“The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way,” Vance told an international summit in Paris. PARIS — Vice President JD Vance warned European allies Tuesday that the White House would not accept international regulations on artificial intelligence if they held back U.S. ambitions to be the world’s dominant power in the revolutionary new technology. “The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way,” Vance told an international AI summit in Paris. “We need international regulatory regimes that fosters the creation of AI technology rather than strangles it.” In his first international speech since taking office, Vance said the U.S. was open to cooperating with other countries to harness AI. But he rejected the kind of tighter technology regulations seen in the European Union. “The Trump administration is troubled by reports that some foreign governments are considering tightening the screws on U.S. tech companies with international footprints. Now America cannot and will not accept that.” The Trump administration has made dominance in the field a priority, with the president on Jan. 21 announcing a joint venture to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S. dubbed Stargate. Vance also said that AI must remain free from what he called “ideological bias” and criticized E.U. efforts to create rules blocking harmful or misleading online content. “We want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation,” he said. Signs of the tensions between the U.S. and Europe on how to approach AI regulation emerged hours after Vance’s speech. The U.S. refused to join around 60 other countries in signing on to a French-led joint statement calling for an “inclusive and sustainable” approach to AI. The White House did not offer an immediate explanation for why it declined to sign on. The global summit in Paris was attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing and came weeks after the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek rattled markets by announcing it had created a sophisticated model at a fraction of the cost of those made in Silicon Valley. Vance did not explicitly refer to China in his speech but said “authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities.” He also warned European states not to partner with authoritarian states on AI development. “Partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure,” he said. In addition to the former Biden administration, the Trump administration has also pressured European countries to limit their exposure to Huawei, a Chinese telecom firm. Speaking at the summit Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would simplify its technology rules but added that Europe would need to cooperate with both the U.S. and China. Macron also said France’s nuclear power infrastructure made it a desirable location for AI development, because it could power energy-intensive data centers without relying on fossil fuels. “I have a good friend on the other side of the ocean saying ‘Drill, baby, drill,’” Macron said, referring to President Donald Trump. “Here, there is no need to drill. It’s ‘Plug, baby, plug.' Electricity is available.” Anne Bouverot, Macron’s special envoy to the AI summit, told NBC News that the goal of the global gathering was not to begin work on an international framework for regulating AI. “The summit is not to talk about rules and regulations. The summit is to find where are the areas, where there are coalitions of the willing to develop things, for example, common principles or goals for AI,” she said. A number of U.S. technology executives attended the conference, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Open AI’s Sam Altman. Reid Hoffman, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, told NBC News that the U.S. should work closely with allies to make sure that democracies remained ahead of authoritarian nations in the development of AI. “I think it’s very important that the Western democracies lead in this … so partnering with the Europeans, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the Western democracy approach, I think, is very important. And I think that’s an important part of the global order.”

Earlier in the day, Abdullah told Trump he could take in 2,000 Palestinian children from Gaza who are very sick or have cancer. WASHINGTON — Jordan’s King Abdullah II said he reiterated Tuesday during a meeting with President Donald Trump his country's and the region's "steadfast opposition" to the president's plan to resettle millions of Palestinians out of Gaza. “I stressed that my foremost commitment is to Jordan, to its stability and to the well-being of Jordanians,” he said on X. “I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position.” Earlier in the day, Abdullah told Trump he could take in 2,000 Palestinian children from Gaza who are very sick or have cancer. But the king later confirmed his longstanding position against displacing millions of Palestinians from their homes as Trump has suggested. Trump said during their meeting Tuesday that he expected progress toward his plan and believed “99%” that something could be worked out with Egypt, another regional partner that had bristled at the president's surprise. "We'll have some others