RETURN AGREEMENT 7️⃣9️⃣ HOSTAGES 🎗️Day 490/

• Hamas is expected to release a fifth batch of Israeli captives on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza fueled further uncertainty on whether the multiphase agreement will hold up. A list of the three hostages to be released is expected in Israel by 3 p.m. (CET) on Friday. https://lnk.sk/asaw 
• Ex-hostage Ofer Calderon leaves hospital, family says he will join fight for remaining hostages https://lnk.sk/lmzb   

USA 🇺🇸 – ISRAEL 🇮🇱 /

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said it was “worth listening carefully” to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. In a video filmed at his hotel in Washington said “it is the first original idea that has been raised in years.”https://lnk.sk/fjeq ; video https://lnk.sk/trs4 
• Meeting later Thursday with US Senate leaders, Netanyahu was asked whether “US troops are needed in Gaza to make President Trump’s plan feasible?” “No,” he answered.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on critics of the plan to come forward with their own.
• “President Trump has offered to go in and be a part of that solution. If some other countries are willing to step forward and do it themselves, that would be great, but no one seems to be rushing forward to do that,” Marco Rubio said.
• Senior military officials are worried about the potential fallout from Trump’s proposal. Network quoted head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, telling political leaders “to get ready for Ramadan” next month due to concerns that “Trump’s plans will set the area ablaze.”

EGYPT 🇪🇬 /

• Egypt has launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic blitz to try to head off US President Trump’s proposal for the mass relocation of Palestinians from the Gaza. Egypt has warned that such a plan could undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence in the Middle East for decades. https://lnk.sk/vpv4 
• According to reports, Egypt is demanding millions of dollars from the terrorist organization in exchange for hosting prisoners released from Israeli prisons on its territory as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel. https://lnk.sk/jdkp 

JORDAN 🇯🇴 /

• Trump’s plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza poses a major threat to Jordan, with analysts saying the US president’s proposal would upend the balance the kingdom must strike between ensuring its US aid lifeline and safeguarding its security. King Abdullah II is set to meet Trump next week

GAZA, JUDEA & SAMARIA (so-called West Bank) /

• Hamas claimed that the Palestinian Authority opposes Hamas taking the political lead, but argued that the world only engages with active players—not the dead—insisting that both war and peace negotiations ultimately run through Hamas. (video) https://lnk.sk/esgp 
• Over the past month, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents, working alongside the Israel Defense Forces, have thwarted 90 major terrorist attacks, including 75 in Samaria, as security sources warn that Iran is fueling violence in Judea and Samaria. https://lnk.sk/rzqy 

IRAN 🇮🇷 /

• Iran’s supreme leader said Friday that if the United States “threatens” Iran’s security, “we will threaten them in return,” adding that negotiations with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable” after US President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran. https://lnk.sk/bmhz 
• Iran demonstrated its military might on Wednesday, displaying the Russian-made S-300 air defense system alongside the locally-made Bavar-373 missile defense system during a high-profile exercise. https://lnk.sk/sbkl 

LEBANON 🇱🇧/

• IAF strikes military sites in Lebanon citing presence of Hezbollah weaponry. The strikes are in response to multiple ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, including attempts at smuggling weapons through Syria. https://lnk.sk/oij1 
• US has set a “red line” that Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus says in Lebanon. https://lnk.sk/zayw 

SYRIA 🇸🇾 /

• HTS Islamist Militants in Damascus Declare: We Will Enter Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and the Kaaba in Mecca, Just Like We Entered the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (video) https://lnk.sk/vou6 
• Druze villages in the eastern Golan seek union with Israel. The residents of South Lebanon and the embattled Kurds might also consider this possibility. https://lnk.sk/ptzh 

BELGIUM 🇧🇪 /

• With new government Belgium is set to adopt a neutral position on Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a stark contrast to the hostility exhibited by the previous administration – Israel’s most vocal European critics. https://lnk.sk/jlfq 

GERMANY 🇩🇪 / 

• Berlin will continue to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) even though it is unclear what sanctions imposed by U.S. President Trump will mean for the court https://lnk.sk/kce0 

Sources: …Times of Israel, TV Channel 13 news, Newsrael, Memri, Israel Realtime

©️ ICEJ Slovakia; peter.svec@icej.sk