It’s almost 5pm in Gaza City, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Here is a round-up of today’s events: The UN’s nuclear watchdog declared Iran is not complying with its obligations for the first time in 20 years. It is thought that a defiant Iran may now intensify its uranium enrichment programme in reprisal for the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voting to find Tehran in repeated breach of its obligations to limit enrichment and to allow inspectors to visit its nuclear sites. A third uranium enrichment site that Iran announced as a countermeasure to a UN nuclear watchdog resolution has already been built and is ready to operate when equipped with machinery, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation Mohammad Eslami has told state media. Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on reaching out to the west, struck a harder line after the IAEA vote: “I don’t know how to cooperate with the outside world to stop them from doing evil acts and let the people live independently in this country,” he said. “We will continue down our own path; we will have enrichment.” Iran’s retaliation to any Israeli aggression will be “more forceful and destructive” than in past offensives, Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told state media, after Tehran said it had been alerted of a potential attack. Tensions have been rising in the region, with the US state department saying yesterday that it had ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad and US broadcaster CBS reporting that US officials have been informed that Israel is “fully ready” to launch an attack on Iran. At least eight Palestinians who worked for the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation died in a Hamas ambush, the GHF said. A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was raked with gunfire last night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the organisation said, adding that many of its staff were injured and some might have been kidnapped. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying GHF workers tied to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia that has challenged Hamas’s supremacy in the territory and is being armed by Israel. An Israeli NGO representing activists detained aboard a boat attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza said that six were en route to the airport for deportation. Eleven activists were onboard the Madleen alongside Greta Thunberg. “After more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters ... six volunteers are now being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport for deportation,” the Adalah rights group said in a statement. The UK government said that it is currently training IDF service members on British soil. In a response to a written question, published yesterday, Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, said: “As part of routine Defence engagement with Israel, the UK is currently training a limited number of Israel Defense Forces personnel on UK-based training courses.” Egyptian authorities have deported dozens of foreign nationals who arrived in Egypt to take part in a pro-Palestinian march and dozens more face deportation, the organisers and airport and security sources told Reuters. Hundreds of people came to Egypt this week for the Global March to Gaza, an international initiative intended to exert pressure for an end to an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory and draw attention to the humanitarian crisis there. Organisers said people from 80 countries were set to begin the march to Egypt’s Rafah Crossing with Gaza, and confirmed some had been deported or were detained at the airport. Three airport sources told Reuters at least 73 foreign nationals had been deported on a flight to Istanbul today after authorities said they violated entry protocols, and that about 100 more were at the airport awaiting deportation. Egypt’s foreign ministry has not commented. Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, has commented after a IAEA vote formally found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations. Pezeshkian, who campaigned on reaching out to the west, struck a harder line after the IAEA vote. “I don’t know how to cooperate with the outside world to stop them from doing evil acts and let the people live independently in this country,” Pezeshkian said. “We will continue down our own path; we will have enrichment.” France accused Iran of a “deliberate” escalation of nuclear tensions, following a UN atomic watchdog resolution declaring Tehran in breach of its obligations, AFP reports. Paris denounced Iran’s “deliberate pursuit of nuclear escalation,” said a French foreign ministry spokesman, urging Tehran to return to the negotiating table. Iran earlier vowed to “significantly” increase its output of enriched uranium in defiance of US demands. Reuters provides updated figures on the aid workers targeted by Hamas in an ambush on a bus. At least eight Palestinians who worked for the US-and Israel- backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation died in the ambush, the GHF said. A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was raked with gunfire last night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the organisation said, adding that many of its staff were injured and some might have been kidnapped. GHF’s interim director John Acree said his organisation had considered closing its centres on Thursday after the bus attack, but opted to remain open. “We decided that the best response to Hamas’ cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us,” he said in a statement. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying GHF workers tied to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia that has challenged Hamas’s supremacy in the territory and is being armed by Israel. Abu Shabab released a statement on his Facebook page denouncing images posted on social media showing Palestinians in Gaza allegedly killed by Hamas and as it seeks to maintain power. Separately, the local health authority said 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and 400 wounded in the past 24 hours across the battered territory – including 21 people killed this morning near GHF sites. The Israeli military called for residents to evacuate some areas of Gaza City, as it presses an intensified campaign in the battered Palestinian territory. Israeli forces are “operating in the area in which you are located to eliminate terrorist infrastructure and enemy presence”, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. The military “will continue to respond to every launch. Immediately evacuate to known shelters in Gaza City for your own safety,” he added. Israel’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and its targeting of aid distribution points is causing civilians to starve and constitutes a war crime, Sweden’s foreign minister said, AFP reports. “To use starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime. Life-saving humanitarian help must never be politicised or militarised,” Maria Malmer Stenergard said at a press conference. “There are strong indications right now that Israel is not living up to its commitments under international humanitarian law,” she said. “It is crucial that food, water and medicine swiftly reach the civilian population, many of whom are women and children living under wholly inhumane conditions,” she said. Sweden announced in December 2024 it was halting funding to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after Israel banned the organisation, accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants. A third enrichment site that Iran announced as a countermeasure to a UN nuclear watchdog resolution has already been built and is ready to operate when equipped with machinery, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation Mohammad Eslami has told state media, according to Reuters. Britain is monitoring the situation in the Middle East but has no update on staffing in the region, a spokesperson for the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Thursday after the United States announced it was moving some personnel due to security concerns. “The safety of our staff is clearly our top priority so we are monitoring the situation closely but I don’t have an update ... in terms of any partial evacuation or otherwise of our own embassies,” the spokesperson told reporters. Iran’s retaliation to any Israeli aggression will be “more forceful and destructive” than in past offensives, Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told state media on Thursday, according to Reuters, after Tehran said it had been alerted of a potential attack. Israel and Iran have exchanged fire twice last year, the first such direct attacks between the region’s most entrenched enemies. The UK government has admitted that it is currently training IDF service members on British soil. In a written question addressed to the defence secretary tabled on 3 June, Labour MP Rachel Maskell wrote to ask when the last time was that a member of the Israel Defense Forces was trained by the UK armed forces. In a response yesterday, Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, said: “As part of routine Defence engagement with Israel, the UK is currently training a limited number of Israel Defense Forces personnel on UK-based training courses.” The US embassy in Jerusalem has announced it is restricting staff movements, AFP reports. “Due to the increased regional tensions, US government employees and their family members are restricted from travel outside the greater Tel Aviv (area) ... Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice,” the embassy said in a statement. Traveling between those locations, to Tel Aviv’s airport, or down the highway through the occupied West Bank to the Jordanian border would be permitted. The statement came a day after US president Donald Trump said US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East. Last night the US state department said that it had ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad. An Israeli NGO representing activists detained aboard a boat attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza said that six were en route to the airport for deportation. Eleven activists were onboard the Madleen alongside Greta Thunberg. “After more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters ... six volunteers are now being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport for deportation,” the Adalah rights group said in a statement, AFP reports. It added that the six – two French citizens and nationals of Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey – were expected to be deported late Thursday or early Friday. The US embassy in Bahrain said that reports claiming it had changed its posture in any way are false, adding that staffing and operations remain unchanged and activities continue as normal. The statement came a day after US president Donald Trump said US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East. Last night the US state department said that it had ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Reports also said the state department was authorising the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. A group of 17 Palestinian children, including an 11-year-old boy who lost nine siblings in an Israel strike in Gaza last month, arrived in Italy yesterday for hospital treatment, accompanied by more than 50 family members, Reuters reports. Adam Al-Najjar, who has multiple fractures, arrived with his mother at Milan’s Linate airport where he was welcomed by Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani, before being transferred to hospital. The plane carried five other injured Palestinian minors, while 11 more arrived on flights to other Italian airports. A total of 70 Palestinians were set to arrive in Italy on three military aircraft that set off from Israel’s Eilat airport, the Italian foreign ministry said. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire has killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory today, including 16 who were waiting to collect aid. Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP that the Al-Awda Hospital received 10 dead and around 200 wounded, including women and children, “after Israeli drones dropped multiple bombs on gatherings of civilians near an aid distribution point around the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza”. He said that Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital received six dead following Israeli attacks on aid queues near Netzarim and in the Al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports when asked for comment by AFP. The figures could not be independently verified. Israel has urged the international community to “respond decisively” and prevent its long-time foe Iran from developing nuclear weapons after the UN nuclear watchdog found Tehran in “non-compliance” with its obligations in a vote earlier today. “Iran has consistently obstructed IAEA’s verification and monitoring, it removed inspectors, and it sanitised and concealed suspected undeclared locations in Iran,” Israel’s foreign ministry said on X. “These actions undermine the global non-proliferation regime and pose an imminent threat to regional and international security and stability.” The Israeli military says it detained Hamas members during an operation in southern Syria. A local TV station in Syria reported that a force of about 100 Israeli troops stormed the southern Syrian village of Beit Jin near the border with Lebanon early Thursday, shooting one person dead and detaining several others. Since the fall of president Bashar Assad’s government in early December, Israeli forces have moved into several areas in southern Syria and conducted hundreds of airstrikes throughout the country destroying much of the assets of the Syrian army. There was no immediate comment from Hamas or Syrian authorities. Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo ahead of a planned international march with the stated aim of breaking Israel’s blockade on Gaza. “Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo,” the march’s spokesperson Saif Abukeshek told AFP, adding that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria. Two convoys are reportedly en route to Gaza, hoping to break Israel’s blockade on the territory. Israel has used violence, including the killing of activists, on those who have previously attempted to reach Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, most of them as they were seeking food from a US-Israeli distribution scheme, according to local health authorities. Medical officials said at least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded as they approached a food distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near Netzarim in central Gaza. Later in the day, at least 14 people were killed by Israeli gunfire as they were moving towards another GHF distribution site, in Rafah, at Gaza’s southern border. On Tuesday Israeli troops killed 17 Palestinians around GHF sites. You can read the Guardian’s full report on Israeli forces killing at least 60 Palestinians yesterday, many seeking food at aid distribution points, at the link below. Internet and phone lines are down across Gaza, AP reports, citing telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority. They said a key line was severed during an Israeli operation and that the military would not allow technicians into the area to repair it. Connectivity watchdog NetBlocks confirmed there had been a major disruption. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. Previous blackouts have made it difficult for people to call first responders. Two activist convoys travelling through north Africa are attempting to reach the Gaza border, AFP reports. It comes after a boat carrying Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists was stopped from entering Gaza to deliver a symbolic shipment of aid on Monday. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he expected Egyptian authorities “to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border”. Egypt said while it backs efforts to put “pressure on Israel” to lift its Gaza blockade, any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must obtain prior approval. AP provides more detail on one of the convoys, which arrived in Libya after driving from Algeria and crossing to Tunisia on its way to the Gaza to challenge Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid in the territory. The convoy is made up of at least 1,500 people, including activists and supporters from Algeria and Tunisia, with more expected to join from Libya. It plans to reach Gaza via Egypt’s Rafah Crossing, traveling by cars and buses, and aims to break Israel’s blockade of the territory. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has said in a statement that Hamas attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen “local Palestinians working side-by-side with the US GHF team to deliver critical aid” last night near the southern city of Khan Younis. “We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.” Hamas earlier said it killed members of an Israeli-backed militia, but the GHF says those killed were aid workers. Rev Johnnie Moore, recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings “absolute evil” and lashed out at the UN and western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them. “The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,” he wrote on X. Iran says it will establish a new enrichment facility after a vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations. The announcement said the facility will be “in a secure location.” Earlier this morning, the UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors formally found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years, a move that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore UN sanctions on Tehran. As tensions in the Middle East escalate, US broadcaster CBS reported last night that US officials have been informed that Israel is “fully ready” to launch an attack on Iran and that Washington “anticipates Iran could retaliate on certain American sites in neighbouring Iraq”. Last night the US state department said that it had ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad. The department is also authorising the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. Iran’s defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told reporters yesteday that if nuclear talks fail and “a conflict is imposed on us,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “will target all US bases in the host countries.” The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors has formally found that Iran isn’t complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years, AP reports. It’s a decision that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore UN sanctions on Tehran later this year. Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board, which represents the agency’s member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote. “Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran ... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement,” the draft resolution says. Iran will not abandon its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, adding that a “friendly” regional country had alerted Tehran over a potential military strike. The official said the tensions were intended to “influence Tehran to change its position about its nuclear rights” during talks with the US scheduled for Sunday in Oman. Yesterday it was reported that the US is drawing down its presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East due to the potential for regional unrest. Hamas said it has killed 12 Israeli-backed militia members in Gaza, AP reports. A unit of the Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early today. An Israel-supported aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said that Hamas had attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of them. The Israeli-backed militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants, but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed. Israel has accused Hamas of weaponising suffering after reports that at least five aid workers in Gaza were killed by the Islamist group. In a post on X, Israel’s foreign ministry said: After threats, lies, and disruption, they turned to cold-blooded murder: Last night Hamas brutally killed at least 5 Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid workers, en route to a distribution center to deliver today’s essential aid. They showed no mercy. Hamas is weaponizing suffering in Gaza - denying food, targeting lifesavers, and forsaking its own people. Separately, Israel’s military said it fired warning shots at people at aid distribution sites in Gaza. Health officials said 14 people were killed overnight while on their way to collect aid near the southern city of Rafah. In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said that seven additional people were killed while on their way to an aid distribution site. Oman’s foreign minister said there will be a sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program this weekend. Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement this morning in a post on X. Iran for days has been saying there would be talks, but Oman, serving as the mediator, has not confirmed them until now. There was no immediate comment from the US. Some more detail on the UN vote, expected later today, from AP. The UN General Assembly is expected to vote later today on a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and the opening of all Israeli border crossings for deliveries of desperately needed food and other aid. The resolution, drafted by Spain and seen yesterday by AP, “strongly condemns any use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.” The draft resolution references a 28 March legally binding order by the top United Nations court for Israel to open more land crossings into Gaza for food, water, fuel and other supplies. The International Court of Justice issued the order in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its war in Gaza, charges Israel strongly denies. Health officials in Gaza said 14 people were killed while on their way to collect aid near the southern city of Rafah, AP reports. In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said that seven additional people were killed while on their way to an aid distribution site. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots before daylight toward people it identified as suspects “who were advancing while posing a threat” in central Gaza. The military had no immediate comment on the reports of casualties in southern Gaza. Safaa Farmawi said her daughter, Ghazal Eyad, 16, was killed while on her way to collect food in Rafah. “My daughter and I went to get aid, she came before me, I looked for my daughter but couldn’t find her. People told me your daughter was martyred,” Farmawi. Near-daily shootings have erupted as crowds make their way to aid sites run by the new US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israel’s parliament rejected early this morning a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, the Knesset said in a statement, after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription, Reuters reports. The vote, which could have been a first step leading to an early election that polls show prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose, was rejected with 61 opposing it to 53 supporting it. The Knesset consists of 120 seats, and the majority needed to pass the vote was 61. This gives Netanyahu’s ruling coalition further time to resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot, which would be Israel’s first since the eruption of the war with Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu has been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis. “I am pleased to announce that after long discussions we have reached agreements on the principles on which the draft law will be based,” Knesset member Yuli Edelstein said in a statement Some religious parties in Netanyahu’s coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other politicians want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. Israel recovered the remains of two more hostages in Gaza yesterday, AP reports. Israeli authorities identified one of the hostages recovered as Yair Yaakov who was killed during the 7 October 2023 attack and whose body was taken into Gaza. His partner and two children were also taken captive and released in a ceasefire deal early in the war. The second hostage’s identity was not disclosed. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said the bodies were retrieved in a “complex” operation without disclosing details. The Israeli military said they were recovered from Khan Younis. The United Nations general assembly will vote later today on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza after the US vetoed a similar effort in the security council last week, Reuters reports. The 193-member general assembly is likely to adopt the text with overwhelming support, diplomats say, despite Israel lobbying countries this week against taking part in what it called a “politically motivated, counter-productive charade”. General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry weight as a reflection of the global view on the war. Previous demands by the body for an end to the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas have been ignored. Unlike the UN security council, no country has a veto in the General Assembly. Thursday’s vote also comes ahead of a UN conference next week that aims to reinvigorate an international push for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. The US has urged countries not to attend. The US is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest. The state department said yesterday that it’s ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad. The department also is authorising the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait, giving them the option to leave those countries. In addition, US Central Command said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth “has authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations” across the Middle East. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government survived an opposition bid to dissolve parliament this morning, as lawmakers rejected a bill that could have paved the way for snap elections. Out of the Knesset’s 120 members, 61 voted against the proposal, with 53 in favour. The opposition had introduced the bill hoping to force elections with the help of ultra-Orthodox parties in the governing coalition angry at Netanyahu over the contentious issue of exemptions from military service for their community. Hospitals said 21 people in Gaza were killed on their way to collect aid from food distribution sites on Wednesday. The Israeli army said it fired warning shots in central Gaza toward “suspects that posed a threat to troops. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of attacking aid workers en route to a distribution centre on Wednesday, saying at least five people were killed. “We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage,” GHF said in a statement. Israel’s government is issuing “clearly illegal” orders that must not be obeyed, a group of Israeli military intelligence officers have said, announcing they will no longer participate in combat operations in Gaza. In a letter addressed to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister, Israel Katz, and the head of the military, the group of 41 officers and reservists said the government was waging an “unnecessary, eternal war” in Gaza.
Author: Hayden Vernon (now) and Tom Bryant (earlier)