
Israel demands condemnation from World Health Organisation after hospital strike
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Iran's supreme leader "can no longer be allowed to exist" after a hospital in Israel was hit by an Iranian missile on Thursday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay a heavy price" for the strike.
Soroka Hospital in the southern city of Beersheba was left in flames by a bombardment that Iran said was intended to target a military and intelligence base.
Daniel Meron, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, demanded a condemnation from the UN in a video on X filmed outside the World Health Organisation's headquarters.
Israel has repeatedly bombed healthcare facilities in Gaza, which include 36 hospitals. WHO said that at least 94 percent of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed.
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Zawya
12 minutes ago
- Zawya
Israel-Iran air war enters second week as Europe pushes diplomacy
TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON - Israel and Iran's air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful. Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side. Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, and sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Western and regional officials. "Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. Iran has said it is targeting military and defence-related sites in Israel, although it has also hit a hospital and other civilian sites. Israel accused Iran on Thursday of deliberately targeting civilians through the use of cluster munitions, which disperse small bombs over a wide area. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. With neither country backing down, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany along with the European Union foreign policy chief were due to meet in Geneva with Iran's foreign minister to try to de-escalate the conflict on Friday. "Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one," said British Foreign Minister David Lammy ahead of their joint meeting with Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also met Lammy on Thursday and held separate calls with his counterparts from Australia, France and Italy to discuss the conflict. The U.S. State Department said that Rubio and the foreign ministers agreed that "Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon." Lammy said the same on X while adding that the situation in the Middle East "remained perilous" and a "window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution." Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both condemned Israel and agreed that de-escalation is needed, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The role of the United States remained uncertain. Lammy also met Trump's special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, on Thursday in Washington, and said they had discussed a possible deal. Witkoff has spoken with Araqchi several times since last week, sources say. The White House said Trump will take part in a national security meeting on Friday morning. The president has alternated between threatening Tehran and urging it to resume nuclear talks that were suspended over the conflict. Trump has mused about striking Iran, possibly with a "bunker buster" bomb that could destroy nuclear sites built deep underground. The White House said Trump would decide in the next two weeks whether to get involved in the war. That may not be a firm deadline. Trump has commonly used "two weeks" as a time frame for making decisions and has allowed other economic and diplomatic deadlines to slide. With the Islamic Republic facing one of its greatest external threats since the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46-year-long rule would likely require some form of popular uprising. But activists involved in previous bouts of protest say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack. "How are people supposed to pour into the streets? In such horrifying circumstances, people are solely focused on saving themselves, their families, their compatriots, and even their pets," said Atena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran.


Dubai Eye
2 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks
The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks. Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks." Leavitt told a regular briefing that Trump was interested in pursuing a diplomatic solution with Iran, but his top priority was ensuring that Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon. She said any deal would have to prohibit enrichment of uranium by Tehran and eliminate Iran's ability to achieve a nuclear weapon. "The president is always interested in a diplomatic solution ...he is a peacemaker in chief. He is the peace through strength president. And so if there's a chance for diplomacy, the president's always going to grab it," Leavitt said. "But he's not afraid to use strength as well I will add." Leavitt declined to say if Trump would seek congressional authorization for any strikes on Iran. She said Washington remained convinced that Iran had never been closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel after hitting an Israeli hospital overnight, as a week-old air war escalated and neither side showed any sign of an exit strategy. Leavitt said Trump had been briefed on the Israeli operation on Thursday and Iran would face grave consequences if it did not agree to halt its work on a nuclear weapon. Trump has kept the world guessing on possible US involvement in the war, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting the US might join the fighting. On Wednesday, he said nobody knew what he would do.


Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Iran appoints a new chief of intelligence at IRGC after predecessor killed by Israel
Iran appointed a new chief of intelligence at its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday after his predecessor was killed by Israeli strike on Sunday, the official Irna news agency reported. The commander of Iran's IRGC appointed Brigadier General Majid Khadami as the new head of its intelligence division, Irna said. Khadami replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed on Sunday alongside two other Revolutionary Guard officers - Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri - in an Israeli strike. IRGC commander Major General Mohammad Pakpour had himself been recently appointed after Israel killed his predecessor Hossein Salami in a strike on June 13. "During the years that our martyred commanders Kazemi and Mohaqeq led the IRGC Intelligence, we witnessed significant growth in all aspects of intelligence within the IRGC," said Pakpour. Israel launched air strikes on nuclear and military sites in Iran last week, claiming that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies and US intelligence circles corroborate.