Israel

ISRAEL has launched devastating air strikes against Iran in a dramatic escalation risking all-out nuclear war in the Middle East.

Explosions rung out and plumes of smoke rose above the capital Tehran after a volley of “preemptive strikes” as part of Operation Rising Lion.

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Israel claimed it targeted a nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, and threatened even more to come.

A defence official claimed the strikes killed Iran’s military chief and senior nuclear scientists, although this has not been confirmed.

Tensions had flared following Iran’s advancing nuclear programme, with Donald Trump warning of a “massive conflict” between the enemy nations.

Iran has been stockpiling uranium and it is feared they are close to having enough weapons-grade fusion material for as many as 15 nuclear bombs.

Iran has also been distributing weapons and arms to proxy groups across the region fighting Israel including Hezbollah and Hamas.

The US has already declared it had no involvement in the strikes.

Fearing a reprisal, Israel has already declared a “special state of emergency”, closing schools and public gatherings and sounding air-raid sirens.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said: “Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future.”

The orders have been imposed across the entire state, with air space closed and emergency messages sent to mobile phones ordering Israelis to stay close to shelters and limit movement in open areas.

Speaking after the blitz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “decisive moment in Israel’s history”.

He said in a video statement the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat”.

He added: “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme… We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile programme.”

On Thursday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran for failing to work with its inspectors.

Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, slammed the resolution as “extremist” and blamed Israeli influence.

It comes after an ex-military intelligence agent chillingly warned that Iran could rush to finish its nuclear weapons if attacked by Israel.

Raz Zimmt, who spent more than two decades in the IDF’s military intelligence, said Iran is likely to immediately retaliate with a huge missile blitz if Israel launches missiles as its turf.

He told The Sun: “The immediate retaliation would probably be the launching of long-range missiles from Iran against Israel if that’s an Israeli attack.”

Trump, whose administration is in talks with Iran in a bid to hammer out a deal over its nuclear programme, said he had urged ally Israel to hold off as he stressed his commitment to a diplomatic solution.

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“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if an Israeli attack loomed.

Trump said he believed a “pretty good” deal on Iran’s nuclear program was “fairly close,” but said that an Israeli attack on its arch foe could wreck the chances of an agreement.

The US has already pulled some diplomats from Tehran and offered evacuations for troops and families stationed in the Middle East.

US and Iranian officials were due to hold a sixth round of talks on the nuclear programme in Oman on Sunday until the negotiations reached a stalemate.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel had claimed the strikes were necessary for self-defence, while warning Iran not to target US forces in retaliation.

There are fears US could get dragged into the conflict if Iran decides to target military bases in the region, over the West’s support for Israel.

In a statement, he said: “Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.

“President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners.

“Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”

Iran’s breaching nuclear rules

IRAN has been declared as in breach of its nuclear rules for the first time in two decades.

The UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning Tehran’s “lack of co-operation”.

It is the culmination of several stand-offs between the Vienna-based IAEA and Iran since Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in 2018 during his first term, after which that accord unravelled.

Tehran said it “has no choice but to respond to this political resolution”, and said it would launch a new enrichment site “in a secure location”.

The state said: “Other measures are also being planned and will be announced subsequently.”

An IAEA official said Iran had given no further details such as the location of the site.

It comes as US and Iranian officials are due to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s accelerating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday.

The Trump administration has been trying to secure a deal with Tehran aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme.

Donald Trump is said to be in advanced talks with Iran over a preliminary agreement that could include provisions on uranium enrichment – terms Israel finds unacceptable.

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On June 9, Israeli forces seized the Madleen ship in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea as it attempted to break the suffocating siege on Gaza.

The 12 activists on board – who belong to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition – were abducted in international waters and taken to Israel.

One day after their capture, four of them were swiftly deported after waiving their right to see an Israeli judge and signing a deportation order that claimed they had “illegally” entered Israel. Well-known Swedish climate and human rights activist, Greta Thunberg, was among those deported.

The other eight refused to sign and remained in detention. On Thursday, six of them were deported, including Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament.

Another two French nationals remain in Israeli custody awaiting deportation on Friday, according to Adalah, a nonprofit legal association in Israel.

This is everything you need to know about their treatment.

Who are the 12 activists?

On Tuesday, Israel deported Thunberg (Sweden), Sergio Toribio (Spain), Baptiste Andre (France) and Omar Faiad (France). Faiad is a reporter with Al Jazeera Mubasher.

On Thursday, six more were deported, including Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament, Mark van Rennes (Netherlands), Suayb Ordu (Turkiye), Yasemin Acar (Germany), Thiago Avila (Brazil) and Reva Viard (France), according to Adalah, cited by Turkish news agency Anadolu.

