Trump-Gaza latest: US President warns Hamas must disarm or ‘we will disarm them’

The Gaza conflict has had a particular impact on women and girls. But a visitor to the planet has recently been observing Sharm el-Sheikh peace summit Will never know.

When Egypt released the list of global leaders and officials attending the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh – more 25 nations And the international body as a whole – the only Woman Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was also included in the list.

As the youngest person in attendance, you might have thought he would have been brought forward. But no one. He was left to wander around in the background, completely invisible — and ignored until President Donald Trump went out of his way to acknowledge his presence at the final press conference — by calling him. “Beautiful”. This is not the attention to detail that women need in peace negotiations.

The absence of women leaders on the world stage is an urgent problem, and it matters for the lives of women and girls in the region, and, I would argue, for the broader prospects for lasting peace.

The families of the hostages and those released bowed their heads in sorrow upon receiving the devastating news of the assassination of Tamir Nimrodi Z”L.

Tamir’s return ended 740 days of unbearable uncertainty and pain. The families of the hostages and those released stand in deep solidarity with the Nimrodi family, sharing their grief and promising to be with them in this time of mourning.

Tamir’s family said: “After two years of agonizing uncertainty, filled with hope and longing for a different ending, we received heartbreaking news confirming the identity of our beloved Tamir.

“Tamir was brutally kidnapped from his base and murdered in Hamas captivity. He was returned to Israel yesterday for eternal rest. We are in moments of grief and contemplation, but we will not abandon the hostage families until the last hostage is brought home.”

Israel has also announced that it will keep the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed and restrict aid until Hamas returns the bodies of dead hostages. It told the United Nations it would halve the amount of aid it is providing to 300 aid trucks from Wednesday.

Four more dead hostages and detainees were handed over by Hamas late Tuesday evening, while 20 remain in Gaza. The bodies were transferred to the Red Cross which handed them over to the Israeli army.

A Turkish aid ship carrying 900 tonnes of food and infant formula has left Mersin port for Gaza, Al Jazeera reported, citing state-run Anadolu agency.

The ship, named “The Goodness”, is part of a humanitarian initiative organized by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) in coordination with 17 non-governmental organizations and the Egyptian Red Crescent.

The effort comes as Ankara takes an increasingly active role in supporting and mediating the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

Turkey has long expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza and has previously supported several Gaza Freedom Flotillas, including the 2010 Mavi Marmara mission, which ended in tragedy when Israeli commandos attacked the ship, killing 10 Turkish activists.

Unlike those flotilla missions that sought to break Israel’s blockade by sailing directly to Gaza, The Goodness would unload her cargo at the Egyptian port of El Arish before delivering aid to the besieged area by land.

Hamas returned the bodies of four more dead hostages to Israel on Tuesday night.

The bodies were taken away in Red Cross vehicles.

The coffins crossed the border into Israel shortly before midnight (2100 GMT) under the protection of Israeli forces and were taken for forensic identification.

Israel decided to open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and allow the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza following the return of the bodies of four hostages, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Wednesday.

It said Israel canceled planned measures against Hamas including halving the number of aid trucks entering the enclave.

The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came under new strain on Tuesday when Israel announced it would cut in half the number of aid trucks allowed to enter Gaza.

The move came after Israeli concerns that Hamas was delaying the return of the remains of dead hostages beyond the deadline set in the ceasefire.

According to the UN humanitarian office, Israel’s military liaison body, COGAT, informed them that only 300 aid trucks would be allowed into the war-torn area each day, down from the 600 stipulated under the ceasefire terms.

Three US sources told The Associated Press that US officials were also informed of the decision.

The Israeli government has not yet commented publicly on the cuts, but Hamas appeared to be responding to increasing pressure.

Donald Trump has said he wants dead hostages in Gaza to be released and warned Hamas that if they “don’t disarm, we will disarm”.

The US President speaks during a meeting with Argentina’s President Javier Mili at the White House.

“If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them,” he said.

Trump said he had conveyed this to Hamas and that they had agreed to disarm, as outlined in his 20-point peace proposal.

Trump said, “I talked to Hamas, and I said, you’re going to disarm, OK? Yes, sir, we’re going to disarm. That’s what they told me.” He later clarified that he had sent the message through intermediaries.

Trump said he had conveyed this to Hamas and that they had agreed to disarm, as outlined in his 20-point peace proposal.

The comments come as the Red Cross is believed to be at a meeting where Hamas is set to return the bodies of four more hostages, meaning 20 bodies will remain in Gaza.

Hamas released four more bodies of hostages, Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night, after Israeli forces stepped up pressure on a fragile ceasefire.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed late Tuesday that authorities had found four dead hostages who were handed over by the Red Cross to Israeli military authorities inside Gaza.

The bodies will be taken to the National Center for Forensic Medicine where they will be identified and families informed.

The latest transfer of remains came a day after Israel received the bodies of four other dead hostages.

An Israeli military agency said it would halve aid deliveries to Gaza amid concerns the militant group was handing over supplies to Gaza at a slower rate than agreed.

“A new and beautiful day is rising and the rebuilding begins now,” Donald Trump told world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday. He announced the success of the first phase of his peace deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war.

If the “first phase” sought to address the key demands of both sides – namely a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages to Israel – the second phase will focus on rebuilding the enclave in a way that guarantees lasting peace and security.

Trump acknowledged Monday that the path to peace will be winding. “All the phases of the deal are a little bit mixed up with each other”, he said, later assuring that elements could still be moved “out of sequence in a positive way”.

Our foreign affairs reporter James Clark Reynolds writes: