Israeli, US air forces conduct joint exercise
The Israeli Air Force has conducted a joint training exercise with the US Air Force, the Israeli military said in a statement.
During the exercise, Israeli F-35i and F-15i aircraft flew alongside a US B-52 strategic bomber, the Israeli military said, adding that the aircraft had practised “operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats”.
Speculation has grown in recent months about a possible joint attack by Israel and the US on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Israel’s new defence chief of staff to present plans for resumed Gaza fighting
The Israeli military’s new chief of staff is expected to present plans for the resumption of fighting in Gaza at a meeting tonight, according to Israeli media.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, is set to hold a situational assessment detailing plans to retake control of various areas across Gaza, including areas it left as part of the ceasefire agreement deal.
But officials who spoke with the newspaper also said that the military is facing challenges drafting the number of reservists needed for such a plan.
A number of Israeli reservists have indicated that they would decline to fight in Gaza and end their voluntary service instead, as they believe a resumption of hostilities would endanger the remaining captives and is based on political calculations.
Trump will back Israel in ‘whatever action it chooses to take’
The White House administration is standing by the fact that there would not be a deployment of troops in Gaza, though what they say and what they do may be two different things.
However, what is very clear is that Trump will back Israel in whatever action it chooses to take should the captives not be released, so he is basically flashing a green light in the direction of Israel to restart full-on conflict in Gaza.
This goes against what it appears his special envoy to the region is doing. He’s been holding direct talks with Hamas, bypassing Israel, and is now on his way to Doha for talks with the region’s leaders there. So there appears to be a bit of a disconnect in terms of what President Trump thinks and what his diplomats are actually doing on the ground.
But it was made very clear again, and he’s said it repeatedly, that it is up to Israel to do whatever it deems necessary, and now he’s giving Israel a very, very clear green light to do what it deems necessary, even if it means an upsurge in the conflict.
Hamas spokesperson calls on Trump to visit released Palestinian prisoners
A spokesperson for Hamas’s political division has called on Trump to meet with Palestinian prisoners after he met with released Israeli captives.
In a public letter shared with Al Jazeera, the spokesperson, Basem Naim, wrote that while Trump speaks of the “unbearable suffering of Israeli captives in Gaza”, more than 9,500 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli custody across 23 detention centers, deprived of basic rights, denied family visits, and facing “ongoing psychological and physical torture”.
“We invite President Trump to show the same level of respect to freed Palestinian political prisoners and allocate the time to meet and listen to their stories,” he wrote.
Naim added that 62 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the beginning of the latest war and that Israeli authorities are holding the remains of 665 Palestinians buried in “numbers graves” and “morgues”, some of whom had been detained as far back as the 1960s and 1970s.
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