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Here’s where things stand on Sunday 28 June 2025:
- Israel continued its attacks across the Gaza Strip, including an attack that killed at least 20 people, including nine children, in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.
- The Israeli army claimed to have killed a senior Hamas figure, Hakham Muhammad Issa al-Issa, in fighting in Gaza City.
- At least 13 Palestinian athletes were killed by Israeli attacks in June, said the Palestinian Olympic Committee.
- Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Public Health, said in a statement that an Israeli attack on a motorcycle in the village of Mahrouna killed two people, including a woman.
Support for Palestine under scrutiny at UK’s Glastonbury Festival
There were instances of pro-Palestine chants and slogans at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK – but not without controversy.
Rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds in chants of: “Free, free Palestine” and: “Death, death to the [Israeli army]”.
Vylan’s chants caused a stir and authorities are saying they will investigate whether any offences may have been committed.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy spoke to the BBC director general about Bob Vylan’s performance, a government spokesperson said.
They added, “We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.”
A BBC spokesperson called some of the comments “deeply offensive”.
Northern Irish band Nikaab also performed at the festival, accusing Israel of war crimes, while Palestinian flags were waved among the audience.
Meanwhile, Kneecap, who hail from Belfast, have been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence after allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a London gig.
In reference to his bandmate’s upcoming court date, Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, said they would “start a riot outside the courts”, before clarifying: “No riots, just love and support for Palestine”.
Support for Palestine under scrutiny at UK’s Glastonbury Festival
There were instances of pro-Palestine chants and slogans at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK – but not without controversy.
Rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds in chants of: “Free, free Palestine” and: “Death, death to the [Israeli army]”.
Vylan’s chants caused a stir and authorities are saying they will investigate whether any offences may have been committed.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy spoke to the BBC director general about Bob Vylan’s performance, a government spokesperson said.
They added, “We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.”
A BBC spokesperson called some of the comments “deeply offensive”.
Northern Irish band Nikaab also performed at the festival, accusing Israel of war crimes, while Palestinian flags were waved among the audience.
Meanwhile, Kneecap, who hail from Belfast, have been in the headlines after member Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence after allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a London gig.
In reference to his bandmate’s upcoming court date, Naoise O Caireallain, who performs under the name Moglai Bap, said they would “start a riot outside the courts”, before clarifying: “No riots, just love and support for Palestine”.
Qatar has been mediating efforts to reach ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
Advisor to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, told Al Jazeera that after Iran attacked a US airbase in Qatar on Monday, US President Donald Trump called Doha and said “a deal might be imminent”.
“It was requested of Qatar by President Trump in his call to His Highness [Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar] to start the process on finalising between [Israel and Iran] how we can reach an agreement”, he said.
“The minute the attack ended, the prime minister went on calls with the VP of the United States, JD Vance, and we had the calls with the Iranian side as well”, he said.
Nowhere to run: The Afghan refugees caught in Israel’s war on Iran
On Friday, June 13, when Israeli missiles began raining down on Tehran, Shamsi was reminded once again just how vulnerable she and her family are.
The 34-year-old Afghan mother of two was working at her sewing job in north Tehran. In a state of panic and fear, she rushed back home to find her daughters, aged five and seven, huddled beneath a table in horror.
Shamsi fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan just a year ago, hoping Iran would offer safety. Now, undocumented and terrified, she finds herself caught in yet another dangerous situation – this time with no shelter, no status, and no way out.
“I escaped the Taliban, but bombs were raining over our heads here,” Shamsi told Al Jazeera from her home in northern Tehran, asking to be referred to by her first name only, for security reasons. “We came here for safety, but we didn’t know where to go.”
Read the rest here.
Best to avoid Germany having to hand over an Israeli leader to the ICC, president warns
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned against Netanyahu’s arrival in Germany, saying Berlin should “avoid testing” international law given the arrest warrant issued against the prime minister by the International Criminal Court.
“We, in particular, should make the international legal order part of our own identity,” Steinmeier said in the Interview of the Week programme to be broadcast on Sunday by radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, of which DPA, Germany’s press agency, obtained a copy.
Steinmeier said it would be best to avoid being put in a position where Germany would have to hand over an Israeli leader to the ICC.
His comments came in response to a question about Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s statement that Germany would not recognise the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s war on Gaza.
Photos: Israeli forces protect settlers in Hebron
Casualties after Israeli attack on Khan Younis
Sources at Nasser Hospital report that four people, including a child and two women, were killed by Israeli drone fire that targeted a tent housing displaced people in the west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Our team on the ground reports that Israel is currently carrying out a massive bombing campaign in the city.
We will bring you more on this as events develop.
‘Failure to manufacture consent for war with Iran reveals a shift in the American consciousness’
Time Magazine does not write about the crushed bones of innocents under the rubble in Tehran or Rafah, it writes about “The New Middle East” with a cover strikingly similar to the one it used to propagandise regime change in Iraq 22 years ago.