French nationals Pascal Maurieras and Yanis Mhamdi remain in detention and are expected to be released on Friday, according to Adalah. Mhamdi is a journalist for The Blast, a French left-wing outlet.

Where were the activists held?

In Givon prison in Ramla, a city between West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Two of the activists, Hassan and Avila, were placed in solitary confinement, according to Adalah.

Hassan was taken there after first writing “Free Palestine” on the prison walls. Adalah later reported that Avila began a hunger and water strike to protest Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has led to widespread starvation.

Hassan was later returned to Givon, said Adalah.

After Thursday’s release of Hassan and Avila, along with four others from the Madleen, Adalah released a statement saying that “volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement”.

Did Israel violate international law by arresting the activists on the Madleen?

According to Luigi Daniele, a legal scholar at the University of Molise, Italy, Israel has no right to intercept a boat in international waters or to deny aid to starving civilians in Gaza.

On the contrary, Israel has an international legal obligation as an occupying power to facilitate aid into Gaza.

He told a local Italian outlet that Israel, above all, has no legal right to use force or permanent aggression on occupied Palestinian territory, including against the activists who were sailing to Gaza on the Madleen.

Adalah has also argued that the activists were not trying to enter Israel illegally, but were sailing to Gaza, which is occupied Palestinian land.

Israeli courts dismissed the legal arguments made by Adalah.

How long will the remaining two activists remain in detention?

The Madleen activists are supposed to serve 72 hours in the Israeli prison before being deported back to their home countries, according to Israeli law.

This indicates all activists should have been released at some point on June 12, yet it is unclear if the remaining detainees – Maurieras and Mhamdi – will face additional charges that could keep them longer in prison.

Have embassies lobbied for their release?

Some have, while others have been curiously silent.

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said earlier this week that he expected the four French activists who were on board the Madleen to return to France on Thursday or Friday. As of Thursday, two remained in detention.

Brazil had also demanded the release of Brazilian activist, Avila. When the activists were first abducted from international waters, Brazilian diplomats reportedly visited Givon prison to assist with legal proceedings.

In addition, Turkiye called Israel a “terrorist state” after the Madleen was intercepted.

Germany and the Netherlands, however, did not issue public statements to demand the release of their nationals.

The Madleen’s captain, Mark van Reenes, deported on Thursday, is a Dutch national who filmed himself just before Israel seized the ship.

In the video, he called on his country to urgently demand his release.

UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, also posted on X that “the silence of [European Union] institutions over the unlawful detention and punitive conditions imposed on EU citizens including [Hassan] speaks volumes to the deep roots of Israelism in European institutional culture”.

Israel has been pushing to strike Iran for months, if not years. Signs this week that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was potentially imminent have ratcheted up fears of a regional conflict, particularly in light of the US withdrawal of some diplomatic staff and their dependents from Iraq and the wider region.

US President Donald Trump’s comments have added to the sense that a military confrontation is coming, saying on Thursday that a strike “could very well happen”.

And yet, at the same time, Trump said that he would not call the strike imminent, and wanted to avoid a conflict.

Earlier in the week, Israeli media reported that Trump had also asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial down talk of a strike against Iran, adding to the sense that Trump himself wanted to avoid any conflict with Iran, especially as nuclear talks between Iran and the US are ongoing – with the next round set to take place on Sunday.

Whether an Israeli strike will take place in the short term is thus still unclear.

“One way of looking at this is that it may be part of the larger picture,” Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, said of the role the threat of unilateral action from Israel may play in US negotiations with Iran. “It may be that the US is using their ‘crazy friend’ as a tactic to bring pressure upon Iran … On the other hand, it may be that the crazy friend means business.”

Possibility of a strike

Israel’s opposition to Iran is longstanding.

Through the course of its 20-month-long war on Gaza, Netanyahu has seized on the opportunity to confront a foe he has consistently pitched as his country’s ultimate nemesis.

In addition to boasting that he was responsible for Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in 2018, Netanyahu has also ordered air strikes, assassinations and cyberattacks designed to either slow or halt Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Israeli right-wing, led by Netanyahu, has long considered Iran an existential threat and believes that the country seeks a nuclear weapon, despite Iranian denials.

Iran also supports anti-Israeli groups across the region, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. With many of Iran’s allies, particularly Hezbollah, severely weakened after fighting Israel since 2023, some in Israel view this as the perfect opportunity to also deliver a knockout blow to Iran itself.