helping," Trump added. Seated with Trump in the Oval Office, Abdullah said they must ensure a plan that satisfies all parties, a not insignificant obstacle as questions remain about how each country might move to relocate a swell of people who have suffered months of devastation, and which some fear will further undermine efforts to create a Palestinian state. More than 1 million Palestinians remain without homes, and the king declined to say whether he would be willing to take in refugees in larger numbers. "We have to look at the best interests of the United States, of the people in the region, especially to my people of Jordan," he said. Questioned further by reporters about Trump’s ideas, the king said he would refrain from saying much until Egypt had a chance to weigh in. His statement following the meeting with Trump made clear that the sides remain far apart. “Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all,” he said on X. “Achieving just peace on the basis of the two-state solution is the way to ensure regional stability.” There are already over 2 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which says that most of them have citizenship. Jordan's Queen Rania and her family were Palestinian refugees who fled Kuwait. Trump’s proposal to “own” the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents has stirred opposition from the U.S.’s Arab partners and from world leaders across the globe who largely favor a two-state solution. However, Trump has not ceded the proposal and continued in the days since to press his ideas to take over and develop the territory after first announcing it last week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House. In an interview with Fox News that aired Monday night, Trump said that those leaving Gaza would not have a right to return and named Egypt and Jordan as two countries that he expects to take in Palestinians. Trump said it’s a project he wants to start “almost immediately.” He has referred to the territory as a demolition site. On Tuesday, he billed it as a step toward bringing “peace to the Middle East” and said it would become a driver of new jobs in the region. “We’re going to run it very properly,” Trump told reporters and reiterated his ideas for a development plan for the territory that includes hotels and other investments. Seated to the president's left were top advisers and officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, chief of staff Susie Wiles and national security adviser Mike Waltz. “It’s a death trap,” Trump said of Gaza as he mused about the possibilities. He said that it's a place where no one would want to stay, and “they are living in hell.” Asked if he would consider withholding U.S. aid, Trump suggested he had moved on from the idea, telling reporters, “I do think we’re above that.” "We contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt, by the way, a lot to both, but I don’t have to threaten that," Trump said, seeming to walk back the suggestion that he was open to it. A reliable U.S. partner, Abdullah now finds himself weighing a tentative path forward after America’s Arab partners, including Jordan and Egypt, rejected Trump’s proposal last week. On the eve of his meeting with Trump, the U.S. president threatened to cut off aid to Jordan, an annual sum of more than $1 billion. American foreign aid is currently paused as part of a sweeping halt by the Trump administration. A senior Jordanian official told NBC News last week there was no way that Jordan could accept more refugees after harboring large refugee populations for decades from Syria and other countries in the region. But Jordan relies heavily on U.S. aid — and additional U.S. spending in Jordan goes to defend U.S. interests supporting Syrian Defense Force allies guarding ISIS prisoners in Syria — and preventing a resurgence of ISIS in Syria. Trump's plan is also a nonstarter with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman — a key U.S. partner who rejected it within an hour of Trump’s initial comments last week. Jordan, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday, would resettle Palestinians from Gaza, as would other surrounding countries, because they have “good hearts.” He said his administration had spoken to Palestinians who “would love to leave Gaza if they could find a place to be,” as well as leaders in the region whom he said were working to find a solution to the devastation caused by more than 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel. “They were very positive about providing land,” Trump said. “What we need is land, and if we could build a nice place for people to live safely, everybody in Gaza would do it.” He added: “They would love to get out of Gaza, but until now, they’ve never had an alternative. Now they have an alternative.” A fragile ceasefire has paused the fighting in Gaza, but the conflict risks reigniting as Hamas said it will postpone the release of more hostages. Trump has warned Hamas to release all remaining hostages by Saturday, but warned Tuesday that he believes they could blow past it. Netanyahu said Tuesday in a video statement posted to X that Israel is prepared to terminate the ceasefire agreement if Hamas does not return all the remaining hostages by Saturday.

