US pledges $30m towards aid in Gaza despite fresh attacks
The United States is giving $30m (€25m) to a controversial humanitarian group in war-torn Gaza despite concern among some US officials about the operation and the killing of Palestinians near food distribution sites, according to four sources and a document seen by Reuters.
Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) diplomatically, but this is the first known US government financial contribution to the organisation, which uses private US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.
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The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Secret Iranian fortress Trump's bombs CAN'T reach: Fears ultra-secure ‘Pickaxe' mountain is perfect nuclear hiding place
TRUMP may have "obliterated" Iran's notorious Fordow facility, but there are fears the nuke programme lives on in another top-secret mountain fortress. Iranian officials have claimed the key enriched uranium was carted out of Fordow before Advertisement 8 8 Satellite pics show lorries lining up outside Fordow in the days before the US strikes Credit: Reuters 8 One of the last missiles fired by Iran into Israel lodged in the ground Credit: Twitter 8 A B-2 Spirit bomber escorted by two F 15E Strike Eagles Credit: Alamy Pickaxe is a peak in the mountains surrounding Natanz, another of Iran's nuclear plants hammered by the US and Israel, and around 90 miles south of The site is still under construction, but has been secretly expanded and reinforced over the past four years. The peak is over 5,000ft high - taller than any mountain in the UK - and the site is thought to be buried 328ft down. The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said last year: "It is obvious it is in a place where numerous and important activities related to the programme are taking place." Advertisement read more on iran's nukes When asked what was going on beneath Pickaxe, Iran responded: "It's none of your business ." Satellite images show tunnels feeding into the mountain and leading to a deep-buried operation. Experts say it could be more secure than any of the facilities struck by the US and Israel . America's bunker-buster bombs were the only weapons capable of reaching Fordow - but even those might prove ineffective against Pickaxe. Advertisement Most read in The US Sun Exclusive In the days before Trump's stealth bombing raid over the weekend, a train of lorries was pictured lining up outside Fordow. And in the aftermath, Iran has claimed that it moved the key nuclear material. White House fuming over top secret leak on Iran nuke site bombing as Don attends key summit It's believed there was 400kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent at the plant which, if still intact, could sustain Iran's ambitions to build nuclear weapons. Sima Shine, with decades of experience in the military establishment, said Tehran had "hundreds if not thousands" of advanced centrifuges capable of producing weapons-grade uranium. Advertisement And Pickaxe could be the perfect new hiding spot. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it cannot be ruled out that there is further, undeclared material hidden beneath the towers of rock. 8 Trump claimed Iran's nuclear programme had been 'obliterated' Credit: EPA 8 A B-2 bomber refuelling mid-air Credit: AFP Advertisement 8 Craters on a ridge at the Fordow plant after US strikes Credit: EPA Grossi renewed his demands that Iran let inspectors in to "account for" the stockpiles of uranium. Trump claimed that other Iranian sites had been "obliterated" by the An Iranian official insisted that 'contrary to the claims of the lying US president, the Fordow nuclear facility has not been seriously damaged, and most of what was damaged was only on the ground, which can be restored". Advertisement And the extent of the damage is debated after an intelligence report was leaked on Tuesday night. 8 The assessment claims that Iran's nuclear programme was set back by just a few months by the US bombs. Sources told CBS that the stash of uranium had not been eliminated. Advertisement The White House was furious and slammed the "flat-out wrong" assessment leaked by "a low-level loser in the intelligence community". America deployed its heaviest weapons against Fordow - 14-ton GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators. The monster explosives burrow 60 metres into the ground before detonating. Inside covert US raid on Iran's nuclear sites By Patrick Harrington DECOY and deception were at the heart of Donald Trump's tactical Operation Midnight Hammer strikes against Iran's nuclear sites. Through meticulous planning and artful bluff, the B-2 stealth bomber squadron The US began spinning a web of deception at the start of The President maintained the smoke-and-mirrors act, telling reporters at a flagpole opening ceremony: "I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm gonna do." Then a day later, Trump played a masterstroke which saw the White House put out a "two-week" deadline for A decoy fleet of B-2s flew west over over the Pacific and towards Guam to throw Iranian intelligence off the scent. Read more about the operation
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: Giving up on Gaza now is a surrender to immorality that will shame our children
Whenever I struggle with my own inadequacy regarding Palestine, I think of my friend's 80-year-old mother. Her son — an Irishman working for Unrwa — spent about 500 of the now 621 days of genocide in Gaza, risking his life to do a job he will never talk about. She would often suffer a week without hearing from him, unaware if he was alive or dead. Despite everybody telling her to do otherwise, she devoured every piece of footage she could, traumatising herself in the hope of catching some proof of life. When it finally came, it showed him rushing to give aid to a lifeless body under the glare of an Israeli sniper. That clip unleashed an avalanche of relief that was quickly tempered by the horror of his reality. It was also a small window into the world of every Palestinian, everywhere. Is that my son? My friend? My brother? My baby? Her poise amid such unimaginable anxiety was remarkable, but what floors me now is not her grace under immense pressure, but the consistency of her caring. Because he is no longer in Gaza, ejected by Israel for the crime of doing his job, so you would think his enforced exile — though undoubtedly traumatic for him — would signal the end of something terrible for his mother and a reason to celebrate. Instead, she is even more bereft, because all she can think of is the men, women and children left behind. She is inconsolable because nobody wants to talk about them. Because her friends — obviously worried for her — tell her to count her blessings and move on. Imagine that this woman chooses to care so much when her caring should be done? That she despairs because others find it too uncomfortable a reality? Imagine there are those who would call her anti-semitic for cursing the killers of children she never knew? About a fortnight ago, we reached a new phase in our moral reckoning. The revisionist history phase. The 'it's safe to come out now' phase. Despite the evidence being there, held aloft before our eyes in the form of bloodied carcasses of dismembered children for over 600 consecutive days, it took a major market shift for the indifferent to find their voices. A commercial cooling-off around all things Israel had to occur before the powerful minority came around to what the powerless majority have long been screaming. And even then, their sudden outrage was selective and carefully