Speaking to the New York Times on Wednesday, a senior Iranian official said that military and government officials have already met in anticipation of a potential Israeli strike.

According to the unnamed official, any strike by Israel would be met with the immediate launch of hundreds of ballistic missiles.

“Logically, and I’m stressing ‘logically,’ Israel shouldn’t strike at Iran,” Mekelberg said, “Even with US support, it likely wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“However, in this environment, there are no voices that are going to restrain Netanyahu: not the foreign minister, not the defence minister,” he said.

“The head of the Shin Bet [domestic intelligence service], who would normally counsel Netanyahu, has been forced out, and the attorney general, who might also advise him, [Netanyahu is] trying to get dismissed,” Mekelberg added. “That leaves no one, perhaps other than some voices in the military and Mossad, that could act as a check on Netanyahu.”

In need of a friend

Internationally, both Israel and Netanyahu have become increasingly isolated, throwing their relationship with the US into sharp focus.

In the last few weeks, many Western states have increased their opposition towards Israel’s war on Gaza.

Earlier in the week, five countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom – sanctioned two of Netanyahu’s government ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leaving Israel more reliant upon US support than ever, observers said.

“I can’t see Israel taking any action without the US,” Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and former political aide to several senior Israeli political figures, including Netanyahu, told Al Jazeera.

“Something is definitely going on, but I can’t see Israel doing anything without the tacit or active support of the US.”

“This could be a negotiating tactic on the part of Trump. He’s entered negotiations, and he wants results. Now, he sees Iran stalling, the IAEA report condemning them, and suddenly, he’s got Netanyahu threatening to strike if they don’t cut a deal,” he said.

Other observers questioned the timing of both reports of Trump restraining Netanyahu’s threat of strikes, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency report – which determined that Iran was not complying with its commitment to international nuclear safeguards – falling so close to Sunday’s talks.

“Right now, every taxi in Tel Aviv will tell you that Israel’s about to strike at Iran,” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera. “I may be wrong, but I really doubt it.

“Netanyahu’s unlikely to do anything without the US’s greenlight. It’s not the way he or Israel works,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s going to let up,” Pinkas said of negotiations likely to continue beyond Sunday, “I fully expect Trump to again speak of having to restrain Netanyahu. It’s just another means of exerting pressure on Iran.”

However, that is not to rule out a strike from Israel altogether.

“There may be one, but if there is, it’ll come at the US’s request and be of some peripheral target with no real value.”

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities have remained defiant amid concerns that Israel could launch an attack on Iran as the global nuclear watchdog adopts another Western-led censure resolution.

Even as Oman confirmed on Thursday that it will host a sixth round of talks on Sunday between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, reports by outlets such as The New York Times, quoting officials in the US and Europe, warned that Israel is “ready” to attack Iran, even without military backing from Washington. Israel has long threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.

The administration of US President Donald Trump also carried out a partial evacuation of embassy staff in Iraq and dependants of US personnel across the Middle East in a sign of escalating tension in the region.

“I don’t want to say imminent, but it looks like it’s something that could very well happen,” said Trump at a White House event on Thursday, commenting on the likelihood of an Israeli strike.

“We will not give in to America’s coercion and bullying,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a televised speech in the western city of Ilam on Thursday, pointing out that Iran resisted eight years of invasion in the 1980s by neighbouring Iraq, which was backed by many foreign powers.

Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state television that if Israel attacks, it would be met with a “history-making” response that would go far beyond Iran’s two rounds of retaliatory strikes on Israel last year.

He said Iran is not “defenceless and encircled” like Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

Speaking to a crowd in Tehran, IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said Iran’s armed forces have made significant strides in improving their attacking capabilities in the months since the previous missile barrages launched against Israel.

“If they think the axis of resistance and Iran have been weakened and then boast based on that, it is all a dream,” said the commander, who leads the external force of the IRGC, which is tasked with expanding Iran’s regional influence.

Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, announced on Thursday that he has given the order to launch more military exercises after a series of large-scale drills were held across Iran earlier this year. An array of missiles and drones, warships, special forces and even underground missile bases featured in those drills.

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh reiterated that all US military bases in countries across the region are legitimate targets if conflict breaks out with the US.

He said Iran had successfully launched an unnamed ballistic missile last week with a 2,000kg (4,410lb) warhead and promised casualties “on the other side will be greater and would force the US to leave the region”.

Iran to build third enrichment site

After days of deliberation, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday passed a resolution to censure Iran over its advancing nuclear programme and several outstanding cases involving unexplained nuclear materials found at Iranian sites.

The resolution was put forward in Vienna by the US along with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the three European nations who are still party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Trump unilaterally abandoned in 2018.

