United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, speaks with White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller at the Bestepe Presidential Palace as they wait for a formal welcome for U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday.Credit: Francisco Seco/AP
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, speaks with White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller at the Bestepe Presidential Palace as they wait for a formal welcome for U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday.Credit: Francisco Seco/AP
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will discuss the possible sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, a sale likely to anger Israeli officials.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Hegseth was also scheduled to meet Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and that Iran would feature in their discussions.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he opposed the sale of F-35s to Turkey, and that he had made his opposition clear to Trump.
"It would destroy the power balance in the Middle East because Turkey has aggressive aspirations," Netanyahu told CNN. Turkey, a NATO member, has long criticised Israeli operations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and it has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to undermine the U.S.-Iran cease-fire deal mediated by Pakistan.
After saying its forces killed a militant in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said it is "investigating the details of the incident, including the way the terrorist was eliminated."
The IDF added that "the incident will be investigated, and lessons will be learned. Upon completion of the investigation, the IDF will present its findings transparently. If a mistake was made, If a mistake was made, it was the result of an honest human error."
U.S. President Donald Trump said the memorandum of understanding with Iran is likely over.
"I think it's over," he said, adding that the Iranians are "sick people." He added, "I don't want to deal with them."
Speaking of Iran, he said, "They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people," adding, "As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them."
An Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Gaza City killed four, including an Egyptian humanitarian aid official, according to local reports.
Mohammed al-Wahidi, a member of the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip.Mohammed al-Wahidi, a member of the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip.
The Tuesday strike killed two men who were in the vehicle, one of them Mohammed al-Wahidi, a member of the Egyptian Relief Committee in the Gaza Strip, which provides humanitarian aid in the strip. According to medical sources at Al-Shifa Hospital, the Israeli attack also killed a 10-year-old boy playing in the area, fatally wounding his younger brother.
The second boy, aged eight, succumbed to his wounds on Wednesday, raising the number of deaths to four, sources at the hospital said.
Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the nearby city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, later detaining him from an ambulance, medics said.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, its medics in Bethlehem treated a man shot in the thigh with live ammunition around 4 A.M. local time. After the medics treated the man, Israeli forces forced the crew to hand the wounded man over to them at the checkpoint and detained him from the ambulance, the Red Crescent said.
