Summary

  1. King of Jordan arrives at White Housepublished at 17:06 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 11, 2025.Image source, Reuters

    King Abdullah of Jordan has arrived at the White House, where he was greeted by US President Donald Trump.

    Their discussion will take place behind closed doors, but we'll bring you the latest updates from this much-anticipated encounter as soon as we have them.

  2. How many Palestinian refugees already live in Jordan?published at 16:51 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    In 2016, the King of Jordan said his country was at "boiling point" and would need help from the international community to welcome more refugees.

    So what is Jordan's history with welcoming refugees?

    Donald Trump expects Jordan to house many of the two million refugees who would be expelled from Gaza under his plan, but has already cut aid to Jordan worth more than $1.5 billion per year.

  3. Gaza's future a key concern as Trump hosts king of Jordanpublished at 16:31 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Malu Cursino
    Live reporter

    Jordan's King Abdullah II arrives at Borgo Egnazia on day two of the 50th G7 summit, on June 14, 2024 in Fasano, ItalyImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    King Abdullah of Jordan met with some of President Trump's advisers ahead of the pair's own meeting

    US President Donald Trump will soon be hosting King Abdullah of Jordan at the White House, where the pair are set to discuss the future of Gaza.

    Their encounter comes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas faces increasing strain, with doubts cast over its longevity after Hamas on Monday said it would suspend a hostage release scheduled for Saturday, accusing Israel of breaking the terms of the ceasefire deal.

    Israel, in turn, accused Hamas of a "complete violation of the ceasefire agreement", and said it had instructed the Israeli military "to prepare at the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza and to protect the communities".

    President Trump then weighed in. All "hell" would break out if Hamas failed to release all Israeli hostages by midday on Saturday, he said. Since taking office, Trump repeatedly voiced his controversial plans for a takeover of the Gaza Strip, and to resettle Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the Trump administration's comments on the conflict.

    The plans were criticised by others in the international community, particularly officials in Cairo and Amman. Now, Trump has threatened to withhold economic aid from Jordan if it, along with Egypt, refuses to accept Palestinians from Gaza.

    Jordan has rejected the idea as a fundamental breach of international law, as our US State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman, writes.

  4. Trump's firm plan intends to offer diplomatic solution, Israeli politician sayspublished at 16:13 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Israel's deputy foreign minister says she welcomes Donald Trump's intervention in the Gaza ceasefire deal.

    Sharren Haskel told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "I am glad that President Trump is very firm on his declaration. I know how much pressure it actually puts on the other side.

    "For the first time for a year and a half, there's a pressure on the other side to actually sit down and actually reason."

    She says she is "welcoming" it because it intends to offer a "diplomatic solution".

    Haskel also says that Hamas can resolve this by releasing the hostages due to be freed on Saturday, and to stop "threatening" Israel.

  5. Palestinians and hostage families alarmed by latest developmentspublished at 15:49 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Yolande Knell
    Middle East correspondent

    Israel’s prime minister has pledged “relentless action” to return hostages still being held in Gaza but hostage families and their supporters out protesting this morning have been alarmed by the latest developments, as have war-weary Palestinians in Gaza.

    Hamas accuses Israel of violations of the ceasefire deal – including blocking vital humanitarian aid such as tents, which Israel denies.

    So far, Israel’s government has not indicated its next move after President Trump suggested a high-stakes ultimatum.

    In a statement, Hamas said the door was open for international mediators to intervene and get the ceasefire deal back on track. A senior Hamas official dismissed what he called Trump’s “language of threats".

  6. Hamas says hostages will be freed 'if situation rectified'published at 15:31 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    With the Gaza ceasefire in jeopardy, a senior Hamas politician has told the BBC that Israel is to blame. Israel has said it is Hamas that is violating the agreement.

    Dr Basem Naim told the BBC that Hamas remains committed to the deal and is "ready to hand over prisoners next Saturday if the situation is rectified".

    Hamas said on Monday it was postponing the next scheduled release of Israeli hostages, blaming what it alleged were Israeli breaches of the ceasefire deal.

    Naim told the BBC: "These continuous violations of the deal will undermine the deal, will sabotage the deal, starting by the delay of the return of the displaced people for more than 48 to 72 hours."

    He also said key aid, such as food and medicine, were not available, citing this as another reason for the hold-up.

