President Trump's Board of Peace has released a new six-month plan to begin rebuilding the Gaza Strip, even as prior efforts have produced little progress on the ground, according to the New York Times.
The plan emerged as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the IDF and Shin Bet killed Hamas Finance Department Chief Muhammad Abu Alwan in a joint operation in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to arrive in the US on Thursday for an unusually brief visit centered on his address to the UN General Assembly, spending only about six hours on US soil.
On Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that Tehran is ready for negotiations to end the conflict with the US but warned it will never surrender to what he called Washington's bullying or give up its nuclear program. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US negotiators had tried to jump-start diplomacy on Iran's nuclear program through talks on the sidelines of a UN summit the previous day. The United Arab Emirates' central bank barred Iran's Bank Melli from operating in the Gulf state, and the UK tightened sanctions on Iranian banks.
The Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Trump's resort in Florida in December to attend the Group of 20 leaders meeting, Rubio said Wednesday. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev is heading to the US to meet with Trump administration representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, sources told Reuters. The Kremlin said there were still no grounds for Ukraine peace talks ahead of a planned meeting between Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In Yemen, Houthi rebels seized Yemen's Red Sea coast from pro-government forces in less than 48 hours, with Iranian advisers assisting the operation, sources told the Associated Press. The Wall Street Journal reported the Houthis are increasingly supplied by China.
Turkey and Iraq agreed Wednesday for Turkish forces to gradually hand over a military camp in northern Iraq to the Iraqi government, and to end the presence of "outlawed armed elements" in the north.
FDD also published analysis on the Muslim Brotherhood's continued control of Jordan's rebranded Ummah Party, Iraq's delay of militia disarmament, maritime cyber incidents testing Coast Guard preparedness, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq's announcement of Peshmerga unification.