Here are Thursday’s updates from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and the Middle East:
■ The Pentagon has ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to get ready for deployment to the Middle East as the U.S. military braces for a possible strike on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing three U.S. officials, who said U.S. President Donald Trump hadn’t officially ordered its deployment
■ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, said that the meeting, attended by Trump and his team, “discussed negotiations with Iran, Gaza and regional developments”
■ U.S. President Donald Trump said “nothing definitive” was reached after a three-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that he “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue”
■ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in a signing ceremony with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ahead of an expected meeting with the president
■ Top-ranking Senate Democrats released a joint statement urging the Trump administration to forcefully oppose Israeli government actions, which they say encourage annexation of the West Bank and harm a potential two-state solution
■ U.S. Vice President JD Vance signaled Wednesday that the administration’s policy toward Iran is focused on preventing the regime from developing nuclear weapons, adding that regime change is “up to the Iranian people”
■ Jonathan Hever, an 18-year-old resident of Hadera, was charged with committing a series of racially-motivated violent crimes in the West Bank village of Jab’a, the state prosecutor’s office announced
■ Israeli soldiers were filmed beating a Palestinian during an arrest in the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, in a video uploaded on Monday
■ Iran’s missile capabilities are its red line and are not a subject to be negotiated, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said on Wednesday, as Tehran and Washington eye a new round of talks to avert conflict