    "But lastly and not least that these threats from Netanyahu backed up by Trump, the statements that they are planning to displace two million people from the Gaza Strip," Naim added.

  7. Houthis ready to target Israel if attacks on Gaza resume, leader sayspublished at 15:01 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    The Iran-backed Houthi group says it is ready to target Israel if attacks on Gaza resume.

    Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi made the comments in a televised speech, Reuters news agency reports.

    Since the war in Gaza began, the Yemen-based militants have launched drone and missiles attacks on Israel, though most have been intercepted.

    The Houthis have also attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, out of solidarity, they said, for Gaza's Palestinians.

  8. Trump's comments on Gaza have changed the mood, emboldening Netanyahupublished at 14:26 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Jeremy Bowen
    International Editor

    Hamas are contending that aid isn't getting in to the extent it was promised.

    There are Palestinians who have been shot by the Israeli army, which Hamas is condemning, and there are question marks about whether temporary shelters have come in.

    There are enough days left to try to resolve the situation, and if they want to continue with the ceasefire, hostage and prisoner releases on both sides, they are going to have to do that.

    However, the mood has changed because of Donald Trump and his comments on Gaza.

    These have emboldened right-wing Israeli nationals and Netanyahu really feels as if he's got the wind behind him, and the Palestinians are feeling even more threatened than they were before.

    Particularly in terms of the possibility that more than 2 million will be expelled from Gaza.

    If the hostages are not returned on Saturday, Donald Trump said all "hell will break loose".

    It's not clear whether Trump is saying "this is something I would do if I was running the whole operation there" - his remarks are probably deliberately ambiguous on all of that.

    When Trump says things, even if the plans don't come to pass, it has an impact and it feeds into attitudes on both sides.

    If the hostage release goes ahead, the bigger issue is whether they get to phase two of the deal.

    The next phase is about governance of Gaza and further hostage and prisoner releases.

    At the moment, Netanyahu is still saying there's a great new Trump plan. So the kind of ideas of a revamped Palestinian authority floated by the Biden administration seem to be kicked way off course.

  9. All quiet at the White House ahead of Trump's meeting with King Abdullahpublished at 14:09 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Bernd Debusmann Jr
    Reporting from the White House

    Exterior of the White HouseImage source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

    I've just arrived at the White House, where things are currently quiet ahead of King Abdullah of Jordan's meeting with President Trump later today.

    There is, at the moment, very little indication of a visit by a world leader here today. There are only a handful of reporters outside in the cold, setting up cameras.

    Unlike recent visits by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Japan's Shigeru Ishiba, King Abdullah is not staying across the street at Blair House, and as such there is no Jordanian flag flying over the doorway.

    The King's visit is due to begin with his arrival at 11:30 local time (16:30 GMT), which will be followed by a bilateral meeting with Trump and a lunch, which will also be attended by Hussein, Jordan's Crown Prince.

    King Abdullah is due to depart at 13:05 EST (18:05 GMT).

    President Trump's only other public plans today are to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at 15:00 EST (20:00 GMT) - although at the moment it's unclear what these orders are.

    We'll keep you up to date with Trump's meeting with King Abdullah, stay with us.

  10. Analysis

    Jordan government is treading political tightropepublished at 13:51 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Lucy Williamson
    Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jordan

    A small country surrounded by conflicts and saturated with refugees, Jordan is a superpower of stability in a volatile region now facing a conflict of its own with its US ally.

    Thousands protested here last week against US President Donald Trump's demand that Gaza's population relocate to Jordan, a plan seen as helping Israel's far right nationalists take over Palestinian land.

    Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. Some families in camps here came from Gaza seeking temporary shelter after the 1967 Arab Israeli war. Generations later, they're still here.

    So right now Jordan's government is treading a tightrope between its political ties to Israel and the US and its people's ties to the Palestinians.

  11. If Gazans come we will die, Jordanian labourer sayspublished at 13:27 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    An elderly Jordanian man, with glasses and a keffiyeh, a type of headdress
    Image caption,

    Maher Azazi

    Maher Azazi, 60, was moved from Jabalia in the Gaza Strip to Gaza camp, in Jordan, as a toddler - 57 years later he is still living at the camp set up as an "emergency" settlement for Palestinians in 1968.

