Gaza
Israeli Strikes Cast Doubt on Gaza Ceasefire
Israeli strikes killed at least 10 people in Gaza on Wednesday, and Israeli forces crossed the ceasefire's "Yellow Line" to detain a Hamas police official, deepening doubt over the truce two days after U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met separately with Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to PBS News. The Yellow Line, which divides Gaza under the ceasefire, "was never precisely defined," PBS reported, and Israeli forces now control roughly 60% of the territory, beyond the line's original scope. The IDF said Wednesday's strikes targeted Hamas Nukhba commanders and an allied Popular Resistance Committees operative who were "advancing terror plots" against Israeli forces, including one person who took part in the October 7 attacks, according to the Jerusalem Post. Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said the strikes, including one on a police post, killed nine to ten people. The Board of Peace, the U.S.-chaired body overseeing the ceasefire, has…
Trump Cuts Iran Talks as Hormuz Crisis Widens
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that no talks with Iran were taking place or scheduled, cutting off the diplomatic track meant to replace the interim Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Washington and Tehran that expired on Monday. The statement directly contradicted special envoy Jared Kushner, who had told Fox News a day earlier that talks with Iran were "probably more robust than it's maybe ever been." Trump's reversal left the diplomatic track that was meant to replace the expired MOU without any clear path forward. Strait Status Disputed Trump also posted a map on Truth Social labelling the Strait of Hormuz "New US Territory," while maintaining that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remained in force and that the strait itself was open to shipping. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told parliament that the strait would not reopen until Washington met the conditions of the MOU:…
Board of Peace Weighs Gaza Disarmament Shift
The Trump-backed Board of Peace is weighing a major change to its Gaza disarmament plan, according to a source familiar with the talks who spoke to The Times of Israel on Monday. Instead of the current phased approach, in which Hamas surrenders weapons sector by sector as Israeli forces make corresponding withdrawals, the panel is considering a wholesale option: Hamas would hand over all its weapons at once, and only then would Israeli troops pull back to Gaza's perimeter. The source cautioned that the phased framework has not been abandoned, though the wholesale option is under active consideration. The original roadmap, accepted by Hamas on July 30, divided the roughly 47 percent of Gaza still under Hamas's control into five sectors for demilitarization. Israel has separately claimed to control 60 to 70 percent of the Strip, though the source said troops have not actually redeployed to match that claim, leaving…
Kushner Gaza Mission Hits Israel-Hamas Deadlock
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner returned to the Middle East to push forward President Donald Trump's 15-point Gaza roadmap, but the trip exposed rather than resolved a rift with Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly rejected the plan before Kushner's visit, in what AP described as a rare public show of defiance against the Trump administration. Kushner met Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya for more than two hours in Cairo on August 16, alongside mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, before traveling to Jerusalem the next day for an extended meeting with Netanyahu, according to Reuters. Netanyahu has vowed there will be no Israeli military withdrawal until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed, according to CBS News. Hamas, which says it has already agreed to the roadmap, wants Israeli forces to first pull back to the so-called "yellow line," a boundary that was never precisely defined. Netanyahu previously said Israeli forces controlled…
Eight Countries Accuse Israel of Blocking Gaza Peace
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE issued a joint statement Sunday blaming Israel for stalling US President Donald Trump's Gaza peace process, according to Arab News. Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are named mediators in the roadmap; the other five states are lending it diplomatic weight from outside the formal mediation track. The eight foreign ministers said Israel's rejection of the roadmap, and of Palestinian statehood, "confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing" peace efforts, calling the positions a "direct repudiation" of the plan. The roadmap, endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, follows Hamas's late-July agreement to the full plan, including phased disarmament, an Israeli withdrawal, deployment of an international stabilization force, and transfer of administration to a Palestinian technocratic committee. The friction since then has centered on Israeli distrust that Hamas will actually follow through: analysts cited by Al Jazeera and The Hill…
Türkiye Warns of Radical Steps Over Gaza
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned Thursday that Türkiye, Qatar and Egypt could take radical action over Gaza unless Washington pushes Israel to meet its ceasefire commitments, according to Daily Sabah. Speaking alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty at a news conference in El Alamein, Fidan said "Türkiye, Qatar, and Egypt will have to take radical steps on this issue" if Israel's non-compliance continues, calling it a responsibility owed to the Palestinian people. He also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of pursuing policies that disregard human dignity and provoke the international community. The warning came alongside a deeper push to formalize Ankara-Cairo ties: the two ministers signed three cooperation documents following the second meeting of the Türkiye-Egypt Joint Planning Group, and Fidan described Egypt as Türkiye's natural partner, expressing hope the relationship would soon become formal. Abdelatty said the two countries also oppose Israeli strikes on Syrian sovereignty…
