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Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to accept a ceasefire deal – as the US says it has immediately resumed intelligence sharing and military aid with Ukraine.

In a post on Telegram after US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia, Mr Zelenskyy said “the American side understands our arguments” and “accepts our proposals” – and that Kyiv “accepts” the US proposal of a full 30-day ceasefire with Russia.

“I want to thank President Trump for the constructiveness of the conversation between our teams,” he said.

“Today, in the conversation, the American side proposed to take the first step immediately and try to establish a full ceasefire for 30 days, not only concerning rockets, drones, and bombs, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line.

“Ukraine accepts this proposal, we consider it positive, and we are ready to take this step.”

The Ukrainian president then said the US “must convince Russia to do this” and that “if the Russians agree – that’s when the silence will work”.

He added: “An important element of today’s conversation is America’s readiness to restore defensive assistance to Ukraine, as well as intelligence support.

“Ukraine is ready for peace. Russia must show whether it is ready to stop the war or continue it.

Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, also told reporters that “the ball is now in Russia’s court” after meeting with the Ukrainian delegation.

After the positive talks, Mr Rubio said “we’re going to take the offer” to Russia, adding: “We’re going to tell them this is what’s on the table, Ukraine is ready to stop shooting and start talking, and now it’ll be up to them to say yes or no.

“I hope they’re going to say yes, and if they do then I think we made great progress.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says a Columbia University anti-Israel activist was detained for deportation due to support for the Hamas terrorist group.

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia and a lead protest organizer on the campus, was detained on Saturday by federal authorities and is being held pending legal proceedings in New York.

“Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges and he took advantage of that opportunity by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists,” Leavitt says at a press briefing.

“This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers,” Leavitt says.

Khalil attended a protest last week at Barnard College, a Columbia affiliate, during which activists handed out pamphlets from the “Hamas media office.”

“This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans,” Leavitt says.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has the authority to revoke the green card or visa of an alien whose presence or activity in the US “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” she says.

Leavitt repeats Trump’s stated plan for arresting more foreign protesters but says she does not have an estimate on the number of planned arrests.

The Department of Homeland Security is gathering intelligence on potential targets, she says.

Columbia has been given names of other individuals who have “engaged in pro-Hamas activity” but is refusing to help federal authorities locate the suspects, she adds.

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Freed hostage Omer Wenkert said Tuesday that although he was cut off from the outside world throughout his 505 days in captivity, he always knew when talks for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas had fallen through or when a senior Hamas operative was killed, because his terrorist captors would take it out on him.

“Every deal that fell through would bring up a lot of frustration, rage and anger,” Wenkert said of his captors in an interview with Channel 12 news, his first since returning from Gaza. “Not to mention when one of their fathers was killed, or their families, or when their senior officials were assassinated. You feel it. You know exactly what happened.”

He said that in those instances, his captors would beat him, spit on him, and force him to do strenuous physical exercise.

“I was very weak physically,” he said, adding that his captors’ goal was “humiliation.”

Asked if he felt humiliated at the ceremony Hamas held for him before his release, Wenkert responded: “It was for me the victory. I finished the struggle. It didn’t humiliate me. I fought, fought, fought, fought, and won. I was smiling from ear to ear.”
Wenkert said he initially thought that no one would know he was kidnapped, so he walked with his body toward a security camera to ensure there would be evidence that he was kidnapped alive. He recalled that he was then tied up, put on a pickup truck and inside Gaza within 10 minutes.

Upon entering Gaza, Wenkert said he saw masses of people, some of whom hit him, including small children. Within 20 minutes, he said he was underground.

After initially believing he was the only hostage, Wenkert met in a tunnel four Thai captives and Liam Or, who was later released.
Wenkert said he refused to let the terrorists see him humiliated. “If you want to beat me, beat me. You want to curse me, curse me. You want to not feed me, don’t feed me. It’s okay. I expect it and wait for it to come.”

Or was released after 53 days in captivity during the first ceasefire-hostage deal. Wenkert’s captors told him he would be released a day or two afterward, but instead, the ceasefire agreement ended, and Wenkert was transferred to a meter-by-meter cell.

US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff landed in Qatar on Tuesday to join indirect talks between Israel and Hamas aimed at extending the current, fragile ceasefire in Gaza, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Wiktoff will meet Wednesday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the source said. Witkoff on Monday praised Qatar for its “outstanding” mediation efforts, adding that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have also been helpful.

Israel is hoping that the US can advance a proposal for a roughly two-month extension of the ceasefire, during which Hamas would release about half of the living hostages up front, an Israeli official said Tuesday.

Hamas has thus far rejected the proposal, insisting that the sides stick to the framework that was agreed upon in January. The first phase of the three-phase hostage-ceasefire deal ended on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.

Channel 12 news reported Tuesday night that mediators Qatar, the US, and Egypt are pushing Hamas to demonstrate its seriousness by accepting the offer, thereby providing more time to reach wider agreements on the ongoing ceasefire.

The outlet has previously reported the framework would see Hamas release 10 living hostages, including American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in exchange for a further 60 days of ceasefire.

The report said that the mediators told Hamas, “This is your last chance to prevent the renewal of war on Israel’s part. Everyone needs time, even you.”

An Israeli source with knowledge of the details told The Times of Israel that there is some “readiness” on the part of the terror group to agree to a long extension of the ceasefire without moving to the second phase of the deal.

Hamas would likely demand the release of senior terrorists being held by Israel in exchange for accepting the proposal, said the source.

A senior Hamas official confirmed that the fresh round of ceasefire talks began on Tuesday in Doha, with the terror group approaching the negotiations “positively and responsibly.”

“We hope that the current round of negotiations leads to tangible progress toward beginning the second phase,” Abdul Rahman Shadid said.

He also expressed hope that Witkoff would help “initiate negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.”

“The US administration bears responsibility due to its unwavering support for the occupying [Israeli] government,” he said.

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Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to open negotiations to delineate the border between the two countries, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

After a four-way meeting with the US and France at the United Nations peacekeeping force headquarters in Naqoura, the two sides also announced that three joint working groups would be established.

The teams will focus on the five points Israel still occupies inside of Lebanon, the Blue Line that marks the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon, the points that are under dispute, and Lebanese citizens held by Israel.

Israel also agreed to release five Lebanese detainees as a “gesture to the new Lebanese president,” Joseph Aoun, the PMO said, adding that the release is coordinated with the US.

Lebanon said it had received the four Lebanese “hostages” from Israel, with a fifth to be handed over on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Lebanese president’s office on X.

Yemen’s Houthis say they will attack any Israeli ship that violates the group’s ban on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden, effective immediately.

The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said on Friday that the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a renewed blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.

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