    Some of the fiercest opponents of moving Gazans to Jordan are the Gazans who moved here before, the BBC's Lucy Williamson writes.

    Despite the devastation there, Azazi says Gazans today have learned the lessons of previous generations and most "would rather jump into the sea than leave".

    "Donald Trump is an arrogant narcissist," he tells the BBC. "He has a mentality from the Middle Ages, the mentality of a tradesman."

    We also heard from Hassan, a Jordanian labourer who says Jordan used to thrive, but after the wars in Syria, and now Gaza, "things got worse... because we're a country that helps and takes people in".

    "I have no money, no food," he says. "If Gazans come, we will die."

  12. Trump proposal wrenches at Jordan's weakened fault linespublished at 13:12 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Tom Bateman
    State department correspondent

    President Trump has threatened to withhold economic aid from Jordan if it, along with Egypt, won’t accept Palestinians from Gaza.

    Jordan has rejected the idea as a fundamental breach of international law.

    The country is making it clear - behind the scenes - it views the Trump proposal as posing an existential threat to Jordan itself.

    The idea of hosting expelled Palestinians wrenches at the kingdom’s already weakened fault lines. Its population includes millions descended from Palestinian refugees forced from the land that became Israel in 1948, alongside those whose roots lie firmly east of the River Jordan.

    The country has also absorbed waves of refugees from Syria.

    That in a state reliant on US economic assistance means King Abdullah’s message to Trump is likely to be blunt: his Gaza transfer plan could unleash chaos in Jordan and undermine decades of relative stability with its neighbour Israel.

  13. Jordan's king meets US security adviserpublished at 12:51 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    National security advisor Mike Waltz sitting down on cream-coloured couch in dark grey suit and burgundy tie as he speaks to King Abdullah II of Jorda, also sitting in a cushioned cream chair. The Jordanian flag is behind the kind, and there's a white stone fireplace visible behind himImage source, X/RHCJO

    Jordan's King Abdullah has been meeting with some of President Donald Trump's advisers ahead of the pair's scheduled discussion later.

    King Abdullah sat down with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. His office posted a picture of the royal smiling, as Waltz talks to him.

    He is due to meet President Trump at 11:30 ET (16:30 GMT).

  14. Analysis

    Trump has set stage for a showdown between US and Jordanpublished at 12:35 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Lucy Williamson
    Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jordan

    When King Abdullah of Jordan sits down with President Trump at the White House today, it won’t only be Gaza’s future on his mind, but Jordan’s too.

    Trump’s apparent determination to relocate Gaza’s population to Jordan has set the stage for a showdown between the US and a key Middle East ally.

    King Abdullah has insisted there is no way Jordan will agree to the plan.

    Trump has signalled there will be consequences for refusing, saying that he would consider withholding aid.

    Jordan receives regular payments of at least $1.45bn each year in military and economic aid from the US.

    Along with Israel and Egypt, it’s one of the top recipients of US aid in the Middle East, but because its economy is much smaller, the aid plays a much bigger role here, making up around 1% of the country’s GDP.

    Trump has already suspended aid to Jordan, as part of a wider review into US global funding. The consequences of losing US aid are likely to be sharp in a country where a quarter of the population live in poverty, and almost half its young people are unemployed.

    But senior political figures say the consequences of bowing to Trump’s pressure could be even more serious. The country is home to millions of refugees, many with strong ties to the Palestinians, and while many native Jordanians have strong sympathy with the Palestinian people, there is also growing frustration at the number of refugees in Jordan, and the lack of jobs.

    The government’s security ties to the US, and its security co-operation with Israel, have sometimes left it treading a tightrope between its strategic relationships and its own people.

    King Abdullah faces a choice: refuse the demands of an unpredictable superpower ally, or force open fault-lines in his own country that could trigger an existential crisis.

  15. Jordan is at boiling point as one of the largest refugee-hosting countries, king sayspublished at 12:05 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Jordanian King Abdullah and Donald Trump sat on yellow chairs with fire place behind, looking at each other in conversation.Image source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Trump is set to meet Jordan's King Abdullah later today, here they are at a previous meeting in 2018

    Jordan already houses more than 2.39 million Palestinian refugees, the UN Refugee Agency says.

