Israel will not accept the 15-point plan for Gaza set out by President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday.
The peace plan called for a phased withdrawal of Israel’s troops from Gaza alongside the disarmament of Hamas, but Netanyahu said that Israeli forces are not going anywhere until Hamas completely disarms first.
Hamas had said last month that it would disarm, but only after Israel withdraws completely and stops all hostilities.
The explicit rejection of the plan, frequently touted by Trump as a key foreign policy achievement, also comes after months of growing tensions between the White House and Israel’s leadership over Iran.
There are no ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, after Tehran set out a series of steep demands for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid out the country’s conditions, saying it would not reopen the strait “until America corrects its behavior.”
The statement, as carried by Iranian state media, stated that the U.S. must withdraw its naval blockade, pay Iran damages for the war, unfreeze Iranian assets, lift sanctions on Tehran and permanently end the conflict against Iran and its regional allies.
The U.S. has yet to respond publicly to the list of conditions. Top officials previously ruled out making any immediate payments to Iran during past efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
After weeks of uncertainty, Todd Blanche was confirmed as U.S. attorney general early Saturday in a mostly party-line vote.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, was confirmed by a vote of 50-49, with only two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voting against him.
The vote was held after 4 a.m. on Saturday, as a late-night session ran into the early hours ahead of a planned Senate recess.
Earlier Republican holdouts, Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, ultimately backed Blanche after receiving various assurances from the nominee, including an order rescinding the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. (A legal loophole could still revive the fund, however.)
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, confirmed Sunday that he spoke with Barack Obama following his primary victory last week and said he hopes the former president will join him on the campaign trail this fall.
“It was a really warm and inspiring conversation,” El-Sayed told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” about his call with Obama.
“I was grateful for his advice,” he added. “It was very warm, very inviting, and I know that he knows the critical role that Michigan is going to play in holding [President Donald] Trump accountable, in winning back the Senate and in building forward the future that we need.”
