Gaza rescuers say 14 killed in Israeli strikes/node/2578641/middle-east
Gaza rescuers say 14 killed in Israeli strikes
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Palestinians stand at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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A woman reacts as people mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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A child looks on as people mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 9, 2024. (Reuters)
GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s civil defense agency said on Saturday that Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight, including women and children.
An air strike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern area of Khan Yunis, killing at least nine people, including children and women, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also confirmed the toll, saying 11 others were wounded in the strike and were taken to Nasser Hospital.
A second air strike killed five people, including children, and injured about 22 when “Israeli warplanes hit Fahad Al-Sabah school,” which had been turned into a shelter for “thousands of displaced people” in the Al-Tuffah district of Gaza City, Bassal said.
The dead and injured were taken to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, he added.
In recent months, the military has struck several schools-turned-shelters where Israel has said Palestinian militants are operating.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said its troops killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where it has been conducting a sweeping air and ground operation for more than a month to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Israeli forces also killed several militants in the area of Rafah in the territory’s south, the military added.
The military is currently engaged in a two-front war, with troops fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
“Over the past day, the IAF (air force) struck over 50 terror targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.
“Among the targets struck were military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers,” it added.
Israel’s war in Gaza broke out after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which included those who died and were killed in captivity.
During the attack, militants abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 43,508 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers to be reliable.
Iraq removes, South Korea eases restrictions on import of Brazil chicken meat
South Korea ow restricts only chicken meat from the region affected by the bird flu, the ministry said, without providing more details
Updated 9 sec ago
Reuters
SAO PAULO: Iraq removed a trade ban it had imposed on Brazilian chicken meat after a bird flu case on a commercial farm last month, while South Korea eased its restrictions, the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
South Korea ow restricts only chicken meat from the region affected by the bird flu, the ministry said, without providing more details. Both Iraq and South Korea had imposed nationwide trade bans to Brazilian chicken meat.
Brazil hopes to reverse trade bans after declaring last week itself free of the bird flu virus in commercial flocks following a 28-day period without any new commercial farm outbreaks.
What the intensifying Israel-Iran conflict says about the future of diplomacy
Efforts in Geneva to restart diplomacy now hang in the balance, with Iran and the US hardening positions after recent strikes
Analysts warn that without regional diplomacy led by powers like Saudi Arabia, the Israel-Iran conflict risks spiralling into a wider war
Updated 29 min 56 sec ago
ANAN TELLO AND SHEROUK ZAKARIA
LONON/DUBAI: The Iranian missile attack which was intercepted by Qatar on Monday night when it launched missiles against US troops stationed at Al-Udeid Air Base comes as a major setback for peace in the region.
As Iranian missiles lit up the sky over Doha in a retaliatory strike targeting the US military, a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Iran conflict, which has now drawn in the US, seemed further away than ever, with Tehran appearing to wash its hands of further nuclear talks.
Although no casualties were reported at Al-Udeid Air Base — the largest US base in the region — Iran’s counterattack is likely to invite additional American strikes and further regional escalation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both condemned the attack on Qatari sovereignty. The Saudi foreign ministry lambasted Iran for its “unjustifiable” attack, offering to deploy “all its capabilities” to support Doha.
Since the Israeli-Iran conflict dramatically escalated over the weekend, the mixed global response to Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities is testing the limits of modern diplomacy and exposing deep divisions among major powers.
This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (AFP)
What most seem to agree on is that while diplomacy is on the decline, it could have been the solution.
Experts say the fractured international reaction to the escalation reflects a shifting global order and the erosion of the post-Cold War consensus.
“There is no ‘global response’ to speak of at this moment,” Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Arab News. “This Israel-Iran war is taking place in a fractured geopolitical context.”
He argues that divisions among the US, China and Russia “make it next to impossible to marshal a collective diplomatic effort in the way that the world did in previous eras, like the immediate post-Cold War period of the 1990s.
“That’s why we will continue to see a lot of empty words disconnected from the actions that are actually reshaping the Middle East as we know it.”
On June 13, Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites including Natanz, Isfahan and Tehran, reportedly killing senior officials, nuclear scientists and civilians. In response, Iran launched “Operation True Promise III,” firing missiles and drones into Israel. Several struck Tel Aviv, Haifa and other cities, causing civilian casualties.