But this is not 2003. After decades of war, and livestreamed genocide, most Americans no longer buy into the old slogans and distortions. When Israel attacked Iran, a poll showed that only 16 percent of US respondents supported the US joining the war.
After Trump ordered the air strikes, another poll confirmed this resistance to manufactured consent: only 36 percent of respondents supported the move, and only 32 percent supported continuing the bombardment.
The failure to manufacture consent for war with Iran reveals a profound shift in the American consciousness.
Americans remember the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq that left hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis dead and an entire region in flames.
Read more here.
Israeli army claims it killed senior Hamas official who planned October 7 attack
The Israeli army has claimed to kill a senior Hamas figure, Hakham Muhammad Issa al-Issa, in fighting in Gaza City.
“Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa was a senior figure in Hamas’ military wing and was considered one of the founders” of the organisation, the army said in a statement,
“In the past, Issa led Hamas’ force-buildup efforts in the Gaza Strip, was one of the founders of its military wing, served as Head of the Training Headquarters, and was a member of Hamas’ General Security Council.”
“Additionally, Issa played a significant role in the planning and execution of the brutal October 7th massacre,” the army claimed.
Hamas has yet to comment on these claims.
Israel claims killing Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon strike
The Israeli army has released a statement about a strike it carried out earlier today in Mahrouna, in southern Lebanon.
It claimed it killed a Hezbollah commander. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said earlier that the strike killed at least two people, including one woman, and wounded three others.
“Earlier today, the [Israeli army] attacked and eliminated terrorist Abbas al-Hassan Wahbi, intelligence chief in Hezbollah’s ‘Radwan Force’ battalion,” the army said.
“The terrorist was involved in attempts to rehabilitate the Hezbollah terrorist organisation and transfer weapons, actions that constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Israel has violated a ceasefire agreement between it and the Lebanese group on a near-daily basis since late last year.
Who decides who can have nuclear arms?
The United States and Israel attacked Iran, saying it could not have a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denied it was trying to build.
The US and Israel are among nine countries armed with nuclear weapons.
So, who decides who can have nuclear arms? And have the actions of Israel and the US increased the risks that more countries will want them?
Netanyahu opponent Matan Kahana says it’s time for a prisoner swap deal
In a social media post, Knesset Member Matan Kahana, of the National Unity party, has said the end of Israel’s war with Iran offers the opportunity for a deal with Hamas to exchange the Israeli captives they hold in Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
In a post shared on X and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, Kahana shared video footage of an antigovernment protest and wrote, “To say that a deal = surrender is simply disconnected from any reality.”
Kahana has made previous public statements urging the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to forge a deal to secure the release of the captives being held in Gaza.
In his post on Saturday, he added that Israel “tore Hamas apart” and will continue to “act in the future with a strong hand against the enemies in Gaza”.
Today’s death toll in Gaza rises
Sources at hospitals in the Strip say that at least 60 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the early hours of this morning.
In today’s most horrific attack, at least 20 people were killed, including nine children, when Israel bombed a residential block in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.
Photos: Palestinians in Gaza brave the ‘road of death’ to receive aid
France offers to make Gaza aid distribution more safe
France “stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution” in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said.
Barrot decried the fact that “500 people who have lost their life in food distribution” in Gaza in recent weeks.
Criticism is mounting over the civilian killings at the US-and-Israel-backed food distribution centres in the territory.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday on Israeli troops alleging that certain military commanders had ordered them to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounced the aid distribution points in Gaza as “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said yesterday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a “death sentence”.
Gaza documentary dropped by BBC to air on Channel 4
The United Kingdom’s Channel 4 has announced it will air a documentary on the plight of medics in Gaza after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which originally commissioned the work, opted not to air it.
The BBC commissioned Basement Films to make Gaza: Doctors Under Attack but decided not to run it, citing concerns it might create “a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect,” according to a report by The Independent.
The BBC had delayed airing it, pending a review and discussions with Basement Films – talks that ultimately led to an impasse. The producers have since worked with Channel 4 on final fact-checks, and the documentary, which follows front-line health workers in Gaza amid attacks on hospitals, will air on July 2 at 10 pm GMT.
Louisa Compton, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs and specialist factual and sport, said she felt strongly that the film should be aired. “This is a meticulously reported and important film examining evidence which supports allegations of grave breaches of international law by Israeli forces that deserves to be widely seen and exemplifies Channel 4’s commitment to brave and fearless journalism,” she said.
As for the BBC, this is just its latest Gaza-related controversy, as the broadcaster has faced repeated accusations of bias and pro-Israeli coverage. The United Kingdom’s official media watchdog, Ofcom, issued a public letter to the BBC earlier this year voicing its concerns over a lack of impartiality related to another programme covering Gaza. It warned that it would be keeping a close eye on the broadcaster’s future coverage.
Is Germany missing in action on holding Israel accountable?
