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Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will lead an Israeli delegation set to hold a series of strategic talks in Washington in the coming days, focused on confronting Iran‘s nuclear program.

Dermer will convey a message to the Trump administration urging that its “maximum pressure” policy on Iran‘s nuclear program be time-bound, Israel Hayom has learned. The Israeli position is that once the agreed period ends, alternative decisions on the matter will need to be made.

The interagency delegation will hold several days of talks with corresponding U.S. national security bodies. The forum is considered highly important and extremely confidential, with a strict media blackout on the content of discussions. However, Israel Hayom has learned that the two parties will also explore ways to translate the administration’s declared “maximum pressure” strategy into practical measures.

The Houthi rebels have launched an attack against an American aircraft carrier and an airport, with two missiles targeting the American assets. 

The Yemeni Army released a statement confirming their attacks.

"The first targeted Ben Gurion Airport with two ballistic missiles, and the second targeted several enemy destroyers, as well as the Truman aircraft carrier, in the Red Sea with several missiles and drones, in a clash that lasted several hours," military leaders said in a statement. 

With the collapse of the ceasefire and renewed fighting in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has called for an escalation against the Hamas terrorist group.

“Hamas is stalling for time—this is a strategy, not just a tactic,” Zamir said in security discussions, according to a Channel 12 News report on Monday. “The IDF’s actions are hurting them and causing instability, but they are not leading to the release of hostages. Therefore, we have no choice—we must increase the pressure.”

Meanwhile, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) continued expanded military operations in Gaza on Sunday, targeting key Hamas operatives and infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump announced that Boeing has been awarded the contract to produce the US Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet, the F-47. The aircraft, classified as a sixth-generation fighter, is expected to be the most advanced fighter jet ever developed.

"I'm thrilled to announce that, at my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world's first sixth-generation fighter jet, and nothing in the world comes close to it," Trump said at the White House.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Sunday.

The call was focused on “regional developments, including releasing the hostages and the resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip,” according to a brief readout published by Netanyahu’s office on Sunday evening.

Washington’s top diplomat was said to have expressed to Netanyahu the Trump administration’s “unwavering support for Israel and its policy.”

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said in an interview Sunday that Hamas may have “duped” him earlier this month, as he initially thought the terror group had agreed to his bridge proposal to extend the ceasefire in Gaza, only for it to pull back.

“I thought we had an acceptable deal. I even thought we had an approval from Hamas. Maybe that’s just me getting duped. I thought we were there, and evidently, we weren’t,” Witkoff told Fox News, reflecting on his March 12 visit to Doha where he presented his bridge proposal.

The proposal would have seen the ceasefire extended through April 19 and have Hamas release five living hostages in exchange for a larger number of Palestinian security prisoners. Israel says it accepted Witkoff’s proposal, but said it would have freed 11 living hostages.

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff said Friday that he doesn’t believe Hamas is “ideologically intractable,” while arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “well-motivated,” but operating against Israeli public opinion that prioritizes freeing the remaining hostages from Gaza over the destruction of Hamas.

In a 90-minute interview chock-full of headlines, Witkoff discussed the motivations of Israel, Hamas and Qatar in the ongoing Gaza war, offered an assertive defense of Doha against critics questioning the Islamist country’s motivations, and acknowledged his concern about the Gaza war’s potential for destabilizing countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He also suggested that Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa could be a changed man since his days in Al-Qaeda, revealed new details about his successful January brokering of the now-defunct Gaza ceasefire’s first phase, and insisted that the Iranian nuclear threat can be solved diplomatically.

The Israel Defense Forces on Friday night struck the launcher in northern Gaza from which Palestinian terrorists fired two rockets at Ashkelon earlier in the day.

The Hamas deliberately placed the launcher near a humanitarian zone in the Al-Furqan neighborhood, according to the military.

Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of aerial surveillance, additional intelligence and precise munitions, said the IDF.