Despite initially assuring G7 allies that the US would stay out of the conflict, President Donald Trump reversed course on June 22, ordering B-2 bombers to strike Iran’s underground nuclear facilities with MOP “bunker-buster” bombs — weapons only the US possesses.
Although Trump declared that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, it remains unclear whether Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was destroyed or relocated in time. If material and technical capacity remain, diplomacy may be the only path to prevent Iran from eventually building a nuclear weapon — a goal the regime could now prioritize more urgently.
Even with severe military losses and the effective loss of airspace control, Iran appears undeterred. Hostilities with Israel continue, and the possibility of Iranian retaliation against US targets is growing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that the war will not end until Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is removed from power.
Israeli rescuers search through the rubble at the site of an overnight Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam on June 15, 2025. (AFP)
The US entry into the conflict has triggered a range of diplomatic responses — from enthusiastic support to fierce condemnation. Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision as a “courageous choice” that would “alter history.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, called it an “outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation” of international law, insisting Tehran reserves “all options” to defend its interests.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN demanded an emergency Security Council session and called the strikes “premeditated acts of aggression.”
Russia, a close ally of Iran, “strongly condemned” the US action. Its Foreign Ministry labeled the strikes a “gross violation of international law,” while Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, dismissed their impact and provocatively suggested some states might now help Iran obtain nuclear weapons.
China echoed the condemnation. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the strikes “seriously violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter,” and warned of regional destabilization.
FASTFACTS
China and Russia have condemned US strikes on Iran while the UN and Europe have appealed for deescalation.
Analysts say without regional diplomacy led by powers like Saudi Arabia, the Israel-Iran conflict risks spiraling into wider war.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Fu Cong called on Israel to halt hostilities immediately and backed a UN resolution demanding an unconditional ceasefire. Chinese analysts have also warned that the conflict threatens global trade routes such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Other voices have called for diplomacy. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a “hazardous escalation,” stressing that “military solutions are not viable” and urging a return to negotiations.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — positioning himself as a bridge between the US and Europe — highlighted the danger of the war spreading beyond the region. While stopping short of endorsing the US strikes, he reiterated that Iran must not develop nuclear weapons and called for negotiations to stabilize the region.
European powers had previously been pressing for a deal requiring Iran to halt uranium enrichment, curb its missile program and stop supporting proxy groups. But Iran has rejected a full halt, claiming its enrichment is for peaceful purposes.
With Western diplomacy faltering, regional actors are stepping in. Most Arab states — including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the Gulf states — have condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran and are working to deescalate tensions.
Still, these efforts have so far achieved little. Strikes continue, ceasefire mechanisms remain absent and attempts to coordinate sanctions or arms embargoes have stalled.
A narrow diplomatic window may remain. Recent Geneva meetings involving Iranian, US, and European officials showed conditional openness to talks. But the latest US strikes have likely hardened positions.
A plume of heavy smoke and fire rise over an oil refinery in southern Tehran, after it was hit in an overnight Israeli strike, on June 15, 2025. (AFP)
Analysts say the only viable path forward begins with renewed diplomacy, ideally starting with a ceasefire. Yet fundamental disagreements over Iran’s nuclear ambitions and widespread distrust leave a comprehensive solution elusive.
Some fear that Israel, emboldened by US support, may escalate its military campaign to seek regime change in Tehran — a move that would risk greater instability across the Middle East, as the world has seen in the recent attack over Qatar.
Others argue that Iran’s military retaliation is a necessary step before negotiations can resume. However, nobody seems to safely conclude just how far this retaliation will go.
Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group, told CNN that without such a response, Iran would lack both international leverage and domestic legitimacy to reenter talks.
Still, he later added: “Diplomacy is dead for the foreseeable future.”
With Iran and Israel entrenched and global powers divided, prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough appear slim. Yet Katulis believes regional “swing states” — such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE — could help shift the dynamic.
“One of the biggest brakes on further escalation lies right in the heart of the Middle East itself,” he said. “The key ‘swing states’ like Saudi Arabia and the UAE could lead more regional collective efforts to avoid further escalation by working publicly and quietly with the main combatants to find pathways toward a diplomatic settlement.”
In geopolitical terms, these “swing states” balance relationships with Washington, Moscow and Beijing — and can influence outcomes through neutrality or engagement. Katulis believes Riyadh, in particular, could help change the calculus.
Right now, he said, Israel and Iran “have more incentives to engage in military action than they do to pursue diplomacy.” But “the key powers in the region like Saudi Arabia could do even more than they are already doing to change the calculus for Israel and Iran.”
Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s actions as violations of international law and warned that continued escalation threatens long-term regional stability. The Kingdom has urged the UN Security Council to take meaningful steps to prevent further deterioration and has refused to allow its airspace to be used in military operations — a clear signal of its neutrality and strategic caution.
Israeli first responders gather in front of a building destroyed by an Iranian strike in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025. (AFP)
Looking ahead, the stakes remain dangerously high. Maksad has warned that unchecked escalation could have serious consequences.
“The last step in that escalatory ladder is to go after American bases, whether it is in the GCC, or perhaps even attempt to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where some 20 percent of global energy passes through,” he told CNN.
As the war drags on, the fragmented international response highlights the fragility of global diplomacy and the difficulty of conflict resolution in an increasingly multipolar world.
For Tehran, halting enrichment altogether would not only undermine decades of strategic investment but also damage regime legitimacy. As Maksad put it, Tehran’s “entire prestige rests on enrichment.”
Still, he sees a potential way forward: Focusing not on enrichment itself, but on preventing a weapon. “That,” he said, “opens up the possibility of a negotiated outcome.”
13-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed by Israeli forces in West Bank
Soldiers briefly detained Ammar Mutaz Hamayel after he was shot near the village of Kafr Malik, 17 km from Ramallah
He was handed over to Palestinian paramedics who took him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead
Updated 23 June 2025
Arab News
LONDON: A Palestinian teenager died after being shot by Israeli forces on Monday in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces briefly detained 13-year-old Ammar Mutaz Hamayel after he was shot near the village of Kafr Malik, before handing him over to a Palestinian ambulance crew, the Wafa news agency reported. The paramedics took him to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead.
Kafr Malik, which has a population of about 2,500 Palestinians, is located 17 kilometers northeast of Ramallah and is surrounded by the Israeli settlement of Kokhav HaShahar.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including 4 million who fled abroad, triggering what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis
Updated 23 June 2025
AFP
GENEVA: The risk of genocide in Sudan’s devastating civil war remains “very high,” amid ongoing ethnically motivated attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, a top UN official warned Monday.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced 13 million, including 4 million who fled abroad, triggering what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“Both parties have committed serious human rights violations,” said Virginia Gamba, a UN under-secretary-general and acting special adviser to UN chief Antonio Guterres on the prevention of genocide.
“Of specific concern to my mandate is the continued and targeted attacks against certain ethnic groups, particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions,” she told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She highlighted in particular that the RSF and allied armed militias “continue to conduct ethnically motivated attacks against the Zaghawa, Masalit and Fur groups.”
“The risk of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Sudan remains very high,” Gamba warned.
EU finds ‘indications’ Israel is breaching key agreement with its actions in Gaza
Updated 23 June 2025
AFP
BRUSSELS: The EU says there are indications that Israel’s actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU, according to its findings seen by The Associated Press.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas presented the review to foreign ministers of the 27-member bloc in Brussels on Monday, leading at least one country to propose suspending the agreement openly.
“There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement,” according to the review by the EU’s diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service.
Suspending ties would require a unanimous decision, which is likely impossible to obtain from countries like Austria, Germany and Hungary that tend to back Israel.
Other actions — such as ending visa-free travel to Europe for Israelis, sanctioning Israeli settlers in the West Bank or halting academic partnerships — could be pushed if a “qualified majority” — 15 of the 27 nations representing at least 65 percent of the population of the EU — agree.
Countries like the Netherlands, Ireland, and Spain have been vocal in their support for the Palestinians in Gaza as Israel battles Hamas.
“When all the focus is on Iran and the escalation regarding Iran, we should not forget about Gaza,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, who led the charge for the review.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
About 56,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and relatively little aid has entered since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March.
Outrage over Israel’s actions in Gaza has grown in Europe as images of suffering Palestinians have driven protests in London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, and Amsterdam.
Spain has canceled arms deals with Israel and called for an arms embargo.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno on Monday called for suspending the EU-Israel agreement.
“The time for words and declarations is behind. We had enough time,” he told the meeting. “And at the same time, Palestinians in Gaza have no more time to lose. Every day, babies, women, and men are being killed. This is the time for action.”
Manuel Albares also called for an embargo on EU countries selling weapons to Israel and for the widening of individual sanctions on anyone undermining the proposed two-state solution.