EU leaders have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of captives, but they have stopped short of sanctioning Israel. Germany is the largest and most influential of a five-country bloc that is leading EU policy on this, according to Claudio Francavilla, the Brussels-based associate EU director at Human Rights Watch.
He told Al Jazeera Germany has been clear that the protection of Israel and its existence — its raison d’etat — is one of the principles at the foundation of the German state. German politicians are willing to accept blame for not moving against Israel over Gaza, seeing it as a “tiny fraction of the suffering that they inflicted on the Jewish people during the Holocaust”.
But Germany is also committed to international law, Francavilla said, and is “missing in action when it comes to their obligations”. He pointed to the UN Genocide Convention, which requires all parties to “employ all reasonable means to stop or prevent a genocide when it’s unfolding,” not only after a final legal determination.
“By protecting Israel from any form of accountability, they are condemning the Palestinians to suffer everything that they’ve been going through,” he said.
Israeli forces blow up Palestinian home in Jenin refugee camp
Israeli forces blew up a Palestinian home in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
Local sources told the agency that the explosion was part of a continuing Israeli campaign of home demolitions inside the camp, with multiple houses destroyed over the past two weeks.
The demolitions are part of a plan announced by the Israeli military on June 9, which aims to tear down approximately 95 homes in the camp, Wafa said.
The Israeli offensive in Jenin has entered its 159th consecutive day, and has so far killed 40 people, and wounded a further 200.
Videos show crowds demonstrating in Tel Aviv for return of captives held in Gaza
Video footage has been shared on social media showing throngs of Israelis demonstrating in antigovernment protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
The footage, shared on social and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, shows figures like Yehuda Cohen, father of 20-year-old Nimrod Cohen, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to bring the 50-or-so remaining captives being held in Gaza.
Families of the captives have long accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political gain.
Protests have been ongoing in the Mediterranean coastal city and other Israeli towns since November 2023, and they resumed this weekend after a two-week pause during Israel’s war with Iran.
Qatar wants to build on Iran-Israel ceasefire ‘to achieve sustainable peace in the region’
Adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari, told Al Jazeera that after Iran attacked a US airbase in Qatar on Monday, US President Donald Trump called Doha and said “a deal might be imminent”.
“It was requested of Qatar by President Trump in his call to His Highness [Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar] to start the process on finalising between [Israel and Iran] how we can reach an agreement”, he said.
“The minute the attack ended, the prime minister went on calls with the VP of the United States, JD Vance, and we had the calls with the Iranian side as well”, he said.
Al-Ansari noted that Doha now wants to build on the ceasefire “to achieve sustainable peace in the region”.
Photos: Protesters in Tel Aviv call for a return of captives, end to war
Inaction on Gaza is anti-Palestinian, not pro-Israel: HRW
EU leaders have decided not to take action against Israel over its war on Gaza, despite a recent report finding that Israel may have breached its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Who’s driving EU policy on Israel? “It’s not one single country, it’s certainly a bloc,” said Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to Francavilla, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Italy are the main countries preventing EU action on Israel. They consider themselves “pro-Israel”, but “what they’re doing is not pro-Israel, it’s anti-Palestinian, it’s anti-international law, it’s anti-human rights,” he said.
Some countries are trying to do more, Francavilla told Al Jazeera, citing Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium. “This is not enough,” he said. “The EU is a bit of a victim of its own architecture when it comes to foreign policy.”
While most EU foreign policy measures must be adopted unanimously by member states, some do not, including trade measures. Francavilla said the EU could suspend the Association Agreement and ban trade with settlements by a qualified majority vote, noting that it’s important to continue pressuring the five countries blocking EU action to allow for such a vote.
Settler attacks continue across the occupied West Bank
The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported several settler attacks in the occupied West Bank today. They include:
- An incident where settlers set fire to Palestinian agricultural lands in a village east of Ramallah.
- Under the protection of Israeli forces, settlers are reported to have set up tents on a Palestinian plot of land in the area of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, in what residents fear is a prelude to land seizure.
- Settlers protected by Israeli forces attacked Palestinian homes in the village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
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.
At least two killed in Israeli attack on south Lebanon
Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Public Health, says in a statement that an Israeli attack on a motorcycle in the village of Mahrouna has killed two people.
One of those killed was a woman, who succumbed to “severe wounds”, according to the statement. Three other people were also wounded in the attack.
If you’re just joining us
Here are the most recent developments:
- An Israeli attack on Tuffah, in Gaza City, killed 20 people. Among those killed are at least nine children, a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital told Al Jazeera’s team on the ground.
- Speaking to Al Jazeera after comments by US President Trump that a truce could be possible within a week, analyst Chris Doyle said, “We have a long way to go, sadly, until we get to a ceasefire.”
- Gaza’s civil defence crews carried out 31 missions from yesterday morning until this morning, including one firefighting mission, 13 rescue missions and 17 ambulance missions, the emergency service said in a statement.
- At least 13 Palestinian athletes were killed in June, said the Palestinian Olympic Committee.