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The goal of a Kushner visit to Israel will be to "find a pathway to move forward with implementation of the 20 point plan" that Trump put forward for Gaza in late 2025, the source added.

The Board of Peace on Wednesday denied that there is any “financial agreement” with Hamas, after the Kan public broadcaster reported that the body agreed to cover $400 million of Hamas’s debt to outside parties as part of its roadmap for the terror group’s disarmament.

Instead, the sum earmarked in the disarmament plan will be used to pay severance to Hamas civil servants who don’t end up being hired by the new Palestinian technocratic government meant to run the territory, an Arab diplomat from one of the mediating countries told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

“The claims that there is a financial agreement between the Board of Peace and Hamas are false,” Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov wrote in Hebrew on X on Wednesday. “No such proposal was discussed, negotiated, or considered, and it will not be on the table in the future either.”

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States is in control of the Strait of Hormuz.

"The USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, 'A WALL OF STEEL,' and there is nothing Iran can do about it," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse is one of two total solar eclipses to cross Spain during 2026-2027.

The US State Department is requesting that US embassies in the Middle Eastdevelop “reduced operations” plans, as the conflict with Iran shows no immediate signs of resolution, according to a CNN report published on Wednesday.

Sources have informed CNN that, although plans have not been finalized, the State Department has encouraged US embassy staff to reduce both their assignments and staff numbers. There is a general expectation that officials do not anticipate returning to normal staffing levels in the region anytime soon. 

Israel will unequivocally reject any Gaza Strip ceasefire framework that fails to require the total disarmament of Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new international spokesperson said on Monday, warning that the terrorist group must be completely stripped of its arsenal before Israel considers withdrawing it troops.

“The prime minister is not going to do anything that is going to put the Israeli people at risk,” Doron Spielman told JNS, emphasizing that Netanyahu is “aware of Hamas’s intentions” and that the group is “just as committed to terrorism today” as it was when it led the Palestinian massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. “The only thing they’re lacking is the ability” to carry out another atrocity, he added.

Netanyahu insists the terrorist group must “truly disarm” before any agreement moves forward, the spokesperson said. “By truly disarming, I mean all of their weapons are going to be handed over and removed from the area, from Gaza,” Spielman said the premier told him.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to remove nuclear material from a clandestine Syrian site following an agreement made by the US, Syria, and Israel, Axios reported on Monday, citing Israeli and US officials. 

The Trump administration and IAEA scrambled to reach the agreement that would secure the material and prevent a potential escalation between Israel, Syria, and Turkey, said Axios, adding that the site in question is sensitive. 

The agreement validates US President Donald Trump’s approach towards Syria and shows that his administration is utilizing close relations with Syria to neutralize a possible crisis, according to the report. 

 “Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning,” Board of Peace High Representative Nikolay Mladenov stated on July 31, referring to the release of the body’s 15-point Roadmap for Gaza and, specifically, its proposed timetable for an Israeli pullback from the Strip alongside Hamas’s disarmament.

With those words, Mladenov underscored the widening gap between Jerusalem and the international community over how to proceed with ending the war sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Mladenov acknowledged that “it took months of very difficult negotiations to get here. There were several points when I did not believe we would make it.”

U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a comprehensive proposal on Sept. 29, 2025, to end the conflict. That 20-point proposal became the foundation for United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted on Nov. 17, 2025.

Iran on Saturday laid out sweeping demands to the U.S. for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to media reports.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, said Saturday that reopening the strait would require Washington to lift its naval blockade and sanctions, withdraw U.S. military forces from the region, pay war reparations, and release frozen Iranian assets. 

The council also called for an end to U.S. attacks on Iran’s regional allies and to threats against Iran, according to the reports. 

CNBC has not independently verified the demands.