Israel kills over 100 in Gaza as Iran rules out new US nuclear talks

The live blog is now closed and will be back at tomorrow 9am BST. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza here.

Israel has issued new displacement orders for Gaza, with Al-Jazeera reporting that the army has issued orders for the areas of Nuseirat, Zahra and Mughraqa, as well as the northern coastal neighborhoods of al-Nuzha, al-Bawadi, al-Basma, al-Zahraa, al-Basatin, Badr, Abu Hureira, al-Raqda, and al-Safa.

The Israeli army's Arabic language spokesperson told people to move to al-Mawasi.

The objective of US strikes on Iran last weekend "was to destroy Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and stop the threat that this rogue regime obtains and uses a nuclear weapon," the United States told the United Nations Security Council in a letter on Friday, seen by Reuters.

"The United States remains committed to pursuing a deal with the Iranian government," wrote acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea.

Washington justified the strikes as collective self-defense under article 51 of the founding UN Charter, which requires the 15-member Security Council to be immediately informed of any action states take in self-defense against armed attack.

If US President Donald Trump is genuine about wanting a nuclear deal with Iran, he should put aside "the disrespectful and unacceptable tone" towards Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and "stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers," Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Saturday.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, have claimed several attacks against Israeli soldiers in Gaza, including shelling troop positions with 60mm mortar rounds in the south of the enclave around Khan Younis. 

In the latest attacks, the Al-Quds Brigades claim to have attacked Israeli soldiers near the Netzarim Corridor with rockets.

President Donald Trump said on Friday he believes it is possible that a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict will be reached within a week.

Trump, at an Oval Office event celebrating a Congo-Rwanda accord, told reporters that he believes a ceasefire is close. He said he had been just been talking to some of the people involved in trying to reach a ceasefire to hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

Israel accused the United Nations on Friday of aligning itself with Palestinian militant group Hamas after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced an Israeli-backed aid distribution system in war-ravaged Gaza.

The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had provided "46 million meals" in the territory, the foreign ministry said in a post on X, but "the UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF's humanitarian operations".

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA for visits to Iranian nuclear sites.

"(IAEA head Rafael Grossi's) insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent," Araqchi wrote in a post on X.

"Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defense of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty."

The IAEA earlier said in a statement: "(Grossi) emphasised the need for IAEA inspectors to continue their verification activities in Iran, as required under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) with the Agency".

Iran's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. The move followed an air war with Israel in which Iran's longtime enemy said it wanted to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, which led to US forces striking three Iranian nuclear sites.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday rejected a report that the country's military commanders ordered their soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Left-leaning daily Haaretz earlier quoted unnamed soldiers as saying commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution centres to disperse them even when they posed no threat.

"The State of Israel absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels that have been published in the Haaretz newspaper," Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz.

The Geneva branch of an Israeli- and US-backed group that delivers aid to Gaza has been ordered to comply with its registration requirements or face possible court action.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is registered in the United States, and it registered an affiliate in Geneva on 12 February.

A legal document posted on the Commercial Register of the Swiss Canton of Geneva dated Thursday said the GHF affiliate had "deficiencies in the organization that is mandatory by law."

The registry gave the GHF 30 days to fix those deficiencies. If it fails to comply, the case will be forwarded to a local court or supervisory authority for action against it, it said.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment emailed by Reuters.

The GHF has previously dismissed UN criticism of its operations in Gaza and has told Reuters that the only GHF entity in use today is the foundation established in the US.

The notification by the Geneva registry is separate to a potential investigation that the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs is considering launching into the foundation.

Swiss authorities had previously told Reuters that the foundation does not meet legal requirements including having the right number of board members, a postal address or a Swiss bank account.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that he had immediately dropped work on sanctions relief for Iran after its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country had scored a victory over the United States.

"During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more."

He added that he stopped any assassination of Khamenei, saying: "I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH".

Israel's foreign minister said Friday the world was obliged to stop Iran developing an atomic bomb, days after Israel claimed it had "thwarted Iran's nuclear project" in a 12-day war.

"Israel acted at the last possible moment against an imminent threat against it, the region and the international community," Gideon Saar wrote on X.

"The international community now has an obligation to prevent, through any effective means, the world's most extreme regime from obtaining the most dangerous weapon."

President Donald Trump said on Friday he would like inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency or another respected source to be able to inspect Iran's nuclear sites after they were bombed last weekend.

At a press conference in the White House briefing room, Trump said he believes the sites were "obliterated." He has rejected any suggestion that damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.

But Trump said he would support the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, going in to check the sites that were bombed.

The agency's chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Wednesday that ensuring the resumption of IAEA inspections was his top priority as none had taken place since Israel began bombing on 13 June. However, Iran's parliament approved moves on Wednesday to suspend such inspections. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of the agency for visits to Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump also said he does not believe Iran wants to still seek a nuclear weapon after US and Israeli bombing raids.

He said Iran still wants to meet about the way forward. The White House had said on Thursday that no meeting between the US and an Iranian delegation has been scheduled thus far.

Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarising Israel's 12-day air war with Iran.

