📰 General · Associated Press
Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia, and other Middle East news - AP News
From Associated Press via USVI News: Israel’s prime minister is rejecting President Donald Trump’s announced deal for Gaza and says Israeli forces won’t withdraw from the Palestinian territory until Hamas disarms. Meanwhile, more details are emerging on Iran and Oman’s deal to manage the Strait o.
Israel rejects Trump’s Gaza plan, more details emerge on the Strait of Hormuz and other Mideast news
Iran’s foreign minister said Sunday negotiations with Oman over new shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz are in their final stages. (AP Video shot by Mohsen Ganji)
Netanyahu’s remarks cast more doubt on the deal to disarm Hamas, which was seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war. The agreement called for Hamas to begin disarming and for Israel to halt its strikes and begin withdrawing from the roughly 60% of Gaza it currently controls.
Iran has issued dramatic new demands around the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Oman says talks to manage the strait between it and Iran are continuing. Elsewhere in the region, Yemen’s military attacked the country’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in response to the strikes, escalating tensions and threatening to reignite the civil war.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have targeted a crucial Yemeni government-held port on the Red Sea and attacked an oil facility in Saudi Arabia. A Houthi spokesperson said that Sunday’s attacks were in response to Saudi drones breaching Yemen’s airspace.
President Donald Trump listens as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)
Israel on Sunday rejected a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump for Gaza. Details emerged on the potential deal between Iran and Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran suggested that vessels linked to “hostile countries” would be barred. Iran also shuffled its top security post.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck a government-held port on the country’s Red Sea coast, deepening fears over threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war.
Here’s a look at developments across the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Netanyahu insists no Gaza withdrawal until Hamas disarms
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the deal on Gaza announced by Trump last month, saying Israel’s military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”
Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting that “Israel rejects the 15-point document” but is still discussing plans for Gaza with Washington, after making similar comments last week. Trump had said Israeli forces would withdraw as the Hamas militant group’s disarmament is completed. Israeli forces control over half the Palestinian enclave of about 2 million people that’s been largely destroyed.
There was no immediate White House comment on Netanyahu’s statement.
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