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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 26 June 2025:
- The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that at least 79 people were killed and almost 400 injured in Israeli attacks across the enclave in the past 24 hours and reports of more deaths continue.
- At least three Palestinians were killed and several injured in an attack by Israeli settlers on Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
- President Donald Trump says US and Iranian officials will talk next week as the Israel-Iran ceasefire continues to hold.
- 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.
Iran warns of continued Israeli activities domestically, despite ceasefire
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has warned of continued Israeli “malign” activities inside the country, despite an ongoing ceasefire, the Iranian news agency Fars reports.
Fars quoted the ministry as saying that Israeli operatives have been behind a campaign of “mass phone calls” to Iranians, with the aim of “telephone espionage and obtaining national information”.
The ministry also warned of the spread of “fake news” to incite Iranians to act “against national unity and cohesion”.
As the ceasefire with Israel continues to hold, Iranian authorities have been ramping up security crackdowns and arresting hundreds of people they accuse of spying for Israel, raising concerns among human rights groups.
Iran’s Quds force chief ‘reappears’ in Tehran after reported Israeli assassination
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has “reappeared” during celebrations in Tehran despite claims of being assassinated by Israel.
A video clip captured by Iran’s Fars news agency and shared by our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues showed a man, said to be Qaani, interacting with several people during a rally in the downtown area of the Iranian capital.
A similar video posted by Iran’s English-language state broadcaster Press TV also showed Qaani, the successor of the late commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.
Israel claimed that it killed Qaani during a series of assassinations targeting Iran’s most senior military leaders when it launched its attack on the country on June 13.
The Iranian government neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli report.
Previously, it was also reported that Qaani was killed alongside Hezbollah officials during an Israeli attack in Lebanon in 2024.
Palestinians in Gaza forcibly starved, risking lives to get food
Dr Bushra Othman is a general surgeon on a volunteer mission with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association.
She told Al Jazeera that Palestinians in Gaza are sometimes having to head to aid distribution sites in the middle of the night “to try to fight for whatever aid they can get”.
Israel’s military hold exercises in Jordan Valley
The Israeli military said that exercises in the Jordan Valley region will take place from later this morning until the afternoon.
It added that there will be heavy movement of military vehicles in the area during the exercise.
The exercises come just days after Israel began a fragile ceasefire with Iran brokered by US President Donald Trump.
Israeli settlers kill Palestinians in West Bank
At least three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli settler attack on the town of Kfar Malek, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
More than 100 Israeli settlers stormed the town and set the homes and cars of Palestinians on fire.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that at least seven people were injured in the settler attack.
Netanyahu, Katz instruct Israeli army to show plan to prevent Hamas ‘seizing’ aid
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have issued a joint statement saying they have instructed the Israeli military to present a plan to stop Hamas from “seizing” aid in Gaza, according to reports in several Israeli media outlets.
“Following information received today that Hamas is again taking control of humanitarian aid entering northern Gaza and stealing it from civilians, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister have instructed the [Israeli military] to present within 48 hours an action plan to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid,” said the statement, reportedly issued just before midnight on Wednesday.
Citing an unnamed official, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported that the government has already halted aid deliveries to Gaza, with the pause to remain in place until the Israeli military presents its plan.
The unconfirmed report comes after Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly threatened to quit the government if immediate action was not taken to prevent aid from reaching Hamas, according to The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post.
In March, Israel imposed an almost three-month blockade on all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, bringing millions of Palestinians in the besieged enclave to the brink of famine.
Since lifting its blockade in late May, Israeli forces have carried out numerous deadly massacres of Palestinian aid seekers gathering at delivery points.
Israeli forces killed 13-year-old boy who posed ‘no threat’: Rights group
Child rights group Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) has released details of the killing of a 13-year-old boy by Israeli forces on Monday afternoon in the occupied West Bank.
The young victim, Ammar Motaz Mostafa Hamayel, was shot in the back by Israeli forces while walking with a friend near the bypass road adjacent to the Palestinian village of Kafr Malek – which came under Israeli settler attack on Wednesday night, which left three local people dead.
Israeli forces, concealed among pine trees, opened fire on the 13-year-old and his friend from a distance of some 500 to 1,000 metres (1,640 to 3,281 feet), the organisation said. A single bullet entered Ammar’s back and exited his neck, according to DCI-P.
The Israelis detained Ammar at the scene of the shooting for about two hours before handing him over to an ambulance crew who brought him to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“While Israeli forces detained Ammar after shooting him, they physically assaulted multiple family members and neighbours who attempted to reach him and provide aid,” DCI-P said.
The boy was the 29th Palestinian child to be killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank so far this year, the group added.
Trump calls for Netanyahu’s ‘witch hunt’ corruption trial in Israel to be cancelled
US President Trump has praised Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for being a “WARRIOR” in Israel’s recent war with Iran, and said he was “shocked” to just learn that the Israeli leader will face a hearing on Monday in a long-running corruption trial.
“Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State [of Israel],” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday.
Trump described Netanyahu’s trial as a “politically motivated case”, a “witch hunt” and a “travesty of justice”.
“It was the United States of America that saved Israel [in its war with Iran], and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu,” he said.
In 2019, Israeli prosecutors indicted Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The trial began in 2020 and involves three criminal cases.
Netanyahu could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of bribery, and a maximum three-year term for fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Did the US, Israel really obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities?
A leaked intelligence report has cast doubt on US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claims that their attacks on Iran destroyed its nuclear programme.
Analysts say some facilities were not even hit, while 400kg (880 pounds) of uranium remains unaccounted for.
Mamdani’s New York victory boosts pro-Palestine politics in US
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has bold plans for New York City. He wants to establish city-owned grocery stores, build more homes, make buses free and freeze rents for subsidised tenants.
But in the lead-up to the Democratic primary on Tuesday, his opponents and media outlets seemed more concerned by his views on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. He is a vocal defender of Palestinian rights who has decried Israeli abuses and echoed the assessment of rights groups that Israel’s assault on Gaza is a genocide.
Mamdani did not back down from his positions, and he won, edging out former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had more institutional support and was backed by record spending.
Mamdani’s supporters say his victory could be an inflexion point in US politics that shows the electoral viability of left-wing policies and support for Palestinian rights.
Read the full article here.
Israeli military arrests 14 Palestinians in Nablus raids
The Israeli military has stormed the occupied West Bank city of Nablus and arrested at least 14 Palestinians, the Palestinian Information Center reports.
Among the detained is journalist Mujahid Tabanja, who was arrested after Israeli forces stormed his home in the Khallat al-Amoud area of Nablus, the Quds News Network reports.
A second unnamed man was also arrested during the raid, according to the Live Quds outlet, which published footage of Israeli soldiers leading the two blindfolded men away.
We will bring you more information when we have it.
‘This is what ethnic cleansing looks like’: Israeli rights group says of settler attacks
Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group working in the occupied Palestinian territory, has shared video clips of the deadly Israeli settler attack on the Palestinian communities of Kfar Malek, as well as the attack on Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank.
At least three people were killed in Kfar Malek after more than 100 Israeli settlers stormed the village, in the presence of Israeli soldiers, and set fire to several Palestinian homes and opened fire on local residents.
Earlier, masked settlers set Palestinian homes and cars on fire near Taybeh junction.
In security camera footage of the Taybeh attack, Yesh Din notes that “the perpetrators can be heard speaking Hebrew to each other.”
“Under the approval of the government and the military, settler violence in the West Bank becomes deadlier from day to day,” the rights group said.
“This is what ethnic cleansing looks like,” it added.
Israeli military bombs another tent in southern Gaza, killing at least 5
We have been reporting on the Israeli military’s deadly attacks across Gaza over recent hours, including at least two strikes on tents housing displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza.
Al-Aqsa TV and the Palestinian Information Center now report that the Israeli military has bombed another tent housing the Abu Arab family in the Majayda neighbourhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least five people and injuring several more.
Israeli settlers attack another Palestinian town in the West Bank
Israeli settlers have set fire to Palestinian homes and vehicles in the Christian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, according to a Palestinian activist in the occupied West Bank, Ihab Hassan.
It’s the latest settler assault on a Palestinian community in the area after three people were killed and seven others wounded in an attack on the nearby town of Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah.
Trump in ‘triumphant mood’, lauds US attack on Iran at NATO summit
Reporting from The Hague, Netherlands
US President Trump was in a triumphant mood as he arrived here to meet NATO leaders.
He clearly believes his gamble to strike nuclear sites in Iran has paid off. He claimed a war that had been simmering for decades had been ended for good in 12 days.
Trump’s decisions on Iran were praised by NATO’s secretary-general. Trump, who left last week’s G7 meeting after one day, is known not to like international summits, and the programme here was deliberately compressed. The main meeting was under three hours long to keep him happy.
By the end of the day, he did declare the meeting a success. But he was clearly still angered by the recent release of a report by the Pentagon’s intelligence agency that said the Iranian nuclear programme may have only been set back by a matter of months.
He told reporters it had been completely destroyed and that there would be new talks soon.
If there are new talks with Iran, as President Trump says, the problem is that the sticking point is likely to be exactly the same as before.
Iran says it wants a peaceful nuclear programme and it wants to enrich uranium on its soil. Yet, at this summit, President Trump has repeatedly said no enrichment will be allowed.
Israeli attacks across Gaza kill at least 13 Palestinians
The Israeli military has carried out attacks in northern, central and southern Gaza, killing at least 13 Palestinians over recent hours, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report.
In northern Gaza, sources at al-Shifa Hospital have said five Palestinians were killed and more injured in an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, west of Gaza City.
In the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Israeli forces have again opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid near Netzarim junction, killing one and wounding several others.
In the south, a source at Nasser Hospital has said five Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.
A source at the same hospital also said an Israeli drone strike on another tent housing displaced people in al-Mawasi left one person dead and several others injured.
An Israeli drone strike targeting a house west of Khan Younis has also killed one person, the Nasser Medical Complex has said.
We will bring you more information on these attacks when we have it.
Can a deal be found to end Israel’s war on Gaza?
Israel’s war on Gaza has raged on over recent weeks, continuing despite it also launching a 12-day conflict with Iran, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Qatar has announced there will be renewed mediation efforts to end Israel’s relentless, deadly assault on Gaza. So, what are the prospects for peace now?
A recap of recent developments
- Israel’s deadly attacks killed at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza on Wednesday, including 33 people waiting near aid distribution centres.
- At least three Palestinians were also killed and seven others wounded in a settler attack on the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Malek, northeast of Ramallah.
- Iran has reopened its airspace over the country’s east following a ceasefire with Israel that ended 12 days of deadly missile attacks.
- President Donald Trump has said US and Iranian officials will talk next week to continue the interrupted dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said credible intelligence indicates last week’s US strikes severely damaged Iran’s nuclear programme and it would take years to rebuild.
- But the White House continues to face scrutiny over reports Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium survived the strikes, with Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming there is “no indication” it was moved prior to the assault.
- Iran has criticised NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte after he appeared to praise US strikes on Iranian territory, calling his comments an endorsement of “a criminal act of aggression”.
Welcome to our coverage
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.
Stay with us for the latest updates, reactions and analysis.
You can find all our updates from Wednesday, June 25, here.