The store's books largely focus on the Middle East, and it has long been known as an intellectual oasis where readers from across the Israeli-Palestinian divide can share ideas. JERUSALEM — For years, the Palestinian-owned Educational Bookshop in east Jerusalem has been a rare island of dialogue in an increasingly divided city, but an Israeli police raid on the store this week has sparked fears about the suppression of free speech. While the well-known store and its smaller branch across the street were open Tuesday, the bust saw detectives confiscate books in trash bags and arrest two members of the owner’s family. The incident has raised broader concerns about the status of shared places where Israelis and Palestinians can peacefully come together and debate. “I, like many diplomats, enjoy browsing for books at Educational Bookshop. I know its owners, the Muna family, to be peace-loving proud Palestinian Jerusalemites, open for discussion and intellectual exchange,” Steffen Seibert, Germany’s ambassador to Israel, said in a post on X. “I am concerned to hear of the raid and their detention in prison,” he added. The store, founded on Salah al-Din Street in 1984 by the Muna family, sells books in many languages that largely focus on the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has long been known in the area as an intellectual oasis where readers from across the political divide can share ideas. Security footage from Sunday afternoon that the Muna family shared with NBC News showed plainclothes officers rifling through books and taking away some of them in garbage bags. During the raid on the predominantly English-language store, officers also arrested the manager, Mahmoud Muna, and his nephew Ahmad. Both have since been released. Mahmoud’s brother, Morad, said that the police had taken books with a Palestinian flag or icon printed on them and that they used Google Translate to help understand what the material was saying. “In our book, anyone from any religion, from any side, can say his opinion without being afraid. He can discuss any kind of thing,” he said. “In the west side of Jerusalem, there are English bookstores that have the same books that we have, and you will never hear that they arrested the owners,” he added. A spokesperson from the Israeli police said that the two were arrested on suspicion of “selling books containing incitement and support for terrorism at bookstores in Jerusalem.” Police added that the detectives had confiscated from the store “numerous books containing inciteful material,” pointing to the children’s coloring book titled “From the River to the Sea,” written by South African author Nathi Ngubane, as one example. The police added that they had also raided a bookshop in Jerusalem’s Old City last week, which had material supporting Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic State group. The title of the coloring book is also a pro-Palestinian slogan often used at protests against Israel and refers to the geographical area between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea that encompasses Israel and the Palestinian territories. The American Jewish Committee says on its website that the slogan “can be used to call for the elimination of the State of Israel and/or ethnic cleansing of Jews living there,” while the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies protested the publication of the book when it was initially released. Wasim Khalis, who owns a clothing store next door to Educational Bookshop, said he had been drinking coffee in the bookstore around 3 p.m. local time when four plainclothes officers entered. After a few minutes, he said, the officers flashed a warrant and asked customers to leave, while a second group of officers went across the street to another store owned by the family. “It was very strange,” he said. “This isn’t a new store; it has been here for decades. They took items that were very normal and could be found anywhere, including on the internet.” Some 10 diplomats including those from the European Union and the United Kingdom sat in on a debate Monday on the Munas’ release date at Jerusalem’s District Court. Meanwhile, supporters of the Educational Bookstore wrote about their alarm at the raid online, with a smaller number gathering outside the courthouse. “We fear that the raid on the store, the confiscation of books from it, and the imprisonment of its owner under the pretext of ‘violating public order’ is a regime provocation designed to erase the Palestinian cultural narrative and harass those involved in it,” Israeli author Ilan Sheinfeld said in a post on X. One of the in-person protesters was Galit Samuel, an Israeli patron who had traveled from Tel Aviv to be there. She said of the Munas that “they are both men of peace, and they are promoting Palestinian culture in peaceful ways.” “It’s unimaginable that such people were arrested and books were confiscated,” she added. “It’s a grave attack on free speech and free thinking.”

Israel's prime minister said he had ordered troops to mass around Gaza and threatened a breakdown in the ceasefire after Hamas said it would indefinitely delay hostage releases. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from his country's ceasefire with Hamas and resume “intense fighting” in the Gaza Strip if the militant group does not release more hostages by midday Saturday. Netanyahu's warning followed President Donald Trump's threat in recent days to let “all hell break out” in Gaza, after Hamas reiterated Tuesday that it would indefinitely postpone the next round of hostage-prisoner swap scheduled for Saturday. The Palestinian organization has accused Israel of violating terms of their three-week-old ceasefire. After a four-hour emergency meeting with Israel's security Cabinet on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu said he had received unanimous support to mass Israeli troops in and around Gaza. “If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon — the ceasefire will end and the [Israel Defense Forces] will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he said in a video statement following the meeting. It was unclear whether Netanyahu was referring to the three hostages originally scheduled to be released Saturday or all hostages held in Gaza. While Hamas earlier this week said it planned to delay hostage releases — it has accused Israel of carrying out deadly shootings, blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid and inhibiting Palestinians' passage to northern Gaza — it has since reaffirmed its commitment to the truce without explicitly reversing it position on freeing Israeli captives. