The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Top US and Turkish diplomats speak about dangers posed by Iran, State Department says
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan earlier Monday about the dangers posed to regional security by Iran and its proxies, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says.
“They agreed on the importance of counterterrorism cooperation and strengthening NATO,” the statement says.
Iran says 2nd round of nuclear talks will be held in Oman after sides seemed to agree on Rome
The next round of talks between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program will be held in Oman on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reports.
Following indirect negotiations in Muscat last weekend, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says the next talks would take place in Oman’s capital on April 19, IRNA reports. The Dutch and Italian foreign ministers had earlier said that the talks would be held in Rome.
Hamas says it is studying proposal for Gaza ceasefire, to respond soon
Hamas says it is studying the proposal it received from mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza, adding it will submit its response “as soon as possible.”
Egypt earlier received an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in the enclave, the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV cited sources as saying earlier today after talks ended in Cairo without a breakthrough.
PM tells hostage families ‘intensive’ ceasefire talks underway
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spokes this evening with the mothers of hostages Tamir Nimrodi, Avinatan Or, and Eitan Horn about current negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu described to the parents ongoing efforts to secure the hostages’ return and provided “updates on the existence of intensive negotiations currently underway,” the PMO says in a statement about the conversations.
The premier reiterated his “commitment to the return of all the hostages — both the living and the fallen,” the PMO adds.
During a phone call yesterday evening, Netanyahu told the parents of hostage Eitan Mor that the government is working on a deal that would see 10 of the remaining captives released by Gaza terror groups, the Tikva Forum said today.
Hamas official: We refuse disarmament as part of negotiations for Gaza ceasefire
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri says in a live interview with Al-Jazeera that “the draft that we received as part of the negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza is an Israeli draft, and it includes, for the first time, the disarmament of Hamas as part of the negotiations of the second phase of the ceasefire.”
Abu Zuhri says that “this is a million times a red line,” and that Hamas rejects it.
He also says Hamas is prepared to release all hostages in one go, in return for ending the war and the retreat of the IDF forces from the Strip.
Harvard defies Trump demands for antisemitism policy changes, risking funding
Elite US university Harvard is risking billions of dollars in federal funding as it rejects a list of sweeping demands that the Trump administration said are intended to crack down on campus antisemitism.
The call for changes to its governance, hiring practices, and admissions procedures expands on a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.
Harvard president Alan Garber vows in a letter to students and faculty to defy the government, insisting that the school will not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”
Campuses across the country were rocked last year by student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel counter-protesters.
Trump and other Republicans have broadly accused the activists of supporting Hamas.
“Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” Garber, who is Jewish, writes in the letter.
Garber’s letter comes after the administration placed $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard and its affiliates under review.
Egypt receives Israeli proposal for temporary Gaza ceasefire
Egypt has received an Israeli proposal for a temporary ceasefire in war-torn Gaza that would pave the way for negotiations towards a permanent cessation of hostilities, state-linked media says.
“Egypt has passed on the Israeli proposal to Hamas and is awaiting its response as soon as possible,” sources tell Egypt’s Al-Qahera News, without giving further details about the proposal.