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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 26 June 2025:
- Israeli forces kill at least 78 Palestinians in Gaza – including 33 aid-seekers at distribution sites – as dozens of settlers launch a deadly attack on a village in the occupied West Bank.
- President Trump says US and Iranian officials will talk next week to continue a dialogue interrupted by the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran.
- Iran says at least 627 people, including 13 children, were killed and 4,870 wounded since Israel launched its attack on June 13. In Israel, at least 28 people were killed in Iranian strikes.
- Israel’s assault on Gaza continues, killing at least 51 people today. Its war on Gaza has killed at least 56,077 people and wounded 131,848, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 taken captive.
Iran partially reopens airspace after ceasefire with Israel
Iran has reopened the airspace over the country’s east following a ceasefire with Israel that ended 12 days of deadly fighting.
“The airspace over the eastern half of the country has been reopened to international overflights as well as domestic and international flights solely with origin or destination in airports located in eastern Iran,” Transport Ministry spokesman Majid Akhavan said, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Mashhad airport, which Israel said it had struck during the war, was among the airports that reopened, he said. Other reopened airports include Chabahar, Zahedan and Jask.
Iran had closed its skies since June 13 after Israel launched a major bombing campaign that prompted Iran to retaliate with waves of missile strikes. A ceasefire between the two came into effect on Tuesday.
Witkoff hints at ‘big announcements’ on Abraham Accords
Nuclear enrichment and weaponisation by Iran are red lines for the United States, President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff says.
“We can’t have weaponisation, that will destabilise the entire region. Everyone will then need a bomb and we just can’t have that,” Witkoff told CNBC.
Witkoff also told the US network: “We think we have big announcements on countries coming into the Abraham Accords,” without specifying which nations might be involved.
During his first term, Trump managed to broker the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, which established formal relations with the US ally independently of the Palestinian issue.
Iran criticises NATO chief’s praise for US bombardment
Iran has sharply 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”.
“It is disgraceful, despicable and irresponsible for #NATO’s SG to congratulate a ‘truly extraordinary’ criminal act of aggression against a sovereign state,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X.
“Who endorses an injustice lacks integrity. Who supports a crime is regarded as complicit.”
His comments were in response to a text message of praise Rutte sent to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Israeli settler violence ‘pushing region toward an explosion’: PA
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has condemned escalating settler violence across the occupied West Bank, accusing the Israeli government of backing the attacks.
“The settler violence and rampage, under the protection of the occupation army, is a political decision by the Israeli government, implemented by the settlers,” Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh said in a post on X.
Al-Sheikh also accused Israeli authorities of deliberately escalating tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The Israeli government’s behaviour and decisions are pushing the region toward an explosion,” he wrote.
Can a deal be found to end Israel’s war on Gaza?
Israel’s recent conflict with Iran has renewed efforts to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza raged on during its recent conflict with Iran, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire. Meanwhile, Qatar has announced renewed mediation efforts to end the genocide.
So what are the prospects for peace now?
Israeli commandos operated on the ground in Iran
Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir says that during the Israel-Iran fighting, Israeli special forces were on the ground in Iran carrying out missions.
Israel’s overall control of Iranian airspace was also made possible because of “commando ground forces”, Zamir said in a televised address.
“The forces operated in secret deep within enemy territory and created operational freedom of action for us,” he said.
Zamir is the first Israeli official to say publicly that Israeli soldiers were on the ground in Iran. “The campaign is not yet finished. We must remain on guard – many challenges await,” he added.
Photos: Crowds of Palestinians collect aid amid smoke, ruins
3 Palestinians killed during settler attack in the occupied West Bank
At least three Palestinians have been killed and seven others injured in a settler attack on the town of Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked the town, burning vehicles and homes as residents of neighbouring villages attempted to confront them, local sources said. Israeli troops provided protection for the settlers and fired live rounds.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated wounded Palestinians who suffered gunshot wounds, with some in serious condition.
The occupied West Bank is home to more than three million Palestinians who live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority governing in limited areas.
Israel has so far built more than 100 settlements across the West Bank, which are home to about 500,000 settlers – Israeli citizens living illegally on private Palestinian land in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
Earlier, in a raid on al-Yamoun, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the neck. The boy is reported to have later died from his wounds.
France reiterates calls for a ceasefire in Gaza
French President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I reiterated to the Prime Minister the absolute necessity of establishing a ceasefire in Gaza,” Macron wrote on X.
He also stressed the need for “large-scale access for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip” and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution – a political path to peace that Israel has increasingly disregarded amid its genocide on the Palestinian people.
Macron added that both leaders shared the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu denies pressuring US into Iran strikes
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed as “nonsense” a Washington Post report claiming Israel pressured the United States into joining its attack on Iran.
“The Washington Post story suggesting that Israel pushed President Trump into his bold decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites is nonsense,” his official X account posted, adding that Trump “acted in the best interest of the USA based on the same intel we had”.
Multiple current and former Israeli officials were quoted as saying Netanyahu ordered preparations for strikes months in advance, with Israeli officials lobbying US counterparts.
While both Trump and Biden-era intelligence agencies consistently assessed that Tehran had not decided to pursue nuclear weapons, Israel’s Channel 12 has also reported that Trump was personally urged by Netanyahu to “take part in history”.
