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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 26 June 2025:
- At least 35 people have been killed this morning in Israeli attacks on Gaza, hospital sources tell Al Jazeera. At least 14 of that number were killed in the north
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Kahmenei congratulated the country’s armed forces and said US bases could be attacked again in case of future threats.
- President Donald Trump says US and Iranian officials will talk next week, as Iran’s Guardian Council suspends cooperation with UN’s IAEA.
- Iran’s Health Ministry says at least 627 people were killed and more than 4,870 injured during Israel’s 12 days of attacks on the country. At least 28 people were killed in Iranian strikes on Israel.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 56,156 people and wounded 132,239, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Netanyahu thanks Trump for support, says will work ‘to defeat our common enemies’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his gratitude to Donald Trump for his support for him and his country, following the US’s president’s call for Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial to be called off.
“Thank you, President Trump, for your moving support for me and your tremendous support for Israel and the Jewish people,” Netanyahu posted on social media platform X.
“We will continue to work together to defeat our common enemies, free our captives, and quickly expand the circle of peace.”
He then posted the contents of Trump’s message on the Truth Social platform, in which the US leader railed against Netanyahu’s ongoing graft trial, describing it as a “ridiculous witch hunt”.
Trump wrote that he and Netanyahu “just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land.”
“Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel,” Trump said.
‘Khamenei’s claim of victory over Israel ridiculous’
Claims by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that his country had been victorious in its recent conflict with Israel are “ridiculous”, a retired Israeli colonel says.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv, Uri Dromi, who was also a spokesperson for the Israeli government in the 1990s, said that Iran’s claims to have won the war were not credible.
“I couldn’t believe I really heard it,” he said.
“I doubt that there’s one Iranian who knows anything about anything who believes it, with Israeli aircraft roaming around freely over Iran.”
But Iran’s rhetoric around the conflict did not matter much, he said.
“If they feel good with this, fine — the main question is how we move on to an agreement.”
‘The Zionist regime almost collapsed,’ Khamenei claims
Khamenei, in his video message, also stated that Iran “delivered a hand slap to America’s face”.
He told viewers that the US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime [Israel] would be utterly destroyed.
“The Zionist regime almost collapsed and was crushed under the strikes of the Islamic Republic,” he added.
‘Surrender will never happen’: Iran’s supreme leader
Khamenei, in his televised message, says “Trump, in one of his speeches, said Iran needs to surrender.
“Trump has unveiled the truth that the US will only be satisfied with Iran’s surrender – but surrender will never happen, our nation is powerful.”
Striking US bases is a great thing and could repeat under future threats: Khamenei
Here’s more from Khamenei:
- Any future aggression against Iran will come at a great cost.
- For Iran to have access to major US bases and reach them is a great thing, and in the future it could be repeated in case of renewed aggression.
- Iran’s enemies use excuses like missiles or our nuclear programme, but they are actually looking for our surrender.
Iran writes to UN rejecting US’s ‘self-defence’ justification for strikes
Iran has written to the UN formally condemning the US for its recent strikes on nuclear facilities and rejecting its “self-defence” justification for the attacks, Iranian media is reporting.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that in the letter, Iran’s representative to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani rejected Washington’s attempts to justify its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as an act of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
He said Iran denounced the explanation as a “blatant distortion” of international law and the UN’s Charter, saying the attacks were a violation of Tehran’s sovereignty, and contravened principles governing the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
In remarks to a UN Security Council briefing on non-proliferation and Iran on Tuesday, acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said the “precision operation” against Iran’s nuclear sites was carried out “in accordance with the inherent right to collective self-defense, consistent with the UN Charter”.
US strikes on Iran were Trump’s ‘showmanship’, not much more: Khamenei
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has just issued a televised message. Here’s some of what he has said:
- Iranian armed forces managed to break through Israel’s multi-layered defence and target urban and military areas.
- The US hit nuclear sites but couldn’t achieve much.
- US President Trump needed to do “showmanship”.
We’ll bring you more of his comments shortly.
Survivors of Israeli attack on Sheikh Radwan recount their stories
Nora Shaikh Khalil, a resident of the Gaza City neighbourhood, spoke to Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili about waking up to the Israeli strike overnight that killed at least nine people.
“We woke up in a panic to find out they were all martyrs… The neighbouring classroom was full of children, and the one next to it too – all of them were children. We have no fighters here, nothing at all. So why would they strike this place when it’s full of children and women?” she said.
