Israel has blocked the UN and other aid
organisations from working in Gaza, instead allowing the GHF to operate. Since
it began operations a few weeks ago, Israeli forces have killed at least 300
desperately hungry civilians attempting to get food at its sites.
29m ago
06.07 BST
Opening
summary
Hello and
welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East.
Foreign
ministers from the UK, France and Germany are to meet their Iranian counterpart
Abbas Araqchi in Geneva on Friday aiming to create a pathway back to diplomacy
over its nuclear programme.
The
meeting comes a day after US President Donald Trump set a two-week deadline to
decide whether the US will join Israel’s war on Iran to allow for negotiations
to continue.
The White
House said that the US president would “make a decision on whether to attack
Iran within two weeks”. It added that correspondence with Tehran had continued
and there was still hope of negotiations.
UK
foreign secretary David Lammy, speaking after a meeting with his US counterpart
Marco Rubio on Thursday, said it was “time to put a stop to the grave scenes in
the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one”.
The talks
will be held in Geneva, where an initial accord between Iran and world powers
to curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions lifting was struck in
2013 before a comprehensive deal in 2015. The latest nuclear negotiations
between Iran and the US collapsed when Israel launched its surprise attack on
Iran on 12 June.
An
Iranian official said Tehran has always welcomed diplomacy, but urged the
so-called E3 to use all available means to pressure Israel to halt its attacks
on Iran. “Iran remains committed to diplomacy as the only path to resolving
disputes – but diplomacy is under attack,” the official said.
Israel
meanwhile openly declared its support for regime change in Iran, with defence
minister Israel Katz saying Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “can
no longer be allowed to exist”.
In other
key developments:
At least
22 Palestinians have been killed after Israeli forces opened fire on aid
seekers near the Netzarim axis in central Gaza, Al Jazeera reported early on
Friday, citing a source at al-Awda hospital in Deir al-Balah. On Thursday
Israeli attacks on Gaza killed at least 72 people, including 21 who had
gathered near food distribution sites set up by the “Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation” (GHF). The dead included women and children, according to Al
Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, who posted footage of the bodies of children
scattered in the street after an Israeli attack on tents housing displaced
Palestinians near Gaza City.
Israel
carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor, its latest attack on
Iran’s sprawling nuclear program. Iranian state television said there was “no
radiation danger whatsoever” and that the facility had been evacuated before
the attack. Israel also targeted the Natanz site, which has been hit several
times.
A week of
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 657 people and wounded 2,037
others, a human rights group said. The Washington-based group Human Rights
Activists said of those dead, it identified 263 civilians and 164 security
force personnel being killed. Iran has not given regular death tolls during the
conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. Its last update on Monday,
it put the death toll at 224 people and 1,277 wounded.
At least
240 people were wounded by Iranian missile strikes on Israel on Thursday
morning, the AP reported. The outlet said that four individuals has been
seriously wounded, citing Israel’s health ministry.
Iran on
Thursday accused the UN’s nuclear watchdog of acting as a “partner” in what it
described as Israel’s war of aggression. The International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) accused Iran in a report prior to the start of the Iran-Israel war of
non-compliance with its obligations in its nuclear programme.
Iraq’s
top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani warned against targeting Iran’s
leadership and said that the Iran-Israel war could plunge the whole region into
chaos. Sistani said in a statement on Thursday that any targeting of Iran’s
“supreme religious and political leadership” would have “dire consequences on
the region”.
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