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This liveblog is no longer being updated.
Likud members choose candidates ahead of Israel election
Likud members voted Monday to choose their candidates for Israel's October 27 general election, in which the right-wing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tight race.
Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving premier but now finds himself in a weakened position. He attempted controversial judicial reforms and since Hamas's October 7 attack has pursued war across the Middle East.
Polls predict Likud's number of parliamentary seats could fall from 32 to as low as 22.
Monday's primary voting saw Likud's 140,000 members choose their candidates. Netanyahu has set aside around 10 spots for people of his own choosing, which local media described as an attempt to ensure he is surrounded by loyalists.
Longtime Likud member Avi, 30, condemned the move. "That's not democratic... They've destroyed Likud," he said, adding that he had not decided who would get his vote at the general election.
Erdogan urges Trump to continue Iran talks
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged US President Donald Trump in a call to continue talks with Iran to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, and offered Ankara's support in peace efforts, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the presidency said Erdogan and Trump also discussed the war in Gaza, a defence pact signed between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and bilateral ties. It added Erdogan told Trump that Israel's attacks on Palestinians in Gaza had increased at a time when the second phase of Trump's peace plan was supposed to come into effect.
Kushner predicts Hamas disarmament progress in 30 days
Progress in getting Hamas to give up its weapons and move forward with a Gaza peace plan could materialise in about a month, US President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner said Monday.
"We could be seeing progress... in as little as 30 days, hopefully starting to take some of the weapons out, and hopefully, you know, filling in some of the tunnels as well," Kushner told Fox News while in Tel Aviv.
Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump stands for a television interview on FOX News outside the White House on January 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images via AFP
US not seeking to extend Iran interim deal, Trump says
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States is not seeking an extension of the memorandum of understanding with Iran.
'We're not there yet on an understanding', US envoy Kushner says of Iran interim peace deal
US President Donald Trump's envoy Jared Kushner on Monday said conversations between the US and different areas of the Iranian government were probably more robust than ever, but the two sides had not yet reached an understanding.
Kushner, who is visiting the Middle East, made the comments in an interview with Fox News.
Iran denounces 'suspicious' drone attack on Iraqi Kurdistan PM's office
Iraq said on Monday it would launch an investigation into an overnight drone attack on the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister's office, as Iran portrayed the incident as a ploy to undermine bilateral relations.
Kurdistan's authorities had earlier blamed the attack -- which also targeted the home of the autonomous region's intelligence chief -- on Tehran, saying the two drones had been launched from the Islamic republic's territory.
Since the start of the Middle East war, the Kurdistan region, which hosts US troops and foreign oil firms as well as rebels exiled from Iran, has been targeted with more than 1,000 attacks by Tehran and pro-Iran armed groups inside Iraq.
Turkey, Iran discuss efforts to reopen Strait of Hormuz, progress US-led ceasefire
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday discussed efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz and ensure the continuation of a ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. during a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, a Turkish diplomatic source said, without elaborating.
Earlier, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had decided to shift its policy from defensive to "fully offensive" due to the deadlock in efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the U.S., as progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic strait has ground to a halt.
US-Palestinian says 'terrified' as he returns to home besieged by settlers
The Palestinian-American owner of a house besieged by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank said on Monday he feared for his safety as he headed back to his property and called for US protection.
Louai Abu Ridi owns one of the three houses in Qusra, near Nablus, which settlers began besieging more than a week ago, trapping residents inside and effectively blocking supplies, generating condemnation around the world.
His brother, Qusai Abu Ridi, is stuck inside the house and has been relaying the situation of residents to the outside world.
On Monday, the brother shared videos with AFP showing settlers riding quad bikes past the house while Israeli forces were stationed outside.
"I've been watching this live for many days and now this is the second week I can't sleep," Louai Abu Ridi told reporters after he landed at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
"I can't let the settlers steal my house while I was watching," he added. Abu Ridi said he was hoping to stay in the house on Monday night, which left him "terrified". "I'm asking the US officials, the embassy, to provide me protection," he said.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of settlers, has offered unusually strong criticism over the incident in recent days.
"Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting," Huckabee wrote on X on Thursday.
Kushner, Netanyahu agree on path forward for Gaza, Board of Peace official says
A meeting on Monday between US President Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "lengthy, in depth, and very productive," a Board of Peace official said, adding that agreement was reached with Netanyahu on a path forward for the Gaza conflict.
Israeli official says Netanyahu, Kushner agree US general to oversee Hamas disarming
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on Monday with US envoy Jared Kushner that a US general should supervise Hamas's disarmament and said Israel would not pull troops from Gaza until then, an Israeli official told AFP.
The two sides "agreed that the first step toward the demilitarisation of the Strip would be to require Hamas to hand over its weapons for decommissioning under the supervision of an American general", the Israeli official said.
There was no immediate US confirmation of any agreement.
'Israelis are going to give this a chance', Board of Peace official says of US peace plan
Herzog says Israeli security interests 'central element' in peace plan
Israel President Isaac Herzog met with Trump envoy Jared Kushner along with Board of Peace representatives at the president's residence in Jerusalem on Monday.
He praised President Trump's peace plan and said he was impressed that Israel's security interests are "an important and central element" of the plan.
Netanyahu asks for US general to supervise Hamas arms surrender, Israeli official says
Netanyahu tells Kushner no Israeli pullout in Gaza without Hamas disarmament, Israeli official says
Kushner meets Netanyahu in US bid to shift stalemate in Gaza
US envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after holding talks with Hamas leaders in Egypt aimed at reviving a US-backed Gaza peace plan that Israel has so far rejected.
Watch FRANCE 24's Middle East correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky to find out more on the high-stakes visit.
Iran to escalate tensions in region if diplomacy with US fails, senior official says
Iran will escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region if diplomacy with the U.S. fails, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, pointing to an Iranian policy shift relying on offense rather than defence.
Iran says 60-day deadline for peace deal negotiations 'irrelevant'
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that a 60-day deadline for negotiations included in June's memorandum of understanding was "irrelevant" because the US had violated the deal early on.
"We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the 60-day provision irrelevant."
- Israeli official says Netanyahu, Kushner agree US general to oversee Hamas disarming
- Trump threatens to bomb Oman if they get in way of Hormuz deal
- Iran sets a deadline of a few weeks to fully implement interim peace deal
- Iran to shift its policy from defensive to 'fully offensive', senior official says
- Iran to escalate tensions in region if diplomacy with US fails, senior official says
- Iran says 60-day deadline for peace deal negotiations 'irrelevant'
- Yemen's Houthis claim attack on Saudi military landing ship, four escort vessels off Mocha coast in Red Sea
- Iran says it is near finalising deal with Oman over plan for Strait of Hormuz shipping
Yemen's Houthis claim attack on Saudi military landing ship, four escort vessels off Mocha coast in Red Sea
Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.
Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed group, said it had "succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles".
He went on to claim that the ship and number of other boats were sunk or burned, though the claim could not be independently verified. Riyadh did not immediately respond to the announcement.
Yesterday's developments:
- US negotiator and President Donald Trump 's son-in-law Jared Kushner held a rare meeting with the Hamas chief on Sunday in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire ahead of Monday's meeting with Israel 's prime minister, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed roadmap.
- An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's coalition publicly advocated for killing "30 to 40 people" in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media.
- The top US military commander in the Middle East praised the leadership of the long-deployed USS Lincoln after visiting the sailors on the vessel during a regional tour that ended on Saturday, the US Central Command said.
- Iran's military announced it was offering a bounty equivalent to $30,000 for killing or capturing US soldiers , with the reward doubled if carried out by a woman.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
