
Mag 5.1 earthquake strikes Iran near capital Tehran… as Israel blitzes country to destroy nuke program
The quake struck some 22 miles away from Iran's Semnan region at 9:19pm local time and was also felt in Tehran's Qom region.
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It is understood to be a shallow quake with just 35 meters of depth.
It comes as Israel continues to pound Iran's nuclear facilities and other military targets.
The goal, as the Israelis say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons as well as more ballistic missiles.
It also includes long-range weapons that can strike targets far beyond Israel.
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The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
What might a surrender deal for Hamas look like?
The horrors of Gaza have finally come to haunt the world's policy-makers. Yesterday, the British government grasped at the talisman of recognising a Palestinian state, without explaining how this might stop the violence. Enter Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, three Arab countries that have demanded that Hamas now frees the remaining Israeli hostages, lays down its arms and ceases governing Gaza, for the sake of enabling Palestinian statehood and the chance of achieving a two-state solution. Let's not get our hopes up. The three Arab states have joined 14 other countries at a three-day conference at the United Nations in signing up to a French initiative that also requires Israel to agree to a ceasefire, end its blockade and recognise a Palestinian state in 'all occupied Arab lands' – a point that is certain to be rejected by the current Israeli government since it means withdrawing from the West Bank and East Jerusalem where so many Jewish settlers live. But having the Arab world calling the very future of Hamas into question for the first time is a potential game-changer for the Middle East. It's certainly a nail in the coffin for the terrorist group. President Trump's Abraham Accords, signed at the tail end of his first term in the White House, were supposed to isolate Hamas by drawing Arab states into mutual recognition of Israel, with the promise of a web of trade deals and security guarantees against their mutual enemy, Iran. However, Saudi Arabia had been cautious about opening diplomatic relations with Israel, even before the events of 7th October, 2023 made that an impossibility. The rampage by Hamas terrorists that day was intended to kill any chance of a Saudi-Israeli rapprochement by provoking a brutal Israeli response that would outrage Muslim opinion. Israel's bombing and blockades had that effect, though less so with Arab regimes. Egypt has long been deeply hostile to Hamas. In 2013, when President Sisi toppled its democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, he came to power over the corpses of hundreds of Muslim Brothers, a group affiliated to Hamas. Qatar has been the odd monarchy out. It has housed Hamas's exiled leaders in Doha for decades, and Qatar's energy wealth subsidised Gaza after Hamas established itself In power there after 2006, when other oil-rich Gulf states pulled their aid. In 2017, Saudi Arabia's crown prince led his allies and Egypt in blockading Qatar as a 'sponsor of terrorism' – meaning Hamas in particular. Until now, Qatar's absolute ruler has acted as a go-between for Israel, the United States and Hamas. The Gulf state's shift will put real pressure on Hamas, which is battered but unbowed by Israel's fightback since 7 October. So what might a surrender deal for Hamas look like? The last four decades of Middle Eastern history might have an answer – of sorts. In 1984, the brutal war in Lebanon which had started when Israel invaded to stop raids across its border by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, ended when Israel agreed to let the PLO be exiled in Tunisia. But it's far from a failsafe blueprint for peace. Today's Tunisian government is vocally critical of Israel, but there is no sign that President Kais Saeed is keen to provide a refuge for Hamas fighters, even if they were willing to leave Gaza. Nor would France and Italy be happy to see battle-hardened veterans move west along the Mediterranean coast. Gulf states who remember how PLO leader Yasser Arafat's supporters in Kuwait backed Saddam Hussein's invasion there are not going to warmly welcome refugees from Gaza. Plus, Arab states' vocal condemnation of Benjamin Netayahu's war doesn't extend to housing its victims. Another word of caution. Without US backing, it is hard to see how the Franco-Saudi plan will bring a quick end to the war. Israeli opinion is split on Netanyahu, but there is little sign of a revival of support for a 'land for peace', a settlement whereby Israel withdraws from the occupied territories in exchange for peaceful coexistence with a neighbouring state of Palestine. Europeans and Gulf Arabs may be weary of the Gaza war, but Hamas and Israeli hardliners are not exhausted yet.


Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Board of Deputies: Hamas has no incentive for accepting a deal
For nearly two years, the Board of Deputies has held weekly vigils outside Westminster and the Scottish Parliament to raise awareness of the plight of the hostages taken on 7th October 2023, during the Hamas attacks which saw more than 1,200 men, women and children violently murdered and hundreds kidnapped. Fifty people remain in captivity in Gaza now, some dead and some living. We know from the testimony of released hostages that they have faced abuse and appalling conditions for the past 21 months. This is the backdrop to the war in Gaza – a war that Israel did not start. It is a conflict which has cost thousands of lives on both sides and we are all praying for its conclusion and for peace. However, will the government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state at this moment help bring peace to the region? I do not think so. The government's statement, released yesterday, sets conditions on Israel. The UK says that it will recognise Palestinian statehood unless Israel accepts a ceasefire. However, this means that Hamas has no incentive for accepting a deal. If they continue to turn down truce proposals, they know that this makes UK recognition of Palestine more likely. We would like the government to state unequivocally that recognition will not be forthcoming unless Hamas meets UK demands. That must include accepting a ceasefire and releasing the hostages. It must be totally unconscionable for the UK to effectively reward Hamas terrorism while the hostages remain in inhumane conditions. In saying this I must stress that my organisation, the democratically elected representative organisation of the UK Jewish community, has long supported a negotiated two-state solution that ensures a secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. However, recognising a Palestinian state without a diplomatic agreement risks putting gestures ahead of substance. There is a danger that the government's announcement will empower Hamas. While responsibility for this war lies with Hamas and the destruction wrought on the Palestinian people is largely down to the actions of this terrorist group which is proscribed in the UK, the suffering we are witnessing in the Gaza Strip demands a response. The new measures announced by Israeli authorities to address the humanitarian crisis are essential if long overdue. We need to see a rapid, uninhibited, and sustained increase in aid through all available channels, and we need to see all agencies cooperating in this endeavour. As we have said for months, food must not be used as a weapon of war by any side in this conflict. We are also alarmed at some of the rhetoric within the Israeli government and by extremist settler violence in the West Bank. 'Food must not be used as a weapon of war' This war continues to take an unbearable toll on both Israelis and Palestinians, and nearly all of them would like to see it end as soon as possible. It is also having a profound effect on our own UK Jewish community, with a huge increase in hate crime and discrimination directed at Jews in this country. We need to export peace, not import this conflict. This is a long and attritional war which must come to an end. There is no doubt that the UK government is sincere in its desire to end suffering in the area. However, it must be aware of the concerted international drive across governments, the media and civil society, to turn Israel into a pariah state, with increasingly alarming impacts on local Jewish communities, including in the UK. The government must ensure that its good intentions are not weaponised by this campaign. In this complex and challenging moment, steps to advance a two-state solution should still be focussed on substance, not gestures. The diplomatic community needs to get behind a comprehensive plan that will make a Palestinian state beside a secure Israel a reality. We need to see peace and we need to see all the hostages return to their loved ones. Only then will we end our weekly hostage vigils.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
US labor activist Chris Smalls assaulted by IDF during Gaza aid trip, group says
On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted and boarded the Handala, an aid ship that attempted to reach Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international collective that has worked to end Israel's blockade of Gaza since 2010. According to the coalition, IDF soldiers beat and choked the American labor activist Chris Smalls, who was onboard the ship. Smalls is most well-known for co-founding the Amazon Labor Union. The Handala, which carried food, baby formula, diapers and medicine, was attempting to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza, as Palestinians there continue to starve in what UN-backed hunger experts have called a 'worst-case scenario of famine' that is unfolding. 'The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, US human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals. They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back,' the Freedom Flotilla Coalition wrote in a statement posted on Instagram on Tuesday morning. 'When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel's special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists. We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.' Smalls, the only Black person onboard the boat, was one of 21 members of the group who were detained. Others included 19 civilians, including parliamentarians, medics and engineers, and two journalists. Jacob Berger, a Jewish American actor who shared on Instagram that Smalls was in 'great spirits' after his detention – everyone else who was detained, he said, should be released on Tuesday or Wednesday. The interception of the Handala came as more than 30 Israeli public figures called for 'crippling sanctions' over Israel's starvation of Gaza. Donald Trump said he wanted 'to make sure [Gazans] get the food, every ounce of food' during a recent meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer. The Handala was not the first effort by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition to deliver aid to Gaza. Previous attempts, including one in June in which Greta Thunberg was arrested, were also intercepted by Israel. In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 activists setting sail for Gaza on the Mavi Marmara. 'We are calling on others around the world, definitely our countries, to live up to their obligation of enforcing international law, of protecting human rights, but also other institutions that are founded to do the same,' said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American attorney and Handala member, in an appearance on Monday on Democracy Now. 'We should not be waiting for Israel to give permission for food or other humanitarian aid to enter … we need to be breaking, challenging and breaking the blockade.' While they were onboard the flotilla, Araf said that the US government did not make contact with the seven American members of the crew, though France, Spain and Italy contacted their citizens to offer consular services after their detention. It is not yet clear if Smalls or any other American citizens have been contacted since their detention. They were 'legitimizing Israeli piracy on the high seas. And that is unacceptable to us,' she said, referring to countries that offered services following the illegal boarding in international waters. 'And that is the kind of impunity that our governments, all governments, really, have been allowing Israel to just violate international law.'