Fears of military response after Iran attack
- Israel’s war cabinet reconvenes at 2pm (11:00 GMT) as it debates how to respond to Iran’s first ever direct attack on its arch enemy.
- Israeli forces again bomb the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing five and wounding dozens as the UN Security Council met to discuss Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel.
Germany summons Iran’s ambassador
“I can inform you that the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the foreign ministry this morning and that the talks are currently taking place,” the foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin said.
The move comes a day after Iran’s attack on Israel.
LISTEN: Is it still possible to prevent a wider conflict?
For the first time ever, a direct Iranian attack on Israel – a barrage of drones and missiles fired in retaliation for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria.
Most were shot down, but the world watches with deepening concern. Who’ll be saying what to whom to try to bring calm?
There’s a state of chaos right now as the Israeli military expands its military bombardment and campaign across the entire Gaza Strip.
In the early hours, hundreds of Palestinians tried to return back to the north on the coastal Rashid Road. But they were confronted by Israeli tanks, which blocked the roads, opened fire, and forced the majority of Palestinians to return to their squalid shelters here in the south. A number of injuries have been recorded.
The situation is dire in every single part of Gaza, but the main focus of Israeli operations right now is in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
We have been reporting about this for a couple of days, but today has been one of the bloodiest days. At least four Palestinians have been reported killed and more than 32 others wounded in Israeli attacks.
Qatar Airways resumes scheduled services to Iran
The Gulf airline restarts scheduled services to Iran including 20 weekly flights to four gateways – Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz and Isfahan, it said.
The flights were suspended because of Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend.
African governments press Israel and Iran to avoid war
Some African governments have urged Israel and Iran to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
While Iran’s attack on Israel “represents a real and present threat to international peace and security” Israel should “show utmost restraint” in its response, President William Ruto of Kenya said in a statement.
The warring parties “must exercise the utmost restraint and avoid any act that would escalate tensions in a particularly fragile region”, South Africa’s government said.
Nigeria’s foreign ministry urged Israel and Iran to “reflect on the universal commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts”.
Israeli drone attack kills two Palestinians at mosque in Nuseirat
At least two Palestinians have been killed when a bombing carried out by Israeli drones targeted a group of people north of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, according to sources cited by the Wafa news agency.
India to make trade policy decision from fallout of Iran-Israel conflict
The Indian government will take a policy decision to lower the effect on its trade from the conflict between Iran and Israel after it fully understands the impact, the country’s Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal says.
“Policy interventions will only come after we understand the issues traders are facing. Based on that exercise, whatever is needed definitely government will address that,” Barthwal told reporters.
India, the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, imports a large supply of its petroleum purchases from the Middle East.
Undercover Israeli forces shoot Palestinian man dead in occupied West Bank
A Palestinian man has been shot dead and two others have been wounded by Israeli forces during a raid into the city of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said the man died after being shot in the chest, while another critically injured man was hit in the abdomen and chest. The third man was wounded in the foot.
The violence came after undercover Israeli special forces infiltrated al-Mraij neighbourhood of Nablus and raided a building belonging to the Joud Allah family.
Israeli military warns Palestinians not to return to northern Gaza
The Israeli army renewed warnings for Palestinians not to return to Gaza’s north, a day after its forces opened fire on civilians.
The military said Palestinians should stay in southern Gaza where they have been told to shelter because the north is a “dangerous combat zone”, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on social platform X.
Hospital authorities in Gaza said at least five people were shot by Israeli forces while trying to head north. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on casualties.
The returnees said they were prompted to make the journey north because they were fed up with the unbearable conditions they were forced to live under while displaced.
Rights group condemns Israeli attack on displaced people returning home
The death toll from the incident remains unclear. But the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said dozens of people were killed and wounded. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 68 were killed over the past 24 hours throughout the enclave.
The monitor condemned “the Israeli army’s targeting of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians as they attempted to return to their homes in Gaza City and its north, directly with artillery shells and live bullets, which led to dozens of deaths and injuries, including women and children”.
The Geneva-based rights group said in a statement that “the Israeli army committed on Sunday what may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes by deliberately directing attacks against the civilian population”.
Palestinians risk attacks to go home over ‘completely terrible’ conditions
More than six months of war have led to desperate humanitarian conditions in the besieged Gaza Strip. Rumours of a reopened Israeli checkpoint on the coastal road from the south to northern Gaza City sent thousands of Palestinians on the move.
Video shows Israeli forces opening fire on civilians with reports of one child killed and an unknown number of wounded.
Attempting the journey back to northern Gaza, displaced resident Basma Salman said, “Even if it [my house] was destroyed, I want to go there. I couldn’t stay in the south. It’s overcrowded. We couldn’t even take a fresh breath of air there. It was completely terrible.”
Russia ‘extremely’ concerned about rising Middle East tensions
Russia says it is “extremely” concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s attack on Israel.
“We call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Further escalation is in no one’s interests. Therefore, of course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political and diplomatic methods.”
On Sunday, Iran said the attack was made within the right to self-defence after Israel’s deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which Moscow condemned.
Amid the Israel-Iran escalation, it’s time for a region-wide ceasefire
The display of military power by Israel and Iran has left the rest of the Arab world terrified of what another regional war could do to an already devastated region.
And if it is to take place, there will be not just regional, but global repercussions.
Any regional Iranian-Israeli conflict will pull in the Gulf countries but also the US, Russia and China, creating a potentially explosive global confrontation.
Explosion wounds 4 Israeli soldiers on Lebanon’s border: Military
“During an operational activity in the border area in the north of the country tonight, a soldier was seriously injured, two soldiers were moderately wounded and another was slightly injured by an explosion of unknown origin,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
“The incident is being investigated. The fighters were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital, their families were informed.”
Gaza war death toll reaches 33,797, with 76,465 Palestinians wounded
The number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched its attack six months ago reached 33,797, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Another 76,465 people have been wounded since October. In the past 24 hours, 68 Palestinians were killed and 94 injured, it said in a statement.
The casualty figures are likely much higher, with thousands feared buried in the debris of buildings collapsed by incessant Israeli strikes throughout the Gaza Strip.
