Kibbutz Kissufim confirms that Shlomo Mansour, 86, who was abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was murdered during his captivity in Gaza. His body is still being held by the Palestinians.

The IDF says the information it has indicates Shlomo Mansour was murdered on Oct. 7. He was already dead when his body was taken by the Palestinians to Gaza.

If Arab states don't like Trump's plan, they need to offer a viable alternative that removes Hamas and guarantees Israel's security, insisted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/rubio-hamas-is-pure-evil-and-must-be-eradicated/

Channel 12: Ahead of this morning's cabinet meeting, Transportation Minister Miri Regev stressed that Israel must "adopt Trump's position immediately. All the hostages must be returned immediately, and if not - we enter Gaza, crush and completely dismantle them!"

Hamas officials tell Arab media that all members of the terror group have been instructed to stop using cellphones and other mobile devices.

Many in Hamas had gone back to their phones, pagers and other devices after the ceasefire deal was reached. But now they fear a sudden targeted Israeli operation against these devices.

Netanyahu after a 4-hour cabinet meeting:

"If Hamas does not release our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire is over and the IDF will resume combat operations until Hamas is fully defeated."

Trump and Jordan's King Abdullah are meeting now.

Trump confirms that Hamas has until noon Saturday to comply.

Israeli officials: Netanyahu and the cabinet are committed to President Trump's deadline for Hamas.

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The ceasefire is on very shaky ground. Everyone expects an explosion in the coming days.

What is likely to happen is that Hamas backs down and releases three hostages this coming Saturday, as originally planned, making it difficult for Israel to justify cancelling the ceasefire and resuming the war.

In that scenario, Israeli officials said they will still insist that the remaining nine living hostages to be released in the first phase be freed in the coming days, and not weeks later.

Still a far cry from ALL HOSTAGES, as Trump demanded.

Jordan's King Abdullah II comes out of his meeting with Trump saying he'll immediately take in 2,000 Gaza children in need of medical treatment, and will wait to hear Egypt's plan for accommodating the rest of Trump's scheme for Gaza.

Trump: Relocating two million Gazans isn't that hard. And it's not ethnic cleansing, because they're going to live somewhere better.

IDF Spokesman:

Earlier today (Wednesday), a drone was identified crossing from Israeli territory into southern Gaza, and was monitored by the IDF during its flight. Following this, the IAF struck the drone in southern Gaza, along with two additional suspects who were collecting it.

Recently, several attempts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip using drones have been identified. The IDF will not allow any terrorist activity and will continue to act as necessary to ensure the security of Israel’s citizens.

Intense negotiations have been underway since yesterday in an effort to salvage the Gaza ceasefire deal.

An Israeli official told local media this morning:

"We will continue the agreement in its current form if Hamas releases three hostages [on Saturday]. But the discussion of an ultimatum to release all hostages by Saturday, as well as the fact that there are no talks on the next phase as envisaged in the agreement, puts the entire continuation of this phase of the hostage deal in great jeopardy. We are at a crucial stage for the fate of the entire agreement."

Hamas threatened to not release any hostages this week. Hamas is expected to back down. But after President Trump's ultimatum, Israelis want all the hostages returned, now.

Don't be fooled by the mainstream media narrative. The situation for Christians in Syria is not good.

https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/darker-skies-ahead-for-syrian-christians/#google_vignette

Egyptian officials tell Reuters that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will not travel to Washington for talks with President Trump so long as the relocation of Gaza's population is on the agenda.

Earlier today, the Arab League condemned Trump's plan for Gaza as "unacceptable."

But for Israel, the status quo is unacceptable. Hamas remaining in control of Gaza is unacceptable. Gaza continuing to pose any kind of threat is unacceptable.

And so we are at an impasse.

Can Trump break it?

Double rainbow over Gaza. Is it a sign?

Saturday. Noon.

Defense Minister Israel Katz:

"If Hamas does not release the Israeli hostages by Shabbat, the gates of hell will open on them. There will be a war of a different intensity than before the ceasefire, and we will realize Trump's vision."

Hamas is calling for three days of protest marches against Trump's transfer plan and the American takeover of the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri rejected Trump's ultimatum to release "all hostages" by Saturday:

"We are not afraid of his threats, they are worthless."

There are two-and-a-half days left until Trump's ultimatum expires - but Hamas has no intention of complying. "We will not release all the hostages next Saturday," Abu Zuhri said this evening in an interview with Al-Jazeera.

Rivers of red on Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf. The island has a high concentration of iron oxide resulting in this natural phenomenon.

Hamas issued a statement last night noting that over 800 aid trucks had entered Gaza on Wednesday and attributing this to its threat to not release any Israeli hostages this week.

This is Hamas's way of saving face as it backs down and likely prepares to release the three Israeli hostages originally scheduled for this coming Shabbat (but not ALL the hostages, as demanded by Trump).

They want the local population to think that the threat worked, and that Hamas succeeded in twisting Israel's arm.

The truth is that aid trucks were already entering Gaza on a daily basis. Israel was not holding up any of the aid.

It is true that Egypt has deployed dozens of tanks to the Rafah border between the Sinai and Gaza.

4 times as many as permitted by the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.

But the assumption in Israel is that they are meant to keep Palestinians from flooding into Egypt, especially after President Trump said he’d like to resettle them there.