The Israeli air force early on Saturday struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center from which Hezbollah terrorists were operating in southern Lebanon.

The strikes represented a retaliation for the first rocket attack on Israel from Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took hold in November of last year.  The IDF said the aggression "constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and is a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel. The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement."

(photo: Office of the Supreme Leader / WANA via Reuters)

Iran's supreme leader said Friday that U.S. threats against his country "will get them nowhere," after President Trump warned of possible military action against the Islamic republic if it refuses to negotiate a new nuclear deal.

"The Americans should know threats will get them nowhere when confronting Iran," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his live annual televised speech marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

He said Americans "and others should know that if they do anything malign to the Iranian nation, they will get a hard slap."

On March 7, Mr. Trump said he had written to Khamenei, urging negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program and warning of potential military action if it refused.

The United States told the UN Security Council on Friday that Hamas was to blame for the deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed hostilities there.

(photo: AFP)

The Houthi rebels' television network Al Masirah reports that American aircraft have conducted strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, following a wave of US attacks in Hodeidah on Wednesday. According to a Saudi report, seven American strikes targeted Houthi weapons depots. However, shortly after the American operation, the Yemeni terror organization launched a ballistic missile toward Israel before dawn, which was intercepted outside the country's airspace.

The missile launch triggered a series of alarms across central Israel and the Jerusalem area. No casualties were reported except for anxiety victims and those injured while rushing to shelter. This marks the second ballistic missile fired toward Israeli territory since the end of the ceasefire with the Hamas terror organization and the resumption of military operations in Gaza under Operation Strength and Sword.

(photo: Avshalom Sassonif, Flash90)

Air-raid sirens pealed in central Israel, including for the first time in months in Tel Aviv, on Thursday after Hamas terrorists fired rockets from the Gaza Strip.

“Alerts have been activated in several areas in central Israel following launches from the Gaza Strip; details are under examination,” the Israel Defense Forces said in an initial statement posted to social media.

“Three launches were identified that crossed into Israeli territory from southern Gaza. The Air Force successfully intercepted one launch; two other launches fell in open areas,” the IDF subsequently announced.

(photo: Chaim Goldberg, Flash90)

The Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes on a Hamas site in the northern Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday after preparations for launching attacks on Israeli territory were identified, the military said on Wednesday.

Additionally, during the night, Navy forces targeted several vessels off the coast of Gaza that were being used for terrorist activities by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to the IDF.

A Hamas battalion headquarters in Daraj Tuffah was among the key sites struck. The military described it as a command center used to plan attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces.

Israeli tanks entered the Netzarim Corridor in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

At this stage, sources have indicated to The Jerusalem Post that a broader invasion has not yet started.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday night that Hamas in the Gaza Strip has “already felt our strength” since the Israel Defense Forces returned to fighting, warning that future ceasefire negotiations with the terror group “will only take place under fire.”

“Going forward, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing intensity. And I want to assure you: This is just the beginning,” he vowed in a primetime address from the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The prime minister noted that “for many weeks, we worked tirelessly to achieve one goal: to exhaust efforts to return our hostages. We extended the ceasefire [in Gaza] for weeks, despite not receiving any hostages.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that Iran should not be allowed to acquire weapons that would allow it to eliminate Israel, the White House said on Tuesday.

In a U.S. readout of the two-and-a-half-hour call between the two leaders, the pair “spoke broadly about the Middle East” in order to “prevent future conflicts.”

“They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application,” the readout states. “The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.”

Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday claimed their third attack on American warships in 48 hours, despite US strikes on the Iran-backed rebels that have sparked mass protests.

The Houthis said on Telegram they had targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group with missiles and drones, making the attack the “third in the past 48 hours” in the northern Red Sea.

A US defense official said the Houthis “continue to communicate lies and disinformation,” adding the Iran-backed group is “well known for false claims minimizing the results of our attacks while exaggerating the successes of theirs.”