Time running out for people in Gaza
People in Gaza are facing relentless attacks and unprecedented hunger. One young woman says average Palestinians just want to live their normal lives.
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NHK
10 hours ago
- NHK
Iran and Israel exchange deadly military strikes
Iranian forces have attacked Israel with ballistic missiles in retaliation for Friday's airstrikes on its nuclear facilities and other targets. Israel has also continued to attack Iran. Casualties have been reported in both countries. Iran's state-run TV quoted a senior revolutionary guard corps official as saying at least 150 Israeli targets were struck. He reportedly said the attacks will continue as long as necessary. Israeli media say three people have been killed and more than 70 others injured in and around Tel Aviv. Israeli forces attacked more than 100 targets on Friday. Nearly 80 people were killed, including top Iranian military commanders. On Saturday, the Israeli military said it also killed nine scientists and experts involved in Iran's nuclear program. It said their deaths constitute a significant blow to Tehran's ability to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "They triggered a war. We will not allow them to walk away unscathed from the great crime they have committed." Iran's state-run TV said there could be chemical or radioactive contamination inside the facility. But officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency say radiation levels outside the complex have not risen. They say they will continue to monitor the situation. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said, "I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment." US news site Axios quoted President Donald Trump as saying Israel used what he called "great American equipment" and that Iran now has a stronger incentive to reach a nuclear deal. Trump used a social media post to urge leaders in Tehran to come to an agreement before they have "nothing left."
The Mainichi
17 hours ago
- The Mainichi
UN conference on Palestinian state postponed because of Middle East tensions
PARIS (AP) -- A top-level U.N. conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians scheduled for next week has been postponed amid surging tensions in the Middle East, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday. France and Saudi Arabia were due to co-chair the conference hosted by the U.N. General Assembly in New York on June 17-20, and Macron had been among leaders scheduled to attend. The Palestinian Authority hoped the conference would revive the long-defunct peace process. Macron expressed his "determination to recognize the state of Palestine" at some point, despite the postponement. France has pushed for a broader movement toward recognizing a Palestinian state in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself. After Israel's strikes on Iran on Friday, Macron said that France's military forces around the Middle East are ready to help protect partners in the region, including Israel, but wouldn't take part in any attacks on Iran. Macron told reporters that the two-state conference was postponed for logistical and security reasons, and because some Palestinian representatives couldn't come to the event. He insisted that it would be held "as soon as possible" and that he was in discussion with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about a new date. The U.N. ambassadors from France and Saudi Arabia said in a letter to the 193 U.N. member nations that the delay is "due to the current circumstances in the Middle East that prevent regional leaders from attending the conference in New York." France's Jerome Bonnafont and Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Alwasil said the conference will open on June 17 in the General Assembly hall, but only to propose and agree to its suspension. They invited all countries to attend the opening. "We are determined to resume the conference at the earliest possible date," the two ambassadors said. Macron said the aim of the conference "is a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizing the existence and the security of Israel." Any such state would exclude any Hamas leaders, he said. Macron said that the Israel-Iran conflict, the war in Gaza and the situation for Palestinians around the region are all "interlinked." Macron spoke on Friday with 10 world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, about the Israeli strikes on Iran and consequences. One of the aims at the U.N. conference was to increase the number of countries recognizing Palestinian territories as an independent state. So far, more than 145 of the 193 U.N. member nations have done so. The Palestinians view their state as encompassing Gaza and the West Bank with east Jerusalem as the capital. Netanyahu has rejected the creation of a Palestinian state, and Israel refused to participate in the conference.
Japan Times
18 hours ago
- Japan Times
Israel's attacks on Iran hint at a bigger goal: regime change
Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear program and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon. But the scale of the attacks, Israel's choice of targets, and its politicians' own words suggest another, longer-term objective: toppling the regime itself. The strikes early on Friday hit not just Iran's nuclear facilities and missile factories but also key figures in the country's military chain of command and its nuclear scientists, blows that appear aimed at diminishing Iran's credibility both at home and among its allies in the region — factors that could destabilize the Iranian leadership, experts said. "One assumes that one of the reasons that Israel is doing that is that they're hoping to see regime change," said Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W. Bush. "It would like to see the people of Iran rise up," he said, adding that the limited civilian casualties in the initial round of attacks also spoke to a broader aim. In a video address shortly after Israeli fighter jets began striking Iranian nuclear facilities and air defense systems, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed to the Iranian people directly. Israel's actions against Iran's ally Hezbollah had led to a new government in Lebanon and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, he said. The Iranian people had an opportunity too: "I believe that the day of your liberation is near. And when that happens, the great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again," Netanyahu said. But despite the damage inflicted by the unprecedented Israeli attack, decades of enmity toward Israel — not only among Iran's rulers but its majority-Shiite population — raises questions about the prospect for fomenting enough public support to oust an entrenched theocratic leadership in Tehran backed by loyal security forces. Singh cautioned that no one knows what conditions would be required for an opposition to coalesce in Iran. Friday's assault was the first phase of what Israel said would be a prolonged operation. Experts said they expected Israel would continue to go after key Iranian nuclear infrastructure to delay Tehran's march to a nuclear bomb — even if Israel on its own does not have the capability to eliminate Iran's nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he drew on a graphic of a bomb used to represent Iran's nuclear program as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York in September 2012. | REUTERS Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. The U.N. nuclear watchdog concluded this week that it was in violation of its obligations under the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel's first salvos targeted senior figures in Iran's military and scientific establishment, took out much of the country's air defense system and destroyed the above-ground enrichment plant at Iran's nuclear site. "As a democratic country, the State of Israel believes that it is up to the people of a country to shape their national politics, and choose their government," the Israeli Embassy in Washington said. "The future of Iran can only be determined by the Iranian people." Netanyahu has called for a change in Iran's government, including in September. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, while acquiescing to Israel's strikes and helping its close ally fend off Iran's retaliatory missile barrage, has given no indication that it seeks regime change in Tehran. The White House and Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter. Israel has much further to go if it is to dismantle Iran's nuclear facilities, and military analysts have always said it might be impossible to totally disable the well-fortified sites dotted around Iran. The Israeli government has also cautioned that Iran's nuclear program could not be entirely destroyed by means of a military campaign. "There's no way to destroy a nuclear program by military means," Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Channel 13 TV. The military campaign could, however, create conditions for a deal with the United States that would thwart the nuclear program. Analysts also remain skeptical that Israel will have the munitions needed to obliterate Iran's nuclear project on its own. "Israel probably cannot take out completely the nuclear project on its own without the American participation," Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, told reporters on Friday. While setting back Tehran's nuclear program would have value for Israel, the hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, potentially throwing the Iranian security establishment into confusion and chaos. "These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime," said Shine. "In the ideal world, Israel would prefer to see a change of regime, no question about that," she said. But such a change would come with risk, said Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Middle East who is now at the Atlantic Council. If Israel succeeds in removing Iran's leadership, there is no guarantee the successor that emerges would not be even more hard-line in pursuit of conflict with Israel. "For years, many in Israel have insisted that regime change in Iran would prompt a new and better day — that nothing could be worse than the current theocratic regime," Panikoff said. "But history tells us it can always be worse."
