ֱ

Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’

Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on June 23, 2024 reportedly shows Israeli army armored vehicles operating in Rafah in the southern the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 23 June 2024

Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’

Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’
  • “The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s pro-Netanyahu Channel 14

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli military’s heavy fighting against Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is nearly over.
Netanyahu, in his first interview with an Israeli network since the war with Hamas broke out on October 7, said troops would soon be deployed to the northern border with Lebanon but for “defensive purposes.”
“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s pro-Netanyahu Channel 14.
“It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” he said.
“After the end of the intense phase, we will be able to redeploy some forces to the north, and we will do that. Primarily for defensive purposes but also to bring the (displaced) residents back home,” Netanyahu said.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been displaced from northern Israel which has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanese Hezbollah militants since the war in Gaza began.
Netanyahu said he would not agree to any deal that stipulates an end to the war in Gaza, indicating that he was open to a “partial” deal that would facilitate the return of some hostages still held there, if not all.
“The goal is to return the kidnapped and uproot the Hamas regime in Gaza,” he said.
United States officials have raised doubts over Israel’s goal of completely destroying Hamas, and on Wednesday Israel’s top army spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Hamas cannot be eliminated.
“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes,” Hagari said.
He said Hamas is an ideology and “we cannot eliminate an ideology.”
When asked about the post-war situation in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel will have a role to play in the near term.
“It’s clear military control in the foreseeable future will be ours,” he said, before giving his most-detailed comments yet on the post-war situation.
Earlier this month two war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot left the government after Netanyahu failed to deliver a post-war plan for Gaza as demanded by Gantz.
The United States has also pointed to the need for a post-war plan that would help ensure Israel’s long-term security.
“We also want to create a civilian administration, if possible with local Palestinians, and maybe with external backing from countries in the region, to manage humanitarian supply and later on civilian affairs in the Strip,” the prime minister said.
“At the end of it, there’s two things that need to happen: we need ongoing demilitarization by the IDF (army) and the establishment of a civilian administration.”
The Gaza Strip has been gripped by more than eight months of war since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.
Israel’s military offensive on Gaza has since killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have consistently rallied against Netanyahu and his government, demanding early elections and a deal to return hostages.
But Netanyahu said that if his government falls, “a left-wing government will be established here, which will do something immediately: establish a Palestinian state that is a Palestinian terrorist state that will endanger our existence.”


IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit

IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
Updated 12 sec ago

IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit

IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
“There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said

VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.

“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.

“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
Updated 21 June 2025

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’

Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
  • “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
  • He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran

ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.

“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.

He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.

“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.

Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.

He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”

“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.

The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”


Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel

Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
Updated 21 June 2025

Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel

Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
  • Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded

TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.

“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.


Erdogan says UNRWA to open office in Turkiye, calls for more support for agency

Erdogan says UNRWA to open office in Turkiye, calls for more support for agency
Updated 21 June 2025

Erdogan says UNRWA to open office in Turkiye, calls for more support for agency

Erdogan says UNRWA to open office in Turkiye, calls for more support for agency
  • Turkiye has called Israel’s assault on Gaza genocide and its move to ban UNRWA a violation of international law
  • “We expect our organization and each member state to provide financial and moral support to UNRWA to thwart Israel’s games,” Erdogan said

ANKARA: The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA will open an office in Ankara, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, urging Muslim countries to give the agency more support after Israel banned it.

Israel last year banned UNRWA, saying it had employed members of Palestinian militant group Hamas who took part in the October 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

Turkiye has called Israel’s assault on Gaza genocide and its move to ban UNRWA a violation of international law, particularly amid worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble with millions displaced.

Addressing foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan said opening an Ankara UNRWA office would deepen Turkiye’s support for the agency.

“We must not allow UNRWA, which plays an irreplaceable role in terms of taking care of Palestinian refugees, to be paralyzed by Israel. We expect our organization and each member state to provide financial and moral support to UNRWA to thwart Israel’s games,” Erdogan said.

A Turkish diplomatic source said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini were expected to sign an accord on the sidelines of the OIC meeting in Istanbul on establishing the office.

Turkiye has given UNRWA $10 million a year between 2023 and 2025. In 2024, it also transferred $2 million and sent another $3 million from its AFAD disaster management authority.

Israel has handed responsibility for distributing much of the aid it lets into Gaza to a new US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates three sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops. The UN has rejected the GHF operation saying its distribution work is inadequate, dangerous and violates humanitarian impartiality principles.

Previously, aid to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents had been distributed mainly by UN agencies such as UNRWA with thousands of staff at hundreds of sites across the enclave.


Israel says killed three Iranian commanders in fresh wave of strikes

Israel says killed three Iranian commanders in fresh wave of strikes
Updated 21 June 2025

Israel says killed three Iranian commanders in fresh wave of strikes

Israel says killed three Iranian commanders in fresh wave of strikes
  • Israel’s military said its fighter jets successfully targeted top Iranian official Saeed Izadi
  • It also announced the deaths of two other commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

JERUSALEM: Israel said Saturday it had killed three Iranian commanders in its unprecedented bombing campaign across the Islamic republic, which Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed had already delayed Tehran’s presumed nuclear plans by two years.

Israel’s military said its fighter jets successfully targeted top Iranian official Saeed Izadi, in charge of coordination with Palestinian militant group Hamas, in Qom south of Tehran and announced the deaths of two other commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

As Israel continued to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities and military targets, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in an interview that by the country’s own assessment, it had “already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb.”

“We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat,” Saar told German newspaper Bild, asserting Israel’s onslaught would continue.

Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes, after Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Iran has denied.

Israel said it had attacked Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site for a second time after its air force said it had also launched salvos against missile storage and launch sites in central Iran.

The military later said it struck military infrastructure in southwest Iran.

US President Donald Trump warned on Friday that Tehran has a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes, as Washington weighs whether to join Israel’s unprecedented bombing campaign.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the conflict.

Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met Araghchi in Geneva on Friday, and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had been derailed by Israel’s attacks.

But Araghchi told NBC News after the meeting that “we’re not prepared to negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the aggression continues.”

Trump was dismissive of European diplomatic efforts, telling reporters, “Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

Trump also said he is unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table.

“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do,” he said.

Any US involvement would likely feature powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses to destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordo.

A US-based NGO, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Friday that based on its sources and media reports at least 657 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians.

Iran’s health ministry said on Saturday at least 350 people had been killed in the Israeli strikes including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Nasrin, 39, who gave only her first name, explained she had been thrown across a room in her Tehran home by an Israeli strike.

“I just hit the wall. I don’t know how long I was unconscious. When I woke up, I was covered in blood from head to toe,” she said as she received treatment at Hazrat Rasool hospital in the Iranian capital.

Traffic police and Fars news agency reported congestion on roads into Tehran on Saturday, indicating some inhabitants were returning to the capital.

Internet access remained highly unstable and limited in Tehran on Saturday, with slow connections and many sites still inaccessible, according to AFP journalists.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people, in Israel, according to official figures.

Overnight, Iran said it targeted central Israel with drones and missiles.

Israeli rescuers said there were no casualties after an Iranian missile struck a residential building in Beit She’an.

At the site of the strike in the north of Israel, mounds of soil had been gouged from the ground and the wall of a ground-floor room destroyed.

Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and air force bases.

Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran’s nuclear program, questioning in particular the country’s accelerated uranium enrichment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief Rafael Grossi has said that Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent.

However, it added that there was no evidence Tehran had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.

Grossi told CNN it was “pure speculation” to say how long it would take Iran to develop weapons.