‘Easy way or hard’: Trump issues new demand for Hamas demilitarisation
President Trump has issued a new demand, accompanied by threatening language, that Hamas disarm.
Trump pledged on social media late on Thursday to achieve a “comprehensive” demilitarisation Hamas, threatening the Palestinian group if it fails to do so, and demanded the return the remains of the last Israeli captive.
“Hamas must IMMEDIATELY honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel, and proceed without delay to full Demilitarization,” Trump wrote on social media.
“As I have said before, they can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”
US Senator Lindsey Graham to meet Netanyahu during Israel visit
US Senator Lindsey Graham said he is travelling to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his government, describing the visit as taking place at a “crucial time” for the Middle East.
In a post on X, Graham said the talks would focus on what he described as “historic opportunities” created under Trump and reaffirmed his support for Israel. The Republican senator praised the Trump–Netanyahu relationship as one of the “strongest partnerships in the history of US–Israel relationship”.
Graham is a divisive figure in US politics, having previously claimed the “Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalised population on the planet”.
US judge to issue order protecting academics amid pro-Palestine activism crackdown
A US federal judge has said he will issue an order aimed at protecting academics who are challenging the arrest and potential deportation of non-citizen, pro-Palestine activists on US university campuses.
Speaking at a hearing in Boston, US District Judge William Young said the order, expected within a week, would seek to prevent the Trump administration from changing the immigration status of non-citizen academics involved in the case.
The lawsuit was filed last year after immigration authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate, in March.
Khalil was the first individual targeted under Donald Trump’s effort to deport non-citizen students involved in pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel activism.