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told NBC News in an interview Tuesday that the militant group is committed to the ceasefire deal, to which “it adheres fully and not selectively as the Israeli side does.” Responding to Trump’s earlier threat, Qassem added that Gaza was already “living in a state of hell.” “He was cleaning and preparing the house ... so that we could all go back home together,” she said. Nearly 16 months of war in the Gaza Strip were put on pause after a fragile, three-phase ceasefire deal came into effect Jan. 19. Under the first phase, due to last 42 days, Hamas has incrementally released 16 of 33 hostages, as well as separately releasing five Thai hostages. So far, 76 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, with more than 35 of them believed to be dead. Most of those still held in Gaza were among the 250 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led terrorist attack Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli officials. Since Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began, more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, with the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population forcibly displaced, according to local officials. In Netanyahu's statement late Tuesday, his rhetoric echoed that of Trump, who on Monday demanded that Hamas free all remaining hostages "by Saturday at 12 o’clock." The president did not specify whether he meant midnight or midday. Trump doubled down on his position Tuesday following a meeting at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah, reiterating his belief that Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians displaced from Gaza. The Jordanian king reiterated his "steadfast opposition" to Trump's plan although he also said that Jordan could take in 2,000 Palestinian children from Gaza with cancer or other serious illnesses. Last week, Trump suggested that the 2.3 million residents of Gaza should leave the enclave so that the United States could take over and develop the territory into "the Riviera of the Middle East.” Netanyahu on Tuesday said the security Cabinet had endorsed Trump’s plan. This week's rising tensions suggest the ceasefire deal may be “approaching a breaking point,” Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow on the Middle East at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said Wednesday. Mekelberg told NBC News that Trump’s comments make an already fragile situation more unpredictable. "He sends the message that he wants to be the man for peace and every act that he is doing points to exactly the opposite direction," he said, adding that the Israeli government should end "all this pandering to President Trump" at the risk of being "complicit in war crimes and probably destabilizing the Middle East." “I won’t be very surprised if it breaks even before we get to the end of the first phase,” he said, referring to the planned end of the ceasefire's initial stage slated for March 2. While Trump's suggested plan has received broad-based support across Israel's political right wing, the families of hostages being held by Hamas also expressed their distress over the prospect of a breakdown in the ceasefire. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of Israeli hostages, said in a statement Tuesday that “we must not go backward. We cannot allow the hostages to waste away in captivity.” Trump’s comments have also drawn widespread condemnation from the broader Arab world. Speaking at a summit in Dubai on Wednesday, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Trump’s plans to take over Gaza would lead to a new cycle of crises. According to Reuters, he added that “if the situation explodes militarily once more, all this effort will be wasted.” Gheit also said the regional organization planned to reintroduce the Arab Peace Initiative, which was floated in 2002 to normalize ties with Israel in exchange for a statehood deal with Palestinians. Meanwhile, Egypt plans to host an emergency Arab summit Feb. 27 after Trump extended an open invitation to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to discuss the matter the White House.

President Donald Trump has said he will announce a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, a move that will have the biggest impact in Canada. Trump also said that there would be an announcement later in the week about reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US, but he did not specify which nations would be targeted, or if there would be any exemptions. "If they charge us, we charge them," Trump said. The move marks another escalation in Trump's trade policy, which has already sparked retaliation from China. Canada and Mexico are two of the US's biggest steel and aluminium trading partners. The US accounts for about 10% of the UK steel industry's exports, but for some suppliers of speciality products it is much more important than that, making up a large proportion of their overall business. Trade body UK Steel said any US tariffs would be a "devastating blow" to the UK industry. Steel production in the US is heavily politicised. Some argue the country needs to be capable of producing enough high quality steel to supply its military in the event of a national emergency without relying on imports. During his first term, Trump put tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. But the US reached a deal a year later with Canada and Mexico to end those tariffs, although the EU import taxes remained in place until 2021. Those tariffs increased costs for car firms in the US as well as makers of fizzy drinks who use aluminium in their cans. These were then passed on to consumers, according a report from thinktank Tax Foundation. Speaking on board Air Force One, Trump said on Monday he would announce tariffs on "everybody" for steel and aluminium. "Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff," he said. In response, Doug Ford, the premier of the province of Ontario, accused Trump of "shifting goalposts and constant chaos, putting our economy at risk" in an online post. Canada's steel production is concentrated in Ontario. Canadian political adviser Catherine Loubier said she believed Trump's threats were real, but said there could be a solution because of how connected the two economies are. "Hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US are linked to the steel and aluminium input from Canada into the US economy," she told the BBC's Today programme. "I think there's a lot at stake and nobody's winning with these tariffs, that's for sure." The EU said it had not received any official notification of new tariffs from the US, but added that it saw "no justification" for any such tariffs on its exports. "We will react to protect the interests of European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified measures," it said. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he push for an exemption to the tariffs - something the country got during Trump's first term. Trump's comments caused shares in major South Korean steel and car makers to fall. South Korea is a major exporter of steel to the US. The price of gold - often seen as a haven for investors in difficult economic times - rose on Monday to hit a record high of $2,903.08 an ounce. Tariffs are a central part of Trump's economic vision - he sees them as a way of growing the US economy, protecting jobs and raising tax revenue. The result has been a flurry of announcements since his inauguration. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose import duties of 25% on Canadian and Mexican products, but later later delayed that plan for 30 days. He also brought in new US levies of 10% on all Chinese goods coming into the US. Beijing retaliated with its own set of tariffs which took effect on Monday. These included controls on imports of US coal, oil, gas, agricultural machinery, large-engine cars, and controls on exports of 25 rare metals needed for electric and military equipment. Earlier this month, Trump said that tariffs on the EU would come "pretty soon", but suggested the UK could avoid them. Trump has also said the US will introduce reciprocal tariffs on "Tuesday or Wednesday" on all countries that tax US imports, which will match the tariff rates levied by each country. "It'll be great for everybody, including other countries," he said. Chinese government spokesperson Guo Jiakun said: "There are no winners in a trade war or tariff battle. What is harmed are the interests of the people of both countries." He urged the US to "correct its erroneous approach and stop politicising and weaponising economic and trade issues". Victor Gao, a Chinese diplomat and economist, told the BBC that China's move to put controls on rare metal exports were "in direct retaliation against the US imposition of policies denying Chinese access to semiconductor chips and many other AI developments". "And this is truly tit-for-tat because China wants to have free trade for all of these things." However, he added that China would not be affected too much because of US shoppers' demand for cheap Chinese goods. "[Chinese goods] are very much affordable and competitive even with a 10% tariff," he said. 'Gulf of America' On the trip to New Orleans, Trump also signed an proclamation designating 9 February "Gulf of America" day to celebrate his order renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, as his plane crossed the body of water. Mexico argues the US cannot legally change the Gulf's name because UN rules dictate that an individual country's sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles out from the coastline. Trump also repeated his unlikely suggestions that the US could take over Canada and the Gaza Strip, saying Canada would fare better as the "51st state" and that he was "committed to buying and owning Gaza".

Canada will give a "firm and clear" response to the latest trade barriers planned by US President Donald Trump, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump says he will levy a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium products entering the US from 12 March, meaning both sides have a month to negotiate. Canada is the top exporter of both metals to the US. Since returning to office last month, Trump has announced a wide range of these tariffs to try to protect US jobs and industries. Economists say they are likely to raise prices for ordinary Americans. The new tariffs were "entirely unjustified", Trudeau said, as Canada found itself in a second trade standoff with Washington in a matter of weeks. Canada was "the US's closest ally", he added. A range of metal-exporting countries are scrambling to make a deal in response to the tariff on steel and aluminium vowed by Trump. The US imports six million tonnes of Canadian steel products and more than three million tonnes of aluminium products per year - more than from any other country. Canadian metal exports were making North America as a whole "more competitive and secure", Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne argued on Monday. Trump says no exemptions with metal tariffs to start in March Will countries scramble to cut deals after Trump tariff threat? Booze, oil and orange juice: How Canada could fight Trump tariffs Do Trump's tariffs mean the end of the post-war free trade world? Canadian provincial leaders, too, have condemned Trump's plan. Quebec's François Legault said his province alone sent millions of tonnes of aluminium to the US per year - asking whether Trump would prefer to source the metal from his rival, China. Federal official opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, said he would issue matching tariffs targeting the US, if elected as Canadian prime minister. The head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association warned that a range of sectors could be hit, saying similar measures by Trump during his first term had damaged industry in both countries. Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. Companies that import goods from abroad pay the tariffs to the US government. Economists warn that they are likely to raise prices for US consumers, for example if sellers choose to raise prices after paying higher duties on imported goods. US businesses dependent on imports have also raised concerns, but Trump says his plans will boost domestic production. On Monday, he said his plan was "a big deal, the beginning of making America rich again". The taxes themselves - which Trump also used during his first term in the White House - are key to the returning president's economic vision. He is also seeking to address a trade deficit, which means that the US imports more than it exports. Trump's allies also say he sees such measures as an essential negotiating tool when he wants another country to do something for him. Since returning to the White House last month, Trump has already been in one trade standoff with Canada and America's other neighbour, Mexico. But he agreed on 4 February to delay for 30 days his threat of 25% tariffs on all goods arriving from both countries. The postponement came after his two neighbours vowed action to tackle illegal migration and the flow of drugs to the US. Both countries delayed their own retaliatory measures at the same time. Canada and Mexico are some of Trump's top trade partners, along with China - which Trump has targeted with a 10% tariff on all goods entering the US. That tax has already come into force, and China has hit back with measures against US goods. In addition to his other, delayed plan to target Canada and Mexico with specific tariffs, Trump has also hinted he could levy taxes on goods imported from the European Union "pretty soon". Asked in recent days about the threat of retaliation from his trade partners, Trump said: "I don't mind."