The strike hit a school housing displaced Palestinians. One of these displaced people, Mosa Ahmen, said he woke up to the entire building shaking.
“We were asleep when a sudden explosion shook everything. Stones flew in from all sides. People were shouting ‘Martyrs!’ We woke up terrified. The women and children were scattered, we couldn’t find anyone. We barely got the kids out from under the tents. Then the ambulances came and started pulling out the martyrs,” he told Al Jazeera.
‘Victory over the fallacious Zionist regime’, states Khamenei
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated on his X account that he offer his “congratulations on the victory over the fallacious Zionist regime”, referring to Israel.
He will soon release a video message, as we reported earlier.
Iran approves bill to suspend IAEA cooperation
According to Iran’s YJC news outlet, a spokesperson for the country’s Guardian Council says the body has approved a bill passed yesterday by parliament that suspends cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog.
Rhetoric against the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Iranian leaders has resulted from Israel’s assault on the country, with officials blaming the agency for giving Israel and the US justification for carrying out its attacks.
You can read more about why Iran’s qualms with the IAEA here.
Iranian public’s attitude towards IAEA hardening in wake of war
A vote by Iranian legislators to suspend cooperation with the UN’s atomic energy watchdog was a predictable move in the wake of the war on the country’s nuclear programme, a journalist in Tehran says.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Fateme Karimkhan says that while hardline Iranian legislators have long called for Tehran to cease cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, those positions had become more widely held following the war.
“Even ordinary people are shifting to a more radical position,” she says.
“Ordinary people are asking: If the IAEA cannot save us from war and cannot ensure our right to peaceful enrichment, then why do we have to be involved in this?”
Iran criticised the IAEA for failing to condemn the strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Iran’s supreme leader to issue televised message shortly
This news comes from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s account on X.
We will bring you updates on what he says shortly.
Death toll rises in the Gaza Strip
Hospital sources in Gaza report that 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air attacks on the enclave since the early hours of this morning, including 19 in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.
At least 549 Palestinians killed seeking aid from US, Israeli distribution sites: Gaza authorities
At least 549 Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid since the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating four weeks ago, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The attacks at the “death traps”, the Gaza authority said in a statement, have also caused 4,066 injuries, and led to 39 missing people among starving Palestinian civilians.
“What is taking place at these so-called ‘centers’ constitutes a full-fledged war crime for which the Israeli occupation bears primary and direct responsibility. We strongly condemn this ongoing crime, wherein starving civilians are lured and then systematically and deliberately gunned down on a daily basis according to pre-set schedules.”
“The occupation is using food as a weapon of mass killing, turning what it claims to be ‘aid’ into a tool of extermination and domination,” Gaza’s Government Media Office added
Daily killings of aid seekers ‘nothing short of a scandal for the whole world’
The killings of more than 500 Palestinians near aid hubs in Gaza over the past month is a “travesty” and a global “scandal”, says academic Sami Al-Arian.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Istanbul, Al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, said it is “unbelievable to think of this as being routine”.
“Every day people go there hoping that they can get some food so that they can feed their starving children and they end up dead, they end up injured, in a place where there is no medical facility in which they can even treat their injuries.”
Al-Arian said that the situation was “nothing short of a scandal for the whole world”.
“No one could seriously argue that this is a food distribution centre when day after day … we’re having Palestinians not just being injured, being killed,” he said.
‘No confirmation from Iran of US talks next week’
While Donald Trump has said there will be new talks with Iran next week following the end of the strikes targeting its nuclear programme, an Iranian journalist says there’s been no official confirmation from the Iranian side that they will take part.
“Of course, this has happened before the war – Trump announced that they are going to have some negotiations with Iran and this actually happened,” Fateme Karimkhan told Al Jazeera from Tehran.
“But now, after the war, we cannot say for sure if Iran is willing to go for another round of negotiations directly with the US.”
Trump said on Wednesday that US and Iranian officials will talk next week. “We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump said at a NATO summit in The Hague. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.”
France says it intercepted Iranian drones targeting Israel
France’s military took part in efforts to stop Iranian drones targeting Israel prior to this week’s ceasefire, the country’s defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, has said.
“I can confirm that the French army intercepted less than 10 drones in the last few days during the different military operations conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel, either by ground-to-air systems or via our Rafale fighter jets,” Lecornu said during a parliamentary debate on the situation in the Middle East late last night.
