NEW: Iran will not attend the Sharm el-Sheikh summit despite being invited.

Source: Tasnim

Hamas is ready to hand over the Israeli hostages today.

Source: WSJ

NEW: Pakistan says that 23 of its soldiers and 200 on the Afghan side were killed in clashes.

JD Vance:

Hostages will be released from Gaza any moment now.

Israeli Government Spokesperson:

Release of hostages will begin early Monday morning.

Turkish President Erdogan:

Our humanitarian aid trucks have started to reach Gaza.

Turkish President Erdogan:

Israel has made 85% of Gaza uninhabitable — polluted the waters, destroyed the gardens, demolished the buildings, bombed the schools, hospitals, and mosques — leaving nothing in Gaza in the name of infrastructure.

Israeli official to AFP:

Israel will only release Palestinian prisoners after confirmation that all hostages have been returned.

Mali: Fuel and power shortages are deepening due to JNIM’s blockade of key supply routes.

Madagascar: President denounces an “attempted coup” after elite soldiers joined deadly youth-led protests demanding his resignation.

Zelensky spoke again with Trump today, the second talk in two days.

Strengthening of Ukraine’s air defense, long-range capabilities, and energy issues were discussed.

BIG: Saudi-state outlets report that the remains of Eli Cohen—an Israeli spy executed in Syria in 1965—may soon be transferred to Israel as a gesture of goodwill.

Cohen was executed in Damascus on May 18 1965 after infiltrating Syrian political/military leadership.

A Der Spiegel investigation reveals that under Angela Merkel, German–Russian military cooperation persisted almost up to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Russian officers trained at Germany’s Altmark combat center—using Rheinmetall simulation tech—and Berlin even approved a €1 billion deal to build similar training sites in Russia.

The project was only halted after Crimea’s seizure.

Hamas source to AFP:

Hamas has completed preparations for the release of living hostages.

JD Vance:

We're going to find out a lot in the weeks to come about whether China wants to start a trade war with us or be reasonable.

Trump has far more cards than the PRC.

New post from Pakistan's Defense Minister.

Trump:

Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment.

He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I.

NEW: Palestinian President Abbas is expected to attend Trump's peace summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Source: Axios