The 13 June opening strike on Iran, 1,500 km (930 miles) away, severely damaged its aerial defences and destabilised its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict, the official said.

Israel's air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran's missile production during the war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, the official said.

"The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime's ability to enrich uranium to 90 percent was neutralised for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralised," the official said.

Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defences.

Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel.

In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday he had directed the military to draft a plan to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran's support for militant operations against Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a "death sentence" as controversy swirls around a new US- and Israeli-backed distribution system.

"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters, without explicitly naming the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose operations have led to near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people desperate to get food.

The health ministry in the territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.

GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.

Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of that the entire population of the occupied Palestinian territory is at risk of famine.

 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a U.S.-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”

Israel and the United States want the U.N. to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the U.N. has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

Guterres said U.N.-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving and Israel – as the occupying power - is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave.

"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters.

"It is time to find the political courage for a ceasefire in Gaza."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on X that he has directed the military to develop an "enforcement plan" targeting Iran, writing in a post that he "instructed the [Israeli military] to prepare an enforcement plan against Iran that includes: maintaining Israel's air superiority, preventing nuclear advancement and missile production and responses to Iran over its support for terrorist activity."

Israeli settlers carried out at least 23 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank between 17 and 23 June, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The incidents left one Palestinian dead and 14 injured, OCHA said, adding that settlers also caused widespread property damage, including arson, vandalism, and the destruction of olive and other sapling trees.

The attacks occurred across multiple Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has voiced strong concern after reports that Oxycodone pills were discovered in flour bags distributed through aid centres backed by the United States and Israel.

In a statement shared on Telegram, the office said it had received four citizen reports of pills found inside flour bags. It warned the situation could be more dangerous if the pills had been crushed or mixed into the flour, posing a serious threat to public health.

The office blamed Israel, claiming the incident reflects a deliberate attempt to promote drug use and destabilise Palestinian society. It described the act as part of a wider policy it views as contributing to the "genocide" of the Palestinian people.

The statement further accused Israeli authorities of using drugs as a psychological weapon against civilians and manipulating aid deliveries to smuggle substances, calling it a violation of international humanitarian law and a potential war crime.

The most despicable form of genocide has recently come to light with the spread of a drug called Oxycodone among the population. Israel has reportedly been smuggling it in through bags of flour provided as aid.

As a pharmacist, let me explain what this drug is: it belongs to the…

— Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) June 26, 2025

The fiftieth medic from the Palestine Red Crescent has been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, the PRCS said on Friday in a statement.

Haitham Bassam Abu Issa, a nurse at the PRCS clinic in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the Gaza strip, was killed while off duty on Thursday, the PRCS said.

"This brings the total number of PRCS staff and volunteers killed during the conflict to 50 – a deeply shocking figure," the PRCS said. 

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported that 103 Palestinians were killed and 219 others injured in the past 24 hours amid ongoing Israeli attacks.

According to the ministry, the overall death toll since October 7, 2023, has climbed to 56,259, with 132,458 wounded.

Since March 18, 2025, specifically, 5,936 people have been killed and 20,417 injured, reflecting the continued escalation in violence in recent months.

Israeli forces are continuing their military campaign in the occupied West Bank, with fresh raids targeting Tulkarm city and the adjacent Nour Shams refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency.

The latest incursions, which involved home searches and arrests, mark 152 consecutive days of Israeli military activity in Tulkarm and 139 days of operations in Nour Shams.

Wafa reports that at least 50 buildings have been destroyed in Tulkarm refugee camp over the past two weeks, underscoring the escalating toll on infrastructure and civilians.

These raids form part of a wider Israeli offensive across the occupied West Bank, which has intensified since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

The region has witnessed a surge in demolitions, mass detentions, and civilian displacement.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has urged the international community to halt Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon, which killed at least one woman and injured 20 others.

Echoing Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s condemnation, Aoun said Israel is ignoring regional and international appeals to end the violence and called for urgent action to restore stability.

"Israel continues to disregard regional and international resolutions and calls to stop violence and escalation in the region, which necessitates effective action from the international community to put an end to these attacks that do not serve the efforts made to establish stability in Lebanon and the region’s countries," Aoun wrote on X.

Israel's Military Advocate General has ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli forces deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians near Gaza aid distribution sites, Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month in the vicinity of areas where food was being handed out, local hospitals and officials have said.

The Israeli news site quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying they were told to fire at the crowds to keep them back and using unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat.

Haaretz quoted a military spokesperson as saying that the army was trying to minimise potential friction between the population and Israeli forces, adding that following reports of civilian harm, the army had conducted investigations and given new instructions to ground forces.

Haaretz also quoted unnamed sources as saying that the army unit established to review incidents that may involve breaches of international law had been tasked with examining soldiers' actions near distribution locations over the past month.

Lebanon's health ministry said a woman was killed and 11 other people were wounded in an Israeli strike in the country's south, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

"The Israel enemy strike on an apartment in Nabatiyeh led to a preliminary toll of one woman killed and 11 people wounded," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official National News Agency.

