The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
China calls for ‘comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza’
BEIJING — Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi calls for a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza at a press conference in Beijing.
“If major powers genuinely care about the people of Gaza, they should promote a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian assistance,” Wang says.
Ex-hostage Ofer Calderon: Captives ‘feel like they’re dying’ when no talks to free them are held
Released hostage Ofer Calderon recalls the hardship of captivity in Gaza, describing the feeling of hopelessness when there are no negotiations to free the Israelis held there by Hamas.
“I really want the deal to continue, because who like me knows how the people there feel right now,” he tells the Kan public broadcaster at a medal ceremony for Israeli cyclists.
“When there are no talks, it’s a disaster,” Calderon adds. “People there feel like they are dying and the light in the tunnel went out.”
Trump says he’ll visit Saudi Arabia this spring after Riyadh agreed to invest $1 trillion in US
US President Donald Trump says he will travel to Saudi Arabia in the spring after Riyadh agreed to invest $1 trillion in American companies over the next four years.
Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump says Saudi Arabia agreed to invest $450 billion in US companies during his first term
“They’ve gotten richer, we’ve all gotten older. So I said, ‘I’ll go if you pay a $1 trillion to American companies… over a four-year period,” Trump says.
“They’ve agreed to do that, so I’m going to be going there… probably over the next month and a half.”
“I have a great relationship with them, and they’ve been very nice, but they’re going to be spending a lot of money to American companies for buying military equipment and a lot of other things,” he says.
Poll: US support for Israel hits record low, backing for Palestinians at all-time high
Support for Israel is at a 25-year low, according to a new poll released by Gallup, which also shows backing for the Palestinians at a record high.
Asked who “in the Middle East situation” their sympathies lie more with, 46 percent of respondents say Israelis versus 33% who say Palestinians.
The 46% support for Israel marks a five percent drop from last year, which had tied the previous low of 51% in 2001.
The one-third backing for the Palestinians was up six percent from 2024, when support slipped from the previous high of 31% recorded in 2023.
Rubio says foreigners who back terror groups, including Hamas, to face deportation
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says foreigners supporting terror groups will face deportation, in a statement issued shortly after Axios reported that his office is planning to use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who are perceived as supporters of Hamas.
“Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists. Violators of US law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation and deportation,” Rubio tweets.
The State Department’s “Catch and Revoke” initiative will include AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts, Axios reported.
At the same time, officials will also launch a probe into whether any visa holders were arrested but allowed to stay in the country during former US president Joe Biden’s administration, the report added.
Axios said officials are checking news reports of demonstrations against Israel’s policies and Jewish students’ lawsuits highlighting foreign nationals allegedly engaging in antisemitism.
It says the State Department will work in cooperation with the justice and homeland security departments to carry out the plan.
US: Our message to Hamas is the same in direct talks as it has been in other channels
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce suggests the Trump administration’s hostage envoy merely used his direct talks with Hamas to convey the same message that Washington has been seeing through other channels to date.
“Nothing was conveyed differently. There was no change of position. It was the conveyance of the existing American position about Hamas and how it cannot exist in Gaza,” Bruce says during a press briefing.
“Whether it is through a tweet or a diplomatic cable or on television or through envoys or in a meeting, that message can be conveyed… so that a blood thirsty group like Hamas understands that our message is not fluid.”
State Department: Arab plan for Gaza not ‘adequate’; Hamas can’t continue to exist there
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the Trump administration views the Arab plan for the post-war management of the Gaza Strip to be inadequate.
Bruce doesn’t offer specifics on what is missing from the plan, but states that the US will not accept a framework that leads to a return of the cycle of violence involving Gaza, and insists that Hamas can not continue to exist in the Strip.
While the Arab plan envisions Hamas no longer in control of Gaza’s governance, it doesn’t specifically address the terror group’s military wing, beyond saying that armed groups in the Strip can only be addressed through a political process that establishes a Palestinian state.
Still, the Arab League, in a statement endorsing the Egyptian plan, asserted that the security of Gaza “remains the exclusive responsibility of legitimate Palestinian institutions, [who will operate] in accordance with the principle of one law and one legitimate weapon” — meaning that armed groups other than the Palestinian Authority’s security forces will not be accepted.
Bruce says that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and relocate all of its Palestinians was “an invitation for new ideas, and it seemed to have spurred some new ideas” from the Arab world. However, what Washington has seen to date from its allies has not been “adequate.”
“The Arab [plan] does not fulfill… the nature of what President Trump was asking for,” she says.
However, the US welcomes the Arab effort to address the issue, which Bruce says must continue.
Earlier Thursday, US envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff took a softer approach when asked about the Arab plan, saying it was a “good faith first step” with “a lot of compelling features to it.”
Backing Israeli freeze, US says Gaza aid should only be delivered in ‘safe framework’
The US State Department defends Israel’s decision to withhold aid from Gaza, which Israel said it began doing on Sunday in order to prevent the assistance from reaching Hamas.
“Aid can only be delivered in a safe framework, so as long as… we can’t guarantee the safety of something moving in, that is going to be stopped,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says during her first briefing of the administration.
“It is not a withholding, but it’s a reflection of the framework of the situation on the ground,” she adds.
Shortly after Israel announced on Sunday the halt on the entry of aid into Gaza, the White House issued a statement backing the Israeli position in the hostage talks more broadly, without specifically saying that it supported the withholding of aid.
The Israeli decision came as the first phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas drew to a close.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel is supposed to allow aid in as long as negotiations regarding phase two of the deal are ongoing. But Israel has largely refused to even start those phase two negotiations, to begin with, even though the deal required them to begin over a month ago.
The sides are currently in a state of limbo, with Israel looking to rework the terms of the deal moving forward, while Hamas is insisting that the sides stick to the terms that were approved in January.
Rights groups say the withholding of aid or its use as a bargaining chip amounts to a violation of international law.
Hasidic MKs tell Netanyahu they’ll oppose budget if draft-exemption law not passed
Members of the coalition’s Agudath Yisrael faction send a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning they will vote against the state budget if the government does not pass legislation formalizing sweeping exemptions to mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
The letter is signed by the faction’s leader, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, along with MKs Ya’akov Tessler and Moshe Roth.
Agudath Yisrael is a Hasidic faction within the United Torah Judaism party, which also includes the non-Hasidic Degel HaTorah.