US President Donald Trump has sent a draft civil nuclear energy agreement with Saudi Arabia to Congress.

However, a White House official speaking to Reuters emphasised that the pact would take effect only if the kingdom normalises relations with Israel.

The agreement, reached in July to allow US companies to export civil nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, was sent to Congress on Monday, according to the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It remains unclear how Trump expects submitting the nuclear deal to Congress to advance his objectives.

Congress has 90 continuous session days to review the agreement.

“The president’s position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords,” the US official said in an emailed statement.

Signed in 2020 and 2021, those accords were concluded between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.

A few days after agreeing to the Saudi nuclear pact in July, Trump, who had worked on a similar deal during his first presidential term, set the normalisation of ties as a condition for the agreement to enter into force.

Former president Joe Biden had also pushed for a nuclear deal and sought to link it to the accords in question.

Diplomats believed Riyadh was close to normalising relations with Israel in 2023, but the war Israel launched against Gaza in October 2023 altered the situation.

Saudi Arabia demands an “irreversible pathway” to a Palestinian state before recognising Israel.

The 30-year nuclear pact provides for the construction of AP1000 reactors, a project worth tens of billions of dollars that would benefit Westinghouse, co-owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.

According to two congressional sources, the agreement was sent to congressional leaders and is expected to be presented to committees on Wednesday.

If Congress does not object to the agreement within 90 session days, it will take effect.

Should Congress reject the agreement, Trump could veto that decision, which would require a two-thirds majority in Congress to override.

Some Democratic members of Congress and non-proliferation advocates have criticised the nuclear agreement for failing to bar Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.

Those two activities represent two potential pathways to producing nuclear weapons. The UAE, by contrast, accepted such measures, known as the “gold standard”, in its 2009 civil nuclear agreement with Washington.

The Trump administration maintains that the agreement contains the non-proliferation measures required by law.

Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said Trump’s move in initiating the process created the possibility that Congress might allow the deal to proceed without conditions on normalisation and non-proliferation.

“If you are serious about barring enrichment and recognising Israel, this situation is hardly ideal,” Sokolski said.

An official from the US-backed “Board of Peace” has said that “all military activities” in Gaza, including flying kites, must stop.

Speaking to various news outlets, an official from the Board of Peace said: “All militant activities in Gaza, including kite flying, must cease. We have conveyed this message directly through the existing mechanism.”

Noting that Israel must also abide by the ceasefire agreement, the official added that military action “cannot extend beyond responding to real and imminent threats.”

The statement came after Israel approached the “Board of Peace” regarding the matter.

Officials told the Times of Israel (ToI) newspaper that in a recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, senior US representatives and board members stated that Israel’s interpretation of “imminent threats” in Gaza was too “vague” and risked delaying progress on Washington’s peace plan, which envisages the disarmament of Hamas and an Israeli withdrawal.

In addition, parents in Gaza were warned to prevent their children from flying kites in the war-ravaged territory.

Popular committees comprising representatives of local non-governmental organisations and aid charities operating camps and shelters for displaced persons in the Hamas-controlled area of the Gaza Strip issued the warning in a statement late yesterday.

According to an internal source within the organisation, the announcement was made in coordination with Hamas officials.

The statement said:

“We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything we can to stop this practice; we are doing this not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have already been deprived of their most basic rights to play and live safely, but to protect innocent lives.”

A total of 12 kites and four balloons were reported to have crossed from Gaza into Israeli border areas this month.

So far, no suspicious objects have been found on any of the kites flown from Gaza in recent days.

However, many people associated these objects with the kites and balloons carrying certain devices that were flown for years by groups in Gaza prior to the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023.

In the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, paragliding Palestinians had crossed the border.

A senior Israeli defence official claimed that Hamas was attempting to provoke Israel by encouraging Gaza residents to fly kites across the border.

A Hamas official told Reuters, however, that the group complained to ceasefire mediators that “Israel is inventing false pretexts to continue the war against Gaza.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, stated that Tel Aviv received clear intelligence showing Türkiye planned to expand its military presence in Syria significantly, an action Israel deemed the crossing of a “red line.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Leiter said: “We are not looking for an escalation or a war with either Türkiye or Syria. But a red line was crossed.”

His remarks follow an Israeli air strike on the Abu al-Duhur Airbase in Idlib, Syria, which drew swift criticism from both the Syrian and Turkish governments.

Leiter continued:

“This was seen as a blatant Turkish violation of the understandings. Those who needed access to the intelligence received it. Those who needed to know what was going to happen knew. We made it clear that this was contrary to our understandings, and that is why Israel acted as it did.”

According to Leiter, the failure to heed these warnings led Israel on Tuesday to strike the Abu al-Duhur airbase, where Turkish forces were allegedly expected to arrive.

Syrian officials stated that the airbase was targeted by at least eight strikes, whilst subsequently released satellite imagery revealed damage to the runways.

Leiter stated that the Turkish move contradicted understandings reached during the Biden administration between Israel and the administration of Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, which “froze the existing situation” in the country.

According to Leiter, these understandings were reaffirmed during a meeting held in Paris in January 2026, attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, Leiter, then-National Security Council head Gil Reich, and Netanyahu’s military secretary Roman Gofman (now director of Mossad).

Leiter continued:

“This freeze means we do not act as long as the Turks do not act, and they do not force us to withdraw. It is also important to understand: whilst we maintain a security zone of only 78 square miles [approximately 202 square kilometres] in Syria, the Turks have, over the past few years, slowly annexed 3,500 square miles in northern Syria—roughly 5% of the country’s territory.”

According to The Jerusalem Post, with the exception of Tom Barrack, the US Special Envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Türkiye, senior US officials did not condemn the Israeli strike in Syria.

“The administration’s policy is that the previously agreed freeze should continue; that is why even Trump did not condemn the strike,” Leiter said.

Despite the tensions, Leiter emphasised Israel’s understanding that Syria is not seeking an escalation or war.

“It is clear to us that the Syrians do not want a confrontation with us. That is why we tell the Turks not to create conflict. There are multiple indications that the move planned by Türkiye was imposed on the Syrians,” the ambassador said.

Leiter argued that this apparent discord was also evident in the conflicting statements issued by Türkiye and Syria following the strike:

“Whilst Syrian Foreign Minister Shaibani acknowledged that a Turkish delegation was in Syria a few days before the strike, the Turks denied this. They need to resolve this matter between themselves.”

Leiter did not rule out a return to direct talks with Syria, as conducted in the past, but said conditions must be suitable.

“Negotiations can be resumed. We want to continue the face-to-face dialogue we previously conducted with the Syrians,” Leiter said.

Leiter added that Israel is not seeking a conflict with Türkiye and remains open to dialogue with Ankara.

“We are certainly open to dialogue with them, but judging by statements from senior officials in the country, they would prefer to wipe Israel off the map,” the Israeli diplomat said.

Alleging that Türkiye hosts Hamas leaders and “channels funds” to Hezbollah and Hamas, Leiter argued that it was inappropriate at this juncture for “Türkiye to begin expanding its influence in Lebanon and Syria.”

Leiter continued:

“Under current conditions, Türkiye cannot be a force that helps bring calm to the region. If only we could return to the state of relations between Jerusalem and Ankara from several decades ago. Back then, we would have been open to Türkiye’s influence in the region. But in an environment where Türkiye funds terrorist organisations, an increase in its regional influence makes no sense.”