Lecornu said Iran had launched some 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones towards Israel during the 12-day conflict.
Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, saying it aimed to destroy its nuclear capabilities. Its strikes wiped out a senior echelon of Iran’s military command and killed several nuclear scientists. Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed and nearly 5,000 injured in the country.
Tehran’s retaliatory missiles killed at least 28 people in Israel and damaged hundreds of buildings, until a ceasefire came into effect on Tuesday.
Death toll in Gaza rises after latest Israeli attack on north Gaza
Our team on the ground reports that two people have been killed in a bombing of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, while another person was killed in an attack on Jabalia, further north.
This brings today’s death toll to at least 31 Palestinians killed, sources at area hospitals have told Al Jazeera.
‘Dystopian horror show’: Gaza children killed in more than half of aid-related attacks
Children have been killed or injured in more than half of the attacks at food distribution sites in Gaza since the US-and-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating four weeks ago, says Save the Children.
Of the 19 deadly incidents reported, the organisation found that children were among the casualties in 10 of them.
“Some families in Gaza are so desperate – in some cases due to a lack of a healthy adult – that they are sending children to collect food at distribution points, unavoidably exposing them to the risk of being shot by Israeli forces,” said Save the Children in a statement.
Since May 27, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and at least 3,000 injured by Israeli forces while trying to access aid, “either at or on route to GHF distribution points, or while attempting to approach the very few other aid convoys delivered by the UN or NGOs, according to OHCHR”, the organisation added.
Save the Children staff have witnessed people killed while trying to get aid, the organisation stated.
“No-one wants to get aid from these distribution points and who can blame them – it’s a death sentence. People are terrified of being killed. One colleague told us today that even though his family is down to eating one meal a day, he won’t go to a GHF distribution, because he believes his life is worth more than a bag of flour,” Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, Ahmad Alhendawi, said.
“And to add to the dystopian horror show, children are also being killed and injured trying to reach aid – aid they have a right to.”
Israeli strikes target residential neighbourhoods across Gaza City
The skies above Gaza are crowded with drones. Unfortunately, as soon as we see drones we know something is going to happen.
We’ve been seeing air strikes rocking residential neighbourhoods across Gaza City and the further northern territories, including on a school in the northern part of the city, in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood.
The school was housing displaced Palestinians. Nine people were killed, including a man, woman and children from one family. The strikes happened after midnight, at a time when people were sleeping.
In another strike targeting a house adjacent to a school also housing displaced Palestinians, six people were killed.
Ben-Gvir again calls to cut all aid to Gaza
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said “the humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,” also stating that “what is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to ‘humanitarian’ aid, but a complete stop.
“When I warned repeatedly, and was unfortunately the only one who voted a month and a half ago against bringing aid, I was certain it would grant Hamas a lifeline,” the far-right, often incendiary minister said in a post on X.
He continued: “Back then, some mocked me and claimed that ‘the aid will only enter the northern sector and for 10 days,’ and today it is clear what was already known: Hamas controls the quantities of food and goods, which contributes to its survival.
“Halting aid will expedite reaching victory. I will demand that the prime minister bring the issue of introducing aid to the sector to a vote again in the next cabinet session.”
Forcible transfer of Palestinians through new Israeli law a war crime: UN
Israeli authorities have “expedited measures to forcibly transfer large numbers of Palestinians from longstanding Palestinian towns and communities” in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory (OHCHR).
The forced displacement is being procured through a directive by the Israeli Civil Administration to reject all building and planning permits submitted by Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, on the grounds that the Israeli army needs the area for military training, OHCHR said.
“Over the past months, Israel has dramatically ramped up home demolitions, as well as the arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of Palestinians and human rights defenders, alongside intensifying movement restrictions in and around Masafer Yatta, to force Palestinians out,” the UN organisation said in a statement.
“In parallel, Israeli settlers from nearby outposts [who are] not subjected to eviction – have conducted daily attacks and harassment of Palestinians, including older people, women and children, in order to force them to leave.”
At least 1,200 Palestinians may face the forcible transfer, a war crime and a potential crime against humanity, the organisation said.
Israeli attacks kill 20 Palestinians in Gaza
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza so far this morning, sources in hospitals in the territory say.
Nine of the victims were killed in the bombing of a school housing displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, while three were killed as they waited near aid distribution points, both attacks of which we reported on earlier.
