Overview

• The president said a Gaza agreement is "quite close" after speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
• U.S. officials presented a plan to Arab and Muslim leaders that envisions a permanent ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages, an Israeli withdrawal, a surge of humanitarian aid, and future Gaza governance excluding Hamas.
• Netanyahu has vowed to expand Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, while far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have urged formal annexation.
• Arab and Muslim leaders asked Washington for explicit guarantees against West Bank annexation and any move altering Jerusalem’s holy sites, with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister warning such steps would endanger peace efforts.
• Netanyahu is expected to address the UN on Friday pledging to rebuke recognitions of a Palestinian state, as Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas told the UN by video that Hamas would have no governing role and must disarm.