curated. Bespoke and designer, edited by a PR teams adept at the art of performative pearl-clutching and careful apology. A makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Muwasi, west of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Picture: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana If you index-linked people's opinion on Palestine (and Iran for that matter) to their salaries, chances are you would discover those who earn more care much less. Why is that I wonder? Are they privy to dossiers compiled on newborn terrorists, tiny anti-semitic infants born with Kalashnikovs in their little brown hands and grenade pins between their baby teeth? Does this make it easier to have no opinion on genocide whatsoever? To change the subject when it's brought up, or worse, offer a variation on the classic 'it's complicated' defence as a way of asserting their intellectual superiority on the matter. You could perhaps forgive the postman in Buncrana for not being abreast of the nuances of the Abraham accords and therefore lacking in empathy for his fellow postmen in Beit Hanoun. But I'd bet if you did ask him, he'd have much more to say about children butchered in their sleep than the wealth managers in Dublin, the TDs in the Dáil, and the tenured columnists for some Sunday papers, all of whom are fully aware of Israel's metaphorical stock price, especially as it pertains to their own bottom line. Of course, you can argue my cynicism is unhelpful. That any expression of solidarity and support, however late, is welcome. Well, I am not the arbiter of that. Palestinians are, but I'd guess they too have noted the timing and tenor of many of the open letters signed by rich and prominent writers, the vapid social media posts from politicians and the vague, half-hearted hints of camaraderie from Hollywood stars, all of whom profit handsomely from billion-dollar industries that are themselves marinated in the blood of black and brown people. Even as the sun sets on this new phase, we are nowhere near the point of everyone being against this. A cursory glance at the rhetoric regarding Iran is enough to reveal there are many people who will go to their graves unequivocally for it. That, if they speak slowly and condescendingly enough, they can use the words 'October' and 'Seventh' and 'existential threat' as bywords for impunity. They do so conveniently ignoring all historical context, as well as the right of armed resistance against an occupying power being enshrined in international law. Not to mention the long-proven use of the Hannibal Directive by Israel to murder its own. Those who choose to ignore these facts surely believe Palestinians, Lebanese and Iranians are getting exactly what they deserve, and despite that — or maybe because of it — they find themselves platformed all the broadcast channels. Those people are not for turning and will never be against any of this. Which brings us to Ireland and the cowardice of our political leaders. They are cowards, and their cowardice is not just manifest in their performative inaction, it's amplified by their selective weaponisation of Irishness as a badge of pseudo-solidarity. Because our ancestors went hungry, we know the plight of the oppressed and so can express concern and tweet about it. Fuck that. There is nothing moral about knowingly trading with evil. I buried my best friend in my head every day for over a year. He survived. I'm sure his mother buried him every day, twice a day. That grief does not disappear, it lives on in the death of children we never knew. The children he watched walk silently with their little arms in the air, raised in quiet surrender. So many of them now certainly dead. That grief lingers in his insistence that his life was never worth more than those he stayed to protect. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. To give up now is a surrender to immorality that will shame our children.
The Journal
2 hours ago
- The Journal
Trump rejects leaked intel that says US strikes did not destroy Iran's nuclear programme
AN EARLY INTELLIGENCE assessment found that the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme, and likely only set it back by months. While over a dozen bombs were dropped on two of the nuclear facilities, the Fordo Fuel Enrichment plant and the Natanz Enrichment Complex, they did not fully eliminate the sites' centrifuges and highly enriched uranium, CNN reported. The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report. The assessment was produced by the Defence Intelligence Agency – the Pentagon's intelligence arm – and is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by the US Central Command after the US strikes. The report by the Defence Intelligence Agency estimated that the programme was delayed less than six months, the New York Times said in another report. Trump has rejected this. In a post on Truth Social the US president said 'THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!'. Iran's underground nuclear enrichment site at Fordo. PA PA White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was 'flat-out wrong'. Advertisement Leavitt responded to the reports on social media: 'The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program.' Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also declared a 'historic victory' against Iran, despite the leaked US intelligence report. Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that 'we have thwarted Iran's nuclear project'. 'And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,' he said. Israel had said its bombing campaign, which began on 13 June, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied. Israel's military said that its strikes had set back Iran's nuclear programme 'by years'. After Trump angrily berated both sides for early violations of the truce yesterday, Iran announced it would respect the terms of the deal if Israel did the same, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that his country would continue to 'assert its legitimate rights' to the peaceful use of atomic energy. 'Everyone is tired' Some Israelis welcomed the prospect of a truce. 'Everyone is tired. We just want to have some peace of mind,' said Tel Aviv resident Tammy Shel. 'For us, for the Iranian people, for the Palestinians, for everyone in the region.' In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold. Related Reads Israel says 'campaign against Iran not over' after Iranian president announces 'end of 12-day war' Watch: Trump says Israel and Iran 'don't know what the f**k they're doing' Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, 'I really don't know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don't think things will return to normal.' Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry. A damaged apartment in Tehran, Iran. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers. The international community reacted with cautious optimism to the truce. Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump's announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped 'that this will be a sustainable ceasefire'. But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an 'increased' risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the strikes on its nuclear sites. After the truce was announced, Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir said Israel's focus would now shift back to Gaza. The Israeli opposition, the Palestinian Authority and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages all called for a Gaza truce to complement the Iran ceasefire. With reporting from Andrew Walsh Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
