The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
Report: PM rejected US proposal for Saudi normalization in exchange for path to Palestinian statehood
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would have seen Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem agreeing to provide the Palestinians with a pathway toward statehood.
Netanyahu told Blinken during his visit to Israel last week that he wasn’t prepared to make a deal that allows for a Palestinian state, NBC News reports, citing three unnamed senior US officials.
Blinken responded that Hamas cannot be removed through military means alone and that a failure by Israeli leaders to recognize this will lead to history repeating itself, a US official tells The Times of Israel, confirming this detail from the NBC report.
Blinken came to Netanyahu with the proposal after he received commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and four other Arab leaders to help fund the reconstruction of Gaza after the war and support the return of a reformed PA to the Strip, NBC news says.
Bin Salman also told Blinken he was prepared to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Gaza reconstruction, two US officials have told The Times of Israel, noting that he indeed is conditioning that deal on Israeli steps toward Palestinian sovereignty. However, the officials noted that this condition falls well short of an expectation that Israel agree to the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state.
NBC reports that the only request to which Netanyahu agreed was for Israel not to launch a major attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon. US officials who spoke with The Times of Israel confirm that agreement.
They note, however, that Israel also agreed to another major US request — that it allow a team of UN officials into Gaza to carry out an assessment regarding the conditions required for Palestinians to be able to return to their homes in the northern Strip.
NBC cites three administration officials who claim that the administration is looking past Netanyahu to try and achieve its goals in the region, with one of them telling the network that the premier “will not be there forever.” However, two US officials tell The Times of Israel that as a matter of policy, the US is not actively planning for a post-Netanyahu era and is still seeking to work with the current premier.
Blinken did, however, hold private meetings with other members of the war cabinet, including Minister Benny Gantz, who is seen as a potential successor to Netanyahu, as well as Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
One of the senior administration officials tells NBC that Biden’s hopes of reshaping the Middle East after the war are completely linked to the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state, which means they will likely have to wait until there is a different government in Israel.
British FM Cameron meets with Iranian counterpart at Davos, slams attack on Iraq’s Erbil
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum, UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) says in a statement.
Cameron condemned the attacks in Erbil in Iraq, which killed UK-Iraqi dual national Karam Mikhael, the statement adds.
Cameron also made it clear that the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea are “illegal and unacceptable,” the FCDO says.
“Iran must cease supplying the Houthis with weapons and intelligence and use its influence to stop Houthi attacks in the Red Sea,” Cameron writes on X.
“Iran must also stop using the regional situation as cover to act recklessly and violate others’ sovereignty. I made this clear to [Amir-Abdollahian].”
CENTCOM confirms Houthi drone attack on US-owned ship, says no injuries but some damage
US Central Command confirms that an attack drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck the Genco Picardy bulk carrier, which sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands and is US-owned and operated.
According to Central Command, there were no injuries in the attack but some damage was caused.
“Genco Picardy is seaworthy and continuing underway,” it says in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
Incoming rocket sirens activated in several towns across from southeastern Gaza
Incoming rocket warning sirens sound in several southern Israeli communities near the southeastern corner of the Gaza Strip, following an apparent overnight barrage from the coastal enclave.