    The organisation describes Jordan as "one of the world's largest refugee-hosting countries per capita".

    Many Iraqis and Syrians also fled to Jordan during the wars in the 2000s and 2010s.

    Jordan's King Abdullah says his country is at "boiling point".

    A food bank near the mosque in central Amman, the country's capital, tells the BBC it hands out 1,000 meals a day.

    Map showing Jordan in relation to Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Turkey
  16. Hamas rejects Trump's threats, Israel pledges 'relentless action' - what's the latest?published at 11:41 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Imogen James
    Live reporter

    A group of people in a truck as a line of cars is behind and beside them on a busy road, some people walking on footImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Displaced Palestinians continue to cross the Netzarim Corridor following the withdrawal of Israeli troops in central Gaza

    Yesterday, Hamas announced it would delay the next round of Israeli hostage releases. Today, Israel and the international community are reacting. Here's the latest:

    • Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged "determined and relentless action" to return Israeli hostages being held in Gaza
    • On Monday night, Donald Trump said "all hell is going to break out" if all hostages are not returned by Saturday, but Palestinians in parts of Gaza are standing defiant in the face of the US president's threats
    • In response to Trump's comments, a Hamas spokesperson says "the language of threats has no value"
    • As Trump calls on Gaza's neighbouring countries to offer refuge to Palestinians as part of his "takeover" plan, Egypt, Syria and Turkey have pushed back
    • Also this morning, the death of Israeli hostage Shlomo Mansour, 86, was announced by the Israel Defence Forces

    We're expecting Trump to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House, after the president proposed resettling Gazans in the country. We're now shifting our focus to unpack the situation in Jordan, stay with us.

  17. Israel has failed to keep ceasefire promises - Turkish presidentpublished at 11:32 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Erdogan speaking into two small microphones in front of a Turkish flag. He wears a suit jacket, a blue shirt and a blue tieImage source, Reuters

    Some more international reaction now, from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who says that Israel has "failed to keep its promises" regarding the ceasefire deal.

    Speaking to press afterwards, Erdogan adds "the Israeli occupation should end once and for all". Their occupation "remains the core problem", he adds.

    Erdogan says Turkey is sending aid to Gaza, and will continue to do so, while also calling for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

  18. Forcing Palestinians from their land is a serious crime, Syrian president sayspublished at 11:19 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a suit, with reporters' microphones in front of himImage source, Reuters

    Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says Donald Trump has had a "promising start" to his second term, in an interview on the Rest is Politics podcast.

    Though, he calls for the US President to drop sanctions against Syria now the regime has changed, but becomes more critical when asked directly about ethnic cleansing and relocating Palestinians to Jordan.

    It would not be "morally or politically right for Trump to lead an effort to force Palestinians out of their land", he says.

    Adding it is a "serious crime that will ultimately fail".

  19. Egypt's president calls for Gaza reconstruction, without displacementpublished at 11:09 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in black suit with blue tie sat at desk with microphone, and small placard with Egypt written on it.Image source, Reuters

    Moving onto some more international reaction now as Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for the reconstruction of Gaza, but without displacing Palestinians from the enclave.

    Egypt has rejected US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza, as well as his previous requests for the country to take in refugees from neighbouring Gaza.

    Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Washington, and emphasised the need for Palestinians to remain in Gaza "in light of their attachment to their land", according to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry.

  20. 'There is no fear': Palestinians in West Bank stand defiant against Trump's 'threats'published at 10:45 Greenwich Mean Time 11 February

    Man speaking into camera wearing hat, scarf and jumper with a road, cars and people behindImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Nader Imam lives in the West Bank and spoke to Reuters about Trump's recent comments

    We've just reported on reaction from Palestinians in Rafah and we're now hearing from residents in the West Bank, as one person calls Trump's threats "very dangerous".

    Nader Imam, who lives in the West Bank, tells Reuters: "He is saying that we [Palestinians] are leaving Gaza, does he own Gaza to ask people to leave it?"

    He adds: “I only blame the American people. How can a country like this, a superpower, accept a person like Trump?"

    Mohammed Zahdeh says it is the Israeli prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is "the first and last reason for the disruption of the deal".

    Another Palestinian in the West Bank, Mohammad Salah Tamimi, says: "Our destiny is in God's hands...There is no fear, we rely on God."