British police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week in which military planes were sprayed with paint at an air base in England, authorities said on Friday.

A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, the police statement said.

Two activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in central England on June 20, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refuelling and transport, an act that was condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as "disgraceful."

BREAKING: Four arrested by counter-terrorism police in relation to the action at RAF Brize Norton.

Despite us not being proscribed, the state are treating red paint on war planes as an act of terrorism.

They will be held for several days in solitary confinement without charge.

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) June 27, 2025

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity called Friday for a controversial Israel- and US-backed relief effort in Gaza to be halted, saying it was "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid".

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, launched last month, "is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies", MSF said in a statement, demanding that the scheme be "immediately dismantled".

At least 26 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, according to Al Jazeera Arabic, citing local sources.

Among the dead are six individuals reportedly shot near a US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution point north of Rafah, and eight others killed in an airstrike on Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.

Two additional victims were killed when a strike hit a tent sheltering displaced civilians in al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza.

The director of medical relief in Gaza told Al Jazeera Arabic on Friday that the humanitarian situation for children in the enclave is rapidly deteriorating, with 17,000 currently suffering from malnutrition.

"We expect a large number of children to die from malnutrition unless a serious intervention occurs," he warned.

He also urged immediate international action: "Pressure must be put on the occupation to allow the entry of baby milk and medicine," noting that "many surgeries have been postponed due to a shortage of staff, medical supplies, and medicine."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed a report claiming he agreed to a US-led proposal to end the Gaza war, expand the Abraham Accords, and support a future Palestinian state.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said: "The conversation that’s described in the article in Israel Hayom did not take place," adding, "Israel was not presented with the political proposal supposedly described in the article, and it obviously did not agree to it."

Israel Hayom reported that former US President Donald Trump allegedly pitched the proposal during a “euphoric” phone call with Netanyahu on Monday evening, following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

The report, citing an unnamed source, claimed both leaders agreed to end the Gaza war within two weeks, with Israel halting military operations and Hamas releasing the remaining hostages.

An Israeli court has rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a two-week break from his ongoing corruption trial, following objections from the State Attorney’s Office, Israeli news outlet the Times of Israel reported on Friday.

In a statement, Jerusalem District Court's Justice Rivka Friedman-Feldman said the request, submitted by Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad, "does not provide a detailed justification or sufficient reason to warrant cancelling scheduled evidentiary hearings."

Hadad argued that Netanyahu needed time to focus on “diplomatic, national, and security matters of the highest priority” following the recent war with Iran, which ended on Tuesday.

The Israeli army claimed that its fighter jets targeted a Hezbollah facility in the Beaufort Castle area of southern Lebanon, describing the site as a key hub for managing the group's firepower and defence operations.

In a statement, the military said the location was part of an underground Hezbollah installation that had been hit in previous Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah had reportedly been attempting to rebuild the site, prompting the latest attack on its surrounding infrastructure.

The strike was also reported by Lebanese media outlets.

Israeli settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb, a religious site located east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, overnight on Friday, sparking clashes with local Palestinian residents.

According to Israel’s Walla news site, settlers and Palestinians hurled stones at one another before Palestinian Authority police intervened and dispersed those involved.

Iran’s majority Shia Muslim population has begun commemorating the start of Muharram, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar, just three days after a ceasefire was declared between Iran and Israel.

Worshippers have gathered at mosques across the country, including in Qom- a major religious centre located around 150km (90 miles) south of Tehran.

On Friday, devotees attended the traditional flag-changing ceremony at the Hazrat Masoumeh Shrine to mark the beginning of the Islamic new year, according to images shared by Iran’s state-run English-language broadcaster Press TV.

Qom is also home to the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility, which was struck by a US air raid last Sunday.

📷 A flag-changing ceremony was held at the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh in central Iranian city of Qom, marking the start of Muharram.

Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTS2ei pic.twitter.com/SkqBSbBOHI

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 27, 2025

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has once again urged Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza, which continues to obstruct the delivery of critical assistance to the devastated territory.

“UNRWA remains the lifeline for people in Gaza,” the agency stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Since the war began, UNRWA has never stopped working- not in the face of bombardment, displacement, or despair,” it added.

Currently, aid in Gaza is being distributed by the US-backed Israeli organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has faced widespread criticism over allegations that its operations have led to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians waiting for food.

Since the war began in #Gaza, UNRWA has never stopped working — not through bombardment, displacement, or despair.

UNRWA remains a lifeline to people in Gaza.

The siege by the State of Israel on Gaza must be lifted.

Let us continue to do our jobs.#UNRWAworks pic.twitter.com/ZTAKebAWy1

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 27, 2025

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a call on Thursday in which they discussed promoting "a durable peace between Israel and Iran," the State Department said in a statement.

Trump met Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House last week where they discussed Iran, which Trump said Pakistan knew about better than most other countries.

A section of Pakistan's embassy in Washington represents Iran's interests in the United States, as Tehran does not have diplomatic relations with the U.S.

"The two leaders acknowledged the importance of working together to promote a durable peace between Israel and Iran," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

"Secretary Rubio emphasized Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon."