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Here’s where things stand on Friday 20 June 2025:
- Iran launches missile attack on southern Israel as conflict between regional adversaries enters eighth day.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is scheduled to meet counterparts from France, Germany and the United Kingdom in Geneva for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme and ending Israel’s attacks.
- The White House says, due to “chance of negotiation”, President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will join Israel in attack in Iran.
- Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem says the threatened assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is an “aggression” against all the people of the region.
No ease up in strikes or rhetoric
On Thursday, there were different reports from across the country about the continuation of strikes by the Israelis.
Earlier in the morning we had a report from Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran that a nuclear facility in Khondab was targeted. In the capital, we’ve heard constant explosions related to the activations of the air defence system targeting objects from the Israeli side.
We have heard a lot of statements from the Iranian side saying that they will continue their retaliations as long as these Israeli strikes continue.
The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is due to have talks in Geneva with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which paves the way for a possible hope for de-escalation. The Iranians are saying that they are ready to step back, but it’s going to be possible under one condition – that is, that the Israelis step back.
But the reality on the ground seems to be far from that as we see the continuation of the Israeli strikes.
In terms of the rhetoric from the Iranian side, we are hearing strong messages from Iranian military figures that they are going to continue to provide Israelis with the repercussions of these strikes, and that there’s going to be a crushing answer down the road.
Iran missile strikes near Beersheba tech park, Microsoft office, Israeli military branch
The central rail station has been temporarily shut down because it also sustained damage.
And there was damage visible to the Microsoft office in the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park. This tech park has a lot of research and development activities in robotics and data sciences, and so on.
It is adjacent to Ben Gurion University and, according to their website, it is also adjacent to the Israeli army’s C4i branch campus, its telecommunications branch.
So this is what we know of that location. Seven people are reported to have been lightly injured in that attack.
The south of Israel is more sparsely populated, and the one missile that we could see landed before the beginning of business hours, so there were no people in the offices, presumably.
Israeli military says it bombed Iranian missile launch platform, kills commander
The Israeli military says it attacked a short while ago “three missile platforms ready to be launched from Iran into Israel”.
It said it also struck the “military commander who was preparing to launch them”, without providing more details.
We will bring you more information when we have it.
Photos: Aftermath of Iran’s missile strike on southern Israel’s Beersheba
Most Palestinians in Gaza forced out of their homes since October 2023
That’s according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which drew parallels between forced displacement in Gaza today and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 when the State of Israel was founded.
Known as the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), Zionist military forces pushed more than 700,000 Palestinians out of their homes at that time.
“77 years later, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced,” UNRWA said in a post on X to mark World Refugee Day.
MAGA is split over Israel and Iran. Which way will Trump go?
How did MAGA become Trump’s biggest opponent of a US strike on Iran?
The Republican base is split over Trump’s rhetoric about getting involved in another foreign war.
Conservative stalwarts like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are pushing back.
Could a US strike on Iran be a blow against Trump at home?
Israeli military ‘named and shamed’ for second year on UN report into child violations
Reporting from UN Headquarters, New York City, US
This is the 24th year that the United Nations has released this report on grave violations against children.
The report, released annually, looks at the number of children globally who have been killed, maimed or recruited into armed conflict, among other things. The report only documents cases that the UN has been able to independently verify.
Now, despite ample evidence that Israel should have been included on this list for many years, it wasn’t – as the UN bowed to Israeli pressure not to be named in the report.
But that all changed last year when Israel was included for the first time. And now this year, marking two years in a row that Israel is named and shamed.
In the annexe of the report looking at 2024, it says Israeli forces remained on the list because they fulfilled the criteria of a “party that kills and maims children” and “a party that engages in attacks on schools and/or hospitals”.
Globally, the UN was able to verify 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024.
Roughly 20 percent of the total – more than 8,000 – were committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory.
US rivals – China, Russia – would welcome Trump’s intervention in Iran, another ‘long war’
While China’s chief concern may be keeping Iran’s oil pipelines open and regional trade and investment flowing, it would also benefit indirectly from a US intervention, said Australia National University’s Alam Saleh who spoke to Al Jazeera earlier.
“If they intervene, that will make China and Russia very happy. They wish for the United States to get involved with an open-ended, long war with a country which is relatively strong. Iran is not the Houthis in Yemen, it’s not the Taliban in Afghanistan, and – of course – it’s not Syria or Iraq,” he said.
“If the United States intervenes, [China and Russia] will try to prolong this war by a kind of support for Iran, to keep it alive, to fight, to prostrate the United States for another few years in the region at least,” he said.
“However, they will not intervene or interfere directly.”
Israel’s Beersheva in Iran’s ‘crosshairs’ after second attack in two days
There hasn’t been an official Israeli military statement yet, except for the comment to Israeli media that there seems to have been a malfunction in the interception system, which led to the direct impact of that one missile, which we saw in Beersheba.
There is extensive damage to many buildings.
Israelis posted on social media showing damage to their windows and furniture. Five people were lightly injured, and 30 were reported to have been treated for panic.
We don’t know if Iran had launched one lone missile or several, and whether others were intercepted. We are still waiting to see an official statement from the Israeli army.
But certainly this area, which is less densely populated than central Israel, seems to be in the crosshairs . We saw a significant volley yesterday around the same time that left a lot of damage to Soroka hospital, the main hospital that serves southern Israel.
Right now, only light injuries and that one impact, pictures of which have been cleared by the Israeli military censor.
Rubio’s meeting with UK counterpart Lammy described as ‘crisis talks’
We got readouts from both sides saying that they both agree – Britain and the United States – that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. Western countries are aligned in that goal.
But more forceful from the British side in their description of those talks, emphasising that the need for a diplomatic solution is dire in order to avoid further escalation.
Lammy said there is a window of time – he’s taking those two weeks seriously, that this is the time to get that diplomatic solution in place.
Six people ‘slightly injured’ in southern Israel: Paramedics
Shafir Botner, the director of Magen David Adom’s paramedic school, has given a brief update outside a damaged building in southern Israel.
In a video shared on social media, Botner said teams were searching the building for any more injured people.
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed on the latest developments:
- An Iranian missile attack has caused damage in southern Israel’s Beersheba after what the municipality said was a “direct hit”; fires and massive plumes of smoke could be seen at the site of the strike.
- Israeli emergency services say at least five people were “lightly injured” in the attack, Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting.
- Separately, the Israeli military also says it intercepted three Iranian drones in the Dead Sea area overnight.
- British Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the next two weeks offer “a window” for a diplomatic solution to the conflict after the Trump administration says it will decide on whether to join the conflict within that timeframe.
- In the Gaza Strip, at least 34 Palestinians have been killed since midnight in Israeli attacks, including at least 23 who were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on people seeking aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
Death toll rises for Israeli attack on aid seekers in Netzarim
As we reported earlier, Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, killing at least 22 people and injuring more.
Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues, citing a source at al-Awda Hospital in Deir el-Balah, now report that 23 people have been killed in that attack.
Al Jazeera sources in Gaza now report that a total of 34 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave in the hours since midnight local time (21:00 GMT).
Israeli forces raid several Palestinian towns in occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has raided the town of Tubas, northeast of Nablus in the north of the West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
Israeli soldiers raided several homes in the town, Wafa said. Separately, the Israeli military also carried out raids in several towns south of Jenin, also in the northern West Bank, including Arrabeh and Qabatiya.
At least two Palestinians were arrested during the raid in Qabatiya, Wafa reported.
Palestinians in the West Bank have experienced an intensified campaign of Israeli military and settler violence amid Israel’s war in Gaza. Thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Israeli army says it attacked dozens of targets across Tehran overnight
The Israeli military has claimed that more than 60 fighter jets took part in the attacks on the Iranian capital, which it said used approximately 120 munitions.
The army also said it struck “several industrial sites for missile production” in the Tehran area.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s attacks across Iran over the past several days have killed hundreds of people.
Train station closes after Iranian strike on southern Israel’s Beersheba: Report
Israeli railway officials have told local media that due to the Iranian missile strike on Beersheba, the city’s north station is now temporarily closed.
The station is part of the intercity line from Tel Aviv to the terminus of Beersheba-Dimona.
What are Iran’s red lines?
We have more from Shahram Akbarzadeh, the expert at Australia’s Deakin University.
“Iran has made it clear that it is happy to go along with international inspection regime – a stringent inspection regime – to monitor its nuclear programme. Iran has made it clear that it will not pursue a weaponisation programme,” Akbarzadeh explained.
In exchange, Iran wants sanctions relief, he said. “If the Europeans are able to come up with a solution that respects those red lines, then there is every chance for a diplomatic solution.”
Akbarzadeh added that Iran also cannot be expected to “simply surrender unconditionally in the face of US bullying”.
“This is what the Iranians have called US behaviour, and it very much looks that way; the threat of violence, the threat of killing the Iranian head of state – that is bullying,” he said.
“So you can’t expect them to capitulate … and they will be looking for some kind of compromise, by also saving face.”
Beersheba municipality tells residents to stay away from site of strike
In a statement, the municipality says its emergency teams are working in the area alongside security and rescue forces.
“Following the alarm that sounded throughout the city, a missile fired from Iran hit Beersheba this morning, a direct hit. Scans are being conducted on site,” it said.
“We urge residents not to arrive at the scene of the incident or to gather at the scene to allow the professional forces to complete their work safely.”
Israeli emergency service says 5 people ‘lightly injured’ in Beersheba
Paramedics from the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service are treating five people “lightly injured” by Iran’s missile strike in the city of Beersheba, Israel’s Channel 12 reports.
MDA paramedic Dvir Ben-Zeev told the outlet that he “saw thick smoke and cars on fire” at the scene of the attack.
“One of the buildings was visibly destroyed, and there is damage to other apartments. We have set up two points to treat the injured, and we are conducting medical examinations for residents who are leaving the buildings,” he said.
Trump ‘cornered himself’ by following Israel’s agenda
Shahram Akbarzadeh, director of the Middle East Studies Forum at Deakin University in Australia, says Trump has been allowing Israel to dictate US policy towards Iran and the wider region.
“Trump came to office with the promise of extracting the United States from wars in the Middle East, but effectively he has left the decision-making in the Middle East, the policy towards the Middle East, to Israel,” Akbarzadeh told Al Jazeera.
“Trump is simply following Israel’s agenda in relation to Palestine, in relation to Iran – [and] this has put the United States basically hostage to Israeli decision-making.”
Akbarzadeh added, however, that if the European leaders set to meet with Iran’s foreign minister later today come up with a diplomatic solution, “then Trump would favour that”.
“But in the absence of any prospect of a diplomatic solution, I think Trump has very much cornered himself in this situation.”
Israeli media confirms ‘direct hit’ in southern Beersheba
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth news outlet reports that the Beersheba municipality has confirmed that the Iranian missile attack a short while ago was a “direct hit and not fragments” from an intercepted missile crashing to the ground.
The Channel 12 news site also said the Israeli military has confirmed that the Iranian missile was not intercepted by air defences.
Several people were injured in the attack, the news outlets said.
What is China’s view on the Israel-Iran conflict?
Alam Saleh, a senior lecturer in Iranian Studies at the Australian National University, said China takes a business-first approach to foreign policy, which means it will always favour peace and stability in the Middle East.
“Beijing seeks peace and stability. This is what is essential for economy and trade and investment. They are not interventionists like the Western powers,” Saleh told Al Jazeera in an interview from Tehran.
China imports over half of its crude oil from the Middle East, and it gets a steep discount from Iran. Saleh said keeping the pipelines open is a must for Beijing.
“War and security instability not only undermine Chinese investment and trade and business … but also the oil price and gas energy security in general,” he said.
“Therefore, China seeks stability, and it disagrees and opposes any kind of military solution for any type of conflict and confrontations, no matter with whom,” he added.