Israel at War Day 558 | ICC Requests Clarification From Hungary Over Failure to Uphold Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu

Click here for updates from Day 559 of the war.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. The report cited administration officials and others briefed on the discussions.

Israel had developed plans to attack the sites in May, according to the newspaper, which added that the goal was to set back Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon by a year or more.

The New York Times said U.S. assistance was required not just to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation but also ensure the attack was successful.

After months of internal debate, Trump made the decision to seek negotiations with Iran rather than support military action.

The U.S. and Iran held talks in Omanlast Saturday - the first time during a Trump administration, including his 2017-2021 first term. Both countries described the talks as "positive" and "constructive".

A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.

Gaza's Civil Defense says that 21 people have been killed in recent Israeli airstrikes, including 15 in an attack targeting tents housing displaced persons in the Al-Mawasi area. The majority of those killed were women and children, the Hamas-run body said.

The Internal Revenue Service is reportedly making plans to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status, according to a CNN report, with a final decision "expected soon."

The move would be the most significant action undertaken by the Trump administration against a private university amid its crackdown on what it says is explicitly targeting campus antisemitism, not to mention a perhaps unprecedented move targeting a non-for-profit entity's tax-exempt status on political grounds.

Trump floated pulling Harvard's tax-exempt status in a Truth Social post on Tuesday "if it keeps pushing political, ideological and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness.'" The administration's joint task force against antisemitism announced earlier this week it was pulling more than $2 billion in funding after the White House demanded reforms, ostensibly related to fighting anti-Jewish sentiment but rejected as an overreaching effort to determine a private university's teaching practices.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expanding Adam Boehler's portfolio to "special envoy for hostage response," according to an Axios report that was later confirmed by Boehler on social media.

The appointment, which is temporary and does not require Senate approval, comes a little over a month after Boehler pulled his nomination for "special envoy for hostage affairs" amid Israeli and Republican outrage surrounding his direct diplomacy with Hamas and his supposedly flippant dismissal of the resulting concerns.

Unlike his new position, Boehler's original nomination required Senate approval and accordingly carried more diplomatic prestige. Boehler's new reported position, meanwhile would extend his position as a so-called "special government employee" for an additional five months. It would also reportedly grant him a broader remit while he would report directly to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Nearly 70 House Democrats, led by Vermont Jewish Democratic Rep. Becca Balint, urged senior Trump officials demanding answers on the "abduction" of Columbia student and U.S. permanent Mohsen Mahdawi – who was apprehended earlier this week by masked, hooded Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents upon arriving for his final citizenship interview at a local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.

"Without due process and the right to free speech, this is not the America we thought we lived in. And it should terrify us all," said Balint. "It's critical we stand up loudly for the U.S. Constitution in the face of the authoritarian rule from the White House."

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday with freed Israeli hostages Sasha Troufanov and Sapir Cohen. At the meeting, Putin said that Russia would do everything in its power to ensure that the hostages were released from captivity in Gaza , and thanked Hamas for releasing Troufanov.

"The fact that you are now free is a result of Russia's many years of stable relations with the Palestinian people, with the representatives of different organisations," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling former hostage Alexander Trufanov and members of his family.

"Here we have to offer a word of gratitude to the leadership and to the political wing of Hamas for a gesture made to us in carrying out this humanitarian act," the agencies said he told the late-night Kremlin meeting.

Russia, Putin said, "had truly done everything possible" to secure Trufanov's liberation and would undertake whatever was necessary to ensure those still in captivity would be freed.

Dozens of people attended a speaking event, part of a three-day series at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, to hear released hostage Ilana Gritzewsky share her experience in Hamas captivity.

At the event, titled "And You Should Tell Your Children," after the Passover commandment to share the story of the people of Israel's exodus from bondage with each generation, Gritzewsky told the story of her abduction and the abduction of her partner, Matan Zangauker, on the morning of October 7 from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

"They grabbed me by the hair, kneed me on the stomach and knocked the wind out of me," she told the crowd. They loaded me onto a motorcycle and placed a plastic tarp over my head and pressed my leg to the motorcycle's exhaust.

"All the way to Gaza, they groped me," she said. "I could deal with the beatings and the humiliation, but not the sexual assault." She said that her bones were broken, and she has partially lost her hearing from a grenade blast during her abduction.

She said she woke up half-naked in a dilapidated building surrounded by seven terrorists, fearing for her life.

She addressed hostages currently in captivity, including her partner Zangauker, saying, "I know what you are going through, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

The International Criminal Court in the Hague has requested that Hungary clarify why it did not comply with its Rome Statute duty and uphold the arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu visited Budapest for three days in April, and on the day of his landing, the ICC asked Hungary to arrest the Israeli prime minister.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with Vicki and Romi Cohen, the mother and sister of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, as part of several recent meetings with relatives of hostages.

In a conversation with Haaretz, Vicki Cohen said that Netanyahu told them there is no American pressure on Israel to end the war. According to her, Netanyahu said Israel is exerting military pressure on Hamas, and stated that the IDF "knows the location of the hostages and is not taking risks."

She added that Netanyahu also told her that Hamas determines the list of those to be released, not Israel. "He was empathetic, was prepared and knew details about us," she recounted. "I brought him a Passover Haggadah that I illustrated. He listened attentively to me and Romi. I received empathy but no clear answers about when my son would return," she said.