Trump pressure could force end to Gaza conflict, as in Iran – but no sign he wants to
With hostilities in Israel’s conflict with Iran coming to a halt following US pressure, attention is shifting back to the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza, and with it the question of whether Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu could be pressured to change course there.
Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group, tells Al Jazeera that “if Trump wants to, he can get Netanyahu to stop this war.”
But so far, the US has given Israel weapons and impunity “to do whatever it wants” in Gaza.
“I don’t see a US president stopping that, unless he has interests that directly conflict,” she said.
“But for now, with Trump, he’s allowing Israel carte blanche.”
‘Iran may pursue nuclear path as new deterrence after US-Israel attacks’
In an Al Jazeera interview, Alan Eyre, a former US Department of State official now with the Middle East Institute, warned that Trump’s claim of obliterating Iran’s nuclear programme lacks verification.
He noted Israel’s ceasefire is temporary, with attacks likely to resume if US-Iran talks progress.
Eyre doubted Tehran would accept Washington’s “maximalist” terms, viewing them as surrender amid strategic weakness, and criticised Trump’s rushed diplomacy, stressing nuclear deals take years, not months.
More Israeli settler incidents reported in West Bank
We have been reporting on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank over the past day, including in the towns of Kafr Malek, where three Palestinians were killed, and Taybeh in Ramallah governorate.
The Wafa news agency now reports that Israeli settlers have “stormed” the Palestinian village of al-Malihat, northwest of Jericho, under protection of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli settlers have also reportedly attacked Palestinian vehicles near al-Maniya village, southeast of Bethlehem, by throwing stones at them.
Young man suspected to work for Iran intelligence arrested in Israel: Report
A 22-year-old student from Deir al-Assad in northern Israel will be indicted for carrying out missions on behalf of Iran, Haaretz reported, citing the police and the country’s Shin Bet security service.
Bashar Hassan Qassem Musa was arrested earlier this month due to suspicion of him working for Iranian intelligence after he placed road spikes on a central axis in Be’er Sheva, southern Israel, and attempted to harm a public figure, the Israeli outlet reported.
Shin Bet has not disclosed the identity of Musa’s target, Haaretz added
Netanyahu cannot sideline hardliners on Gaza despite public support over Iran
The offensive against Iran may have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political boost at home, but it doesn’t allow him to ignore his hardline allies who are pushing for a long-term military occupation of Gaza, an analyst says.
Rami Khouri, a fellow at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera that despite the offensive against Iran being broadly supported in Israel, it has not freed Netanyahu’s hand to shut out his hardliners in his approach to Gaza.
“I don’t think he can ignore them,” said Khouri. “He’s hashed out a very delicate balance.
“He gains a little bit of popularity because of what he did in Iran, it makes them feel good in Israel. But they understand very clearly, those who follow the facts, that neither in Gaza nor the West Bank nor in Iran has Israel achieved any of its major war aims.”
After the ceasefire with Tehran was announced, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hawkish member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, said Israel must now turn “with all our strength to Gaza, to complete the task: To destroy Hamas and return our hostages.”
Israeli assassination kills 11 family members alongside Iranian nuclear scientist: Report
According to Iran’s English-language station Press TV, Iranian nuclear scientist Sedighi Saber was killed alongside 11 members of his family during an Israeli assassination attack shortly before the Iran-Israel ceasefire took effect late on Monday.
According to Press TV, the attack took place in Astaneh Ashrafieh, a northern Iranian city near the Caspian Sea. A family photo of the scientist published by Press TV showed the family members who were killed, including elderly people, several children and women.
According to reports, Israel targeted at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists during its 12 days of attacks on the country.
Bernie Sanders praises NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani’s stand on Palestine
In an opinion piece, US Senate Democrat Bernie Sanders said New York City’s mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, won his primary race by building a “grassroots movement” and by not shying away from controversial issues, including Palestine.
“He [Mamdani] did not run away from the moral issue that is troubling millions in New York and around the country: the need to end US military support for a right-wing extremist Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel that is obliterating the people of Gaza and starving their children,” Sanders said.
“Mamdani understands that antisemitism is a disgusting and dangerous ideology, but that it is not antisemitic to be critical of the inhumane policies of the Netanyahu government,” he said.
If elected mayor in November, Mamdani would make history by becoming the first Muslim American to lead the country’s largest and richest city.
Death toll from Israeli attack on school rises to nine
A source at al-Shifa Hospital tells us that the death toll following an Israeli bombing of a school housing displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City has risen to nine.
Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave have continued daily, even while Israel was engaged in conflict with Iran.
More Gaza aid hub killings as UNWRA chief calls GHF process ‘an abomination’
Israeli forces killed at least 60 more Palestinians as they were trying to reach humanitarian aid distribution points in Gaza between Tuesday and Wednesday.
More than 500 aid seekers have been killed since a US- and Israel-backed private firm, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took over aid distribution in the besieged enclave. GHF’s process of providing food to starving Palestinians has been condemned as a “death trap” by UN and relief agency officials.
More than 20 Palestinians detained in Israeli raid on West Bank
Sources told our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues that Israeli forces have carried out a raid in the village of al-Arooj in the occupied West Bank and detained more than 20 Palestinians.
The village is located southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Earlier, we also reported that Israeli forces carried out a separate raid in Nablus and detained 14 people. Several areas in the city of Hebron were also targeted early on Thursday.
Israeli forces have been carrying out daily raids in the occupied West Bank since the Hamas attack in October 2023.
One dead after Israeli military drone carries out attack near Khan Younis
An Israeli military drone has carried out a strike near the Jordanian field hospital west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least one person and injuring another, according to sources from Nasser Hospital.
We will bring you more information when we have it.
New US intelligence says Iran nuclear sites ‘set back by years’ after attacks
Following the leak of a preliminary intelligence assessment suggesting the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had been unsuccessful, both the CIA director and the director of national intelligence have released statements saying subsequent intelligence shows that Iran’s nuclear programme has been set back by years.
That leak was thought to have been an attempt to goad Donald Trump back into war. But for now, the president’s public statements suggest he has no appetite for a return to conflict.
He’s even suggesting that he doesn’t even necessarily care about talks with the Iranians about their nuclear programme. As far as he’s concerned, it’s been destroyed.
So there is hope then for the talks that have been announced for next week between the US and Iranians.
However, Steve Witkoff, the chief negotiator for Donald Trump has been saying in all his interviews that the parameters haven’t changed for the US: zero enrichment – the poison pill that the Israelis snuck into the nuclear negotiations to ensure that the Iranians would say no.
So, if that does remain the US’s red line, that could prove the opportunity that those who want a return to war could seize.
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed:
- The Israeli military has carried out overnight strikes across Gaza, killing 14 people since midnight, including several in attacks on tents housing displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza.
- Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have reportedly instructed the Israeli military to present a plan within 48 hours to stop Hamas from “seizing” aid in Gaza, according to Israeli media.
- Israel’s Channel 12 news, citing an unnamed official, said aid deliveries have already been halted, with the pause to remain in place until the Israeli army presents its plan.
- The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has been spotted during celebrations in Tehran, despite Israel’s claim to have assassinated him.
- Israeli settlers have set fire to homes and vehicles in the occupied West Bank town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, after three Palestinians were killed in an attack on the nearby town of Kafr Malek on Wednesday.
- US President Trump has called for the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to be “cancelled immediately”, as he described it as a “politically motivated case” and a “witch-hunt”.
Early morning Israeli attacks kill 14 in Gaza
Sources at hospitals in Gaza have confirmed to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that 14 people have been killed in Israeli attacks this morning across the enclave.
Three of those killed were people who were waiting for the distribution of humanitarian relief supplies at distribution points that have been described as “kill zones” for the starving and desperately in need of aid.
Netanyahu ‘under pressure’ on military service for ultra-Orthodox Israelis: Report
In an interview with Israel’s Maariv daily newspaper, an unnamed senior member of one of the country’s ultra-Orthodox parties urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to quickly advance legislation on military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox men or face losing his coalition government.
The parliament member said Israel’s “victory” in the war against Iran “does not change anything” in their demand to get the exemption, which was agreed upon just a day before the June 13 Israeli attack on Iran.
“The conscription law will pass…or Netanyahu will discover that despite the victory – he does not have a coalition,” the official was quoted by Maariv as saying.
Just 24 hours before the attack on Iran, Netanyahu’s fractious right-wing coalition survived an opposition-backed bid to dissolve parliament after reaching a deal regarding the divisive mandatory military service.
Military service is mandatory in Israel but under a ruling that dates to the country’s creation, ultra-Orthodox men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de-facto pass.
Netanyahu is under pressure from his own Likud party to draft more ultra-Orthodox men and impose penalties on draft dodgers.
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