Hamas said it will indefinitely delay the release of hostages held inside Gaza. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for the releases to carry on. The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was at risk of faltering Tuesday after President Donald Trump warned “all hell is going to break out” if the Palestinian militant group does not release “all” the remaining hostages this week. The war in the Gaza Strip is on pause following a complex agreement in which the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are incrementally exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israel. But Hamas said late Monday that it was indefinitely postponing the next hostage-prisoner swap Saturday, accusing Israel of continuing to shoot at Palestinians, stopping them from moving back to the northern part of the strip and delaying the entry of medical supplies and shelters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an emergency meeting with his security Cabinet in Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss how to move forward, an Israeli official briefed on the matter told NBC News. Three more hostages were set to be freed from Gaza in an exchange scheduled for Saturday. But Trump responded to Hamas’ delay by demanding that all 76 remaining captives, 44 of whom are believed to be alive, are freed. “If all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock — I think it’s an appropriate time — I would say cancel” the ceasefire, he told reporters, without specifying whether he meant noon or midnight. Asked for specifics about what he meant by “hell,” he said, “Hamas will find out what I mean.” The prospect of resuming a war in which more than 48,000 Gazans have been killed has alarmed international observers, as well as Palestinians in the enclave and the families of the hostages, most of whom were among the 250 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led terrorist attack Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed. “We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages. Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume serious negotiations.” Even before Hamas announced its delay in freeing hostages, confidence in the ceasefire has been shaken by Trump’s repeated statements that he wants to permanently remove Palestinians from Gaza so the United States can develop the war zone as a real estate opportunity. "I would own this — think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land," Trump said Monday, contradicting his own aides, who had said the Palestinians' relocation would be temporary. "We'll build beautiful communities, safe communities," he said, "a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is." That has alarmed many governments and experts, who point out that forcibly removing people from their homes is classed as ethnic cleansing under international law. Trump suggested he could revoke aid for Egypt and Jordan if they continued to refuse to rehome Gaza's 2 million-plus population. “Yeah, maybe, sure why not?” Trump, who met with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House on Tuesday, said when he was asked about ceasing financial assistance to the two countries. Meanwhile, Hamas’ announcement has led Israel to ramp up its own security measures. Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israel Defense Forces “to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza,” calling Hamas’ statement “a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement.” Trump’s implied threat has drawn support among far-right nationalist lawmakers. Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned last month as Netanyahu’s national security minister, wrote on X, “Trump is right!” adding that it was time to go back to Gaza and “destroy” — apparently referring to Hamas. Many of the hostages’ families, on the other hand, are desperate for the ceasefire to remain intact. “President Trump, I am asking you with all my heart: Do everything in your power to ensure that this deal continues!” said Idit Ohel, the mother of Alon Ohel, who was abducted from Israel’s Nova music festival Oct. 7, 2023. At an event marking her captive son’s 24th birthday Monday, she said she had received the first “proof of life” since he was taken. On Tuesday Netanyahu said in a statement marking the death of another hostage, Shlomo Mantzur, 86, that he would “continue to act with determination and tirelessness until we return all of our abductees — both the living and the dead.” Alexander Smith reported from London and Lawahez Jabari and Yarden Segev from Tel Aviv.

