embraced by a grateful nation with an explosion of happiness, what then?

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi begins the formal part of the Gaza summit in Sharm el-Sheikh with brief remarks introducing Trump.

Sissi asserts that a two-state solution is the only way to achieve the ambitions of the Palestinians and the Israelis and live in peace.

“Egypt will work with the United States in coordination with partners in the coming days to lay the foundation for the reconstruction of the (Gaza) Strip, and we intend to host an early recovery, reconstruction and development conference,” he says.

The Israeli Defense Ministry put finishing touches in recent days on an elaborate welcome ceremony at Ben-Gurion International Airport, installing a 50-meter (164-foot) red carpet and dozens of American and Israeli flags as the Jewish state prepares to receive U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.

The visit comes at a critical moment as the Israel-Hamas deal for the hostages’ release unfolds.

The ministry’s Amon Division (Operations, Logistics and Assets) is responsible for organizing the reception for the U.S. president at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening delivered an emotional national address ahead of Monday’s scheduled release of hostages held by Hamas, calling it “an evening of tears, an evening of joy.”

“Tomorrow, children will return to their own land,” Netanyahu said. “This is a historic event that blends sorrow over the release of murderers and joy over the return of hostages.”

The prime minister said the achievement reflected the steadfast belief of Israel’s soldiers and citizens. “Some did not believe this day would come. But our fighters believed. Many among the people believed. And I believed,” he declared.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he expects the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold because “they’re all tired of fighting,” after Israeli forces pulled back in Gaza as part of the first phase of the deal he brokered.

“It’s a great deal for Israel, but it’s a great deal for everybody,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “I can tell you that I saw Israel dancing in the streets, but they were dancing in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, many, many countries.”

Trump noted the hostages are due to be released on Monday following the IDF’s completion of a partial withdrawal, with Hamas “getting them now” before they are freed from the Gaza Strip.

A powerful tropical wind and rainstorm will evolve along the mid-Atlantic coast with major coastal flooding, power outages and significant travel delays. Storm surge could rival that of Sandy in some areas.

(photo: AFP)

US President Donald Trump plans to attend a summit of world leaders focused on Gaza during his visit to Egypt next week, Axios reports, citing four sources familiar with the matter.

The summit, organized by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, reportedly aims to build international support for Trump’s Gaza peace plan, as talks continue over critical issues such as post-war governance, security and reconstruction.

According to the report, invitations have reportedly been extended to leaders or foreign ministers from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Trump is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday morning, deliver a speech at the Knesset and meet with families of hostages. That evening, he will travel to Egypt to meet with President Sissi and participate in a signing ceremony with the three guarantors of the Gaza deal: Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces that the Pentagon recently agreed to host the Qatari air force at a new joint facility in the US, as part of President Donald Trump’s newly signed executive order declaring US commitment to guaranteeing Qatar’s security.

“Today, we’re announcing a letter of acceptance in building a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho,” Hegseth says.

The base “will be host to a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability,” Hegseth adds. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Friday credited the Israel Defense Forces and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for facilitating the ceasefire deal between his country and Hamas.

Kushner and Witkoff said this at a joint conference in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, shortly after the Jewish state’s Cabinet voted in favor of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that would return to Israel 20 living hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and the bodies of about 30 others.

“Obviously, bringing the hostages home has been a priority for President Trump for a very, very long time and we’ve all worked very tirelessly to do that,” said Kushner, a former senior adviser to Trump who has been working on the agreement alongside Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy.

(photos: Reuters)

Israel has received US guarantees that it will be allowed to take military action in response to any violations of the hostage and ceasefire deal that endanger its security.

According to Israeli and American diplomatic officials, the understanding is that if Hamas, or any of the other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, seriously breaches a key principle of the Trump plan in a way that poses a security threat, Israel will be able to respond militarily, with US support.

This understanding constitutes a side agreement between Jerusalem and Washington that aligns with the Trump plan's framework. Both the mediators and Hamas have been informed of this agreement. According to the officials, the participation and signatures of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Sharm el-Sheikh negotiations are significant, as it will be harder for Hamas to shift blame to "rogue factions."

(photo: Flash90)

Israel and Hamas negotiators on Thursday signed a deal in Egypt to secure the return of all 48 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, of whom some 20 are believed to be alive, in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and a ceasefire.

“The final draft of phase one was signed this morning in Egypt by all parties to release all of the hostages,” said a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The security cabinet convened around 6:30 p.m., after an unexplained hour-and-a-half delay, for a briefing about the deal, to be followed by a full cabinet vote. The deal is expected to handily pass, despite some opposition from the far right.

The Finnish Presidential office clarified that the talks will focus on bilateral relations between Finland and the United States, trade and economic cooperation, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.