Berlin evacuating more than 20 Germans from Gaza
Berlin evacuating more than 20 Germans from Gaza
The German government said Wednesday that it was evacuating around 24 of its nationals from the war-battered Gaza Strip.
"There is currently an operation underway in close cooperation with the Israeli authorities to allow people to leave", foreign ministry spokesman Christian Wagner told journalists at a regular press conference.
He said "roughly two dozen" Germans were leaving the territory.
He added that there remained "a small, single-digit number" of other Germans whom the authorities were aware of in Gaza and who wish to leave.
Earlier this month Germany said that 19 of its citizens and 14 of their relatives had been evacuated from Gaza.
Israel has resumed intense aerial and ground assaults after a ceasefire deal that came into effect on January 19 fell apart two months later over differences regarding its next phase.
Hundreds of thousands of people have since been displaced, and Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the country would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering the territory.
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Nahar Net
2 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Israel threatens Khamenei after missiles wound dozens, damage hospital
Israel's defense minister overtly threatened Iran's supreme leader on Thursday after the latest missile barrage from Iran damaged a major hospital and hit a high-rise and several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv. At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. Black smoke rose from the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba as emergency teams evacuated patients. There were no serious injuries in the strike on the hospital. In the aftermath of the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the military "has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist." U.S. officials said this week that President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him "at least not for now." Israel, meanwhile, carried out strikes on Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country's sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists. A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Missile hits main hospital in southern Israel Two doctors told The Associated Press that the missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing a loud explosion that could be heard from a safe room. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. The hospital said the main impact was on an old surgery building that had been evacuated in recent days. After the strike, the medical facility was closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases, it said. Soroka has over 1,000 beds and provides services to around 1 million residents of Israel's south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the strike on the hospital and vowed a response, saying: "We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran." Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defenses, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centers and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect. Haim Bublil, a local police commander, told reporters that several people were lightly wounded in the strike. Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and moving patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly. Israel also boasts a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. 'No radiation danger' after strike on reactor Israel's military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium. "The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," the military said. Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran's nuclear program. Iranian state TV said there was "no radiation danger whatsoever" from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor. Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area. Iran rejects calls to surrender or end its nuclear program Iran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes. However, it also enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level. Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but does not acknowledge having such weapons. The strikes came a day after Iran's supreme leader rejected U.S. calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause "irreparable damage to them." Israel had lifted some restrictions on daily life Wednesday, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing. Already, Israel's campaign has targeted Iran's enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he would travel to Geneva for meetings with his European counterparts on Friday, indicating a new diplomatic initiative might be taking shape. Iran's official IRNA news agency said the meeting would include foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany and the European Union's top diplomat. Trump has said he wants something "much bigger" that a ceasefire and has not ruled out the U.S. joining in Israel's campaign. Iran has warned of dire consequences if the U.S. deepens its involvement, without elaborating. Arak had been redesigned to address nuclear concerns The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility over proliferation concerns. The reactor became a point of contention after President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Ali Akbar Salehi, a high-ranking nuclear official in Iran, said in 2019 that Tehran bought extra parts to replace a portion of the reactor that it had poured concrete into to render it unusable under the deal. Israel, in conducting its strike, signaled it remained concerned the facility could be used to produce plutonium again one day. "The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development," the Israeli military said in a statement. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14. Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost "continuity of knowledge" about Iran's heavy water production -- meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile.
Nahar Net
2 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Iran's foreign minister to meet with European counterparts on Friday
Iran's foreign minister will meet with European counterparts in Geneva as an Israeli airstrike campaign continues to target his country, state media reported Thursday. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Geneva for the meetings Friday, the state-run IRNA news agency report. IRNA said the meeting would include foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and the European Union's top diplomat. - France, Europeans willing to negotiate with Iran - French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Thursday that France and Europeans partners are ready to 'resume negotiations' with Iran. The message from Iranian authorities was 'relatively clear: there is a willingness to resume talks, including with the United States, provided that a ceasefire can be reached,' Barrot told a news conference in Paris. 'On our side, there is a willingness to resume negotiations, provided that these negotiations can lead to lasting, substantial steps backward by Iran regarding its nuclear program, its ballistic program and its activities to destabilize the region,' Barrot said. Barrot did not confirm the Geneva meeting.
Nahar Net
2 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Putin, Xi 'strongly condemn' Israeli strikes on Iran, urge diplomatic solution
by Naharnet Newsdesk 19 June 2025, 13:20 Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Iran in a phone call, the Kremlin said, adding that both leaders called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. "Both sides adhere to identical approaches, strongly condemn Israel's actions," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, adding that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities "should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means".