President Trump has defended Elon Musk's drive to shut down sections of the US government amid legal challenges, transparency concerns and questions over conflicts of interest. "He's not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it," Trump said Sunday. Democrats have accused Musk of personally benefiting from some of the changes that the Trump administration is trying to push through, such as the proposed closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Trump said Musk's unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) would soon examine spending in the military and the Department of Education, possibly in the next "24 hours". "Let's check the military," he said. "We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse, and the people elected me on that." Earlier on Sunday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News he "welcomes" Doge putting military spending under the microscope. "When we spend dollars, we need to know where they're going and why, and that has not existed at the defence department," he said. Trump's comments on Musk and Doge came from an interview with Fox News journalist Bret Baier during a pre-game broadcast leading up to Sunday's Super Bowl. During the interview, the president also said he was not satisfied with actions taken by Mexico and Canada on illegal drugs and border crossings. He also said he was serious about his proposal to turn Canada into the 51st US state, an idea the wide majority of Canadians oppose. Legal battles over Doge Doge employees have entered several government departments since Trump took office and led the charge to try to shut down USAID. In recent days, some Doge staffers have been spotted at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - an agency set up to protect consumers in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis. CFPB employees in the bureau's Washington office have been told to work from home for at least a week, according to an email seen by BBC News. However Trump's opponents have filed legal challenges to try to halt some of the changes and several of the president's executive orders. On Saturday, a federal judge blocked Doge from accessing the personal financial data of millions of Americans held in Treasury Department records. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered Musk and his team to immediately destroy any copies of records. The Trump administration has not responded to requests about Doge's activities, funding or the number of people it employs. Courts have also paused Trump's order to end birthright citizenship, a plan to put thousand of USAID staff on leave and a large buyout offer to federal employees. Republicans including Vice President JD Vance criticised Engelmayer's ruling. Vance alleged the injunction was illegal and wrote on X: "Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power." Alina Habba, a Trump aide, told Fox News earlier Sunday that there would be "repercussions for people" trying to "step in Trump's way". Democrats meanwhile stepped up their criticism of Musk and Trump, but with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, they have little leverage outside of legal action. "Our courts are working as they should," Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar told CBS's Face the Nation. "What is not working is the way that the executive branch is behaving." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy says Musk "stands to gain from the closure of USAID". "It makes America much less safe around the world, but it helps China," Murphy told ABC News. "Elon Musk has many major business interests at stake inside Beijing." Murphy called the Trump administration's actions "the most serious constitutional crisis" since the Watergate scandal. "The president is attempting to seize control of power and for corrupt purposes," he claimed. Trump picks Kansas City to win Super Bowl Trump's interview restarted a tradition dating back about 20 years. The presidential interview has been absent from the Super Bowl pre-game for the last two editions after former President Joe Biden twice declined to appear. President Trump himself refused to talk to NBC in 2018. This year he becomes the first US president to watch the game in person. Fox News anchor Baier asked Trump about the differences between his second presidency and taking office for the first time in 2017. "I had tremendous opposition [last time], but I didn't know people and I didn't have the kind of support I needed," Trump said. "I was a New York person, not a [Washington] DC person." In response to a question about Canada, Trump said US trade deficits would justify annexation. "I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state, because we lose $200bn a year with Canada. And I'm not going to let that happen. It's too much," he said. "Now, if they're a 51st state, I don't mind doing it." Administration officials have previously said the figure of $200bn includes both defence spending and the US trade deficit. When asked if Canada and Mexico had satisfied the demands which led to tariff threats, Trump responded: "No, it's not good enough. Something has to happen, it's not sustainable." The president also praised both Super Bowl teams and ultimately picked Kansas City to win the championship.

The U.S., Egypt and Qatar are mediating the negotiations. CAIRO — An Israel delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas. Indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to start this week following Netanyahu’s visit to the United States last week. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise call for Palestinians to be displaced from Gaza and for the enclave to come under the ownership of the U.S., which would rebuild it. U.S. officials have since walked back some of Trump’s remarks, saying Palestinians could return to Gaza once it was cleared of unexploded ordnance and rebuilt. Still, Trump’s plan was widely panned with some critics saying it amounted to “ethnic cleansing.” Israeli officials have welcomed it. The first stage of the ceasefire which began on January 19 is meant to last six weeks and includes the release by Hamas of 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel freeing almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its jails. Images of three hostages freed on Saturday, looking gaunt and weak, shocked Israelis. “Yesterday we got our father back. He lost much of his weight but not his spirit,” said Yulie Ben Ami, whose father Ohad was freed. “He survived hell.” Withdrawal Washington, Qatar and Egypt mediated the ceasefire, which has largely held. In keeping with the deal, on Sunday the Israeli military completed its withdrawal from its remaining positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza. Crowds of people were seen traversing the corridor as Hamas announced the Israeli withdrawal, while a long line of cars waited to pass through. An Israeli security source confirmed the military was leaving its positions there. The Hamas-run police force deployed to the area to manage the flow Palestinians crossing through and Reuters footage showed what appeared to be Israeli military vehicles moving away from the coast and towards the Israeli border. Hamas military and police forces have increased their public presence since January’s ceasefire, in what analysts say is an intentional message that the group has not been defeated. Former American soldiers employed as private contractors have been deployed to inspect vehicles passing through the corridor in recent weeks following the ceasefire agreement that was implemented on January 19 after more than 15 months of war. Israel had occupied the roughly 4 mile-long corridor south of Gaza City that stretches from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea. The corridor cut off Gaza’s northern communities, including its largest metropolitan area, from the south. Thousands of Palestinians have streamed through the corridor in recent weeks, returning to their homes in the north from southern Gaza where they had sought shelter from the war. Much of northern Gaza has become a wasteland following Israel’s devastating campaign. After finding their homes destroyed, some Gazans have gone back to the south, while others have set up tents where their homes once stood. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas for its October 2023 attack in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory assault, according to Palestinian health authorities, most of them civilians. Gazan medics said that on Sunday four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, had been killed by Israeli gunfire in two separate incidents near Khan Younis and in Gaza City. The Israeli military said soldiers had fired warning shots at “several suspects” and that “several hits were identified,” when asked about the Gaza City incident where medics said three Palestinians had been killed and five wounded. The military was not aware of the incident where the woman was allegedly killed.

The handover of hostages scheduled for Saturday will be postponed until Israel “commits to and compensates for the past weeks retroactively,” a Qassam Brigades spokesman said. Hamas said Monday it was suspending the upcoming hostage release in the Gaza Strip, blaming Israel for not following the terms of a ceasefire agreement that paused the 15-month war in the Palestinian enclave. Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, cited alleged Israeli violations of the deal over the past three weeks, including delaying the return of displaced people to northern Gaza, not allowing aid to enter the enclave, and shelling and gunfire in various areas of the strip. As a result, the handover of hostages scheduled for Saturday “will be postponed until further notice” and until Israel “commits to and compensates for the past weeks retroactively,” Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said via social media. The announcement triggered alarm among families of hostages, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum appealing for help from countries mediating the next and second stage of the ceasefire. “Recent evidence from those released, as well as the shocking conditions of the hostages released last Saturday, leaves no room for doubt — time is of the essence, and all hostages must be urgently rescued from this horrific situation,” the group said. Over the weekend, at Saturday’s hostage release — the fifth since the ceasefire agreement began Jan. 19 — Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami looked frail and weak. Qatar, the United States and Egypt have helped mediate the talks between Israel and Hamas, with negotiators due to hammer out details of the deal's second phase now. Israeli officials denounced Hamas' announcement, with Defense Minister Israel Katz calling it “a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement.” “I have instructed the IDF to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities,” he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. Opposition politician Avigdor Lieberman called for aid to be cut off to Gaza if Hamas did not release hostages Saturday. “No trucks will enter the Gaza Strip. No food, no water, no electricity, and no fuel,” he said on X. Hundreds of trucks of aid have flowed into the shattered enclave daily since the truce went into effect in January, and any cutoff would have a devastating impact on Palestinian civilians. Hamas' announcement will worsen the uncertainty surrounding the fragile ceasefire, as well as not only the future of the hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees who are due to be released in exchange, but also the next steps for the region as a whole. President Donald Trump said Monday night that if all the hostages are not returned by noon Saturday, Israel should "cancel" the ceasefire and that "all hell is going to break out." "If they're not returned, all of them — not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two. Saturday at 12 o'clock. And after that, I would say all hell is going to break out,” Trump told reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office. Asked to elaborate on what that would mean, Trump told reporters, "You'll find out." "They'll find out, too. Hamas will find out what I mean," Trump said. "These are sick people, and they'll find out what I mean Saturday at 12." Trump last week was condemned across the Middle East after he floated a plan for the United States to take control of Gaza — and turn it into "the Riviera of the Middle East.” In an interview with Fox News set to air Monday, he said that under the plan, Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return to their home after the enclave was rebuilt. “We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities — could be five, six, could be two, but we’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said in the Fox interview. After Trump’s initial comments last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Trump was “committed to rebuilding Gaza and to temporarily relocating” Palestinians during those reconstruction efforts. Hamas leader Osama Hamdan on Monday rejected what he called the “Israeli-American vision” for Palestinians, condemning Trump’s statements about Gaza, saying they revealed “his real estate view of homelands.” Hamdan doubled down on the decision to postpone the handover of Israeli hostages, saying it “came as a result of the occupation’s disruption of 90% of the humanitarian protocol.” According to local health officials, close to 48,000 people have died in the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack in which Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.