The global nuclear watchdog has adopted several Western-led censure resolutions against Iran over the past few years, but the one on Thursday was the most serious in nearly two decades because it alleges Iran is not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs branded the accusation “completely baseless and fabricated” and said Western powers are using the international body as a tool for exerting political pressure.

Tehran’s response was also significant. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Foreign Ministry jointly announced that the country would build its third uranium enrichment site at a “secure” location.

They added that first-generation centrifuges will be replaced with sixth-generation machines at the Fordow enrichment plant, which will considerably boost Iran’s ability to create highly enriched uranium.

The Natanz and Fordow facilities, both built deep underground to protect them against bunker-buster munitions used by the US and Israel, are currently the only facilities enriching uranium in Iran. They are both under heavy supervision by the IAEA.

Iran is now enriching uranium up to 60 percent and maintains that its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful and has civilian uses, such as power generation and the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals. Uranium must be at 90 percent purity to build nuclear weapons.

‘Zero’ enrichment demand looms over talks

Iran and the US are once again heading to Muscat even as they still disagree over enrichment, the key issue for any potential agreement.

The 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent under IAEA monitoring, but Trump, who now says he is less confident about a deal with Iran, has insisted on “zero” enrichment taking place inside Iran.

Tehran, which this week rejected another US proposal that included zero enrichment, is slated to offer a counterproposal soon to try to advance the negotiations.

Ideas for a nuclear consortium that includes Iran’s neighbours to bolster trust have so far failed to provide any breakthrough.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea are expected to meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday before he heads to the Omani capital for the latest round of talks.

Tehran leans on national sentiment

In Tehran’s Vanak Square, authorities this week installed a huge sculpture of Arash Kamangir (Arash the Archer), a hero in Iranian mythology.

The story of Arash involved the hero putting his life in danger by climbing Mount Damavand – the highest peak in Iran at 5,609 metres (18,402ft) and a symbol of national pride – to use his archery skills to set Iran’s borders. In the story, his arrow flies for days before setting Iran’s boundaries with Turan, a historical region in Central Asia.

The story is one that evokes a sense of national pride among all Iranians. When images of the sculpture went viral on social media, some Iranians praised the move while others criticised it as an attempt to tap nationalist sentiment at a time when Iran may be attacked.

مجسمه بزرگ ۱۵ متری از آرش کمانگیر امروز در میدان ونک تهران نصب شد. pic.twitter.com/QQBglpxWXO

— Azadeh Mokhtari (@AzadeMokhtari) June 10, 2025

Translation: A 15-metre-high [50ft-high] sculpture of Arash Kamangir was installed at Tehran’s Vanak Square today.

But even with the spectre of war seeming to loom over Iran again, markets in the country have remained relatively stable in recent weeks as they anticipate the results of negotiations with the US.

The Iranian rial changed hands in Tehran for about 840,000 per US dollar on Thursday, having only slightly dipped compared with the days before and its news of more military and political pressure on Iran.

“Most people I’ve spoken to here are following the news of the talks with the US and Israel’s threats very closely, but there’s no panic,” a 36-year-old vendor at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar told Al Jazeera, asking to remain anonymous.

After years of stringent sanctions, along with local mismanagement, Iran has been facing consistently high inflation. It currently stands above 30 percent. Iranians are also cut off from international payment networks and banned from most international services due to the sanctions.

“Nobody wants a war,” the vendor said. “We have enough problems as is. I really hope they reach a deal.”

“Food has become an opportunity for killing, I’ve never heard of such a thing”

Former UN aid chief Martin Griffiths slammed Israel’s killing of Palestinians seeking aid. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was luring people to their deaths.

In a speech to Israel’s parliament, the Argentinian leader criticised Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Argentinian President Javier Milei has announced that his country will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next year, as the populist leader signalled his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly isolated government.

Argentina’s embassy is currently located in Herzliya, just outside Tel Aviv. But in a speech to Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, staunchly pro-Israel Milei said he was “proud to announce” his country will move its “embassy to the city of west Jerusalem” in 2026.

“Argentina stands by you in these difficult days,” Milei said.

“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators,” he told the Knesset.

The Argentinian leader, currently on his second state visit to Israel since taking office in 2023, said Buenos Aires will continue to demand that Israeli captives held in Gaza be released, including four with Argentinian citizenship taken during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

Milei also criticised Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and deported by Israeli authorities this week after being taken with other activists from a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza.

Thunberg has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and deliberate starvation of the territory’s Palestinian population.

“[Thunberg] became a hired gun for a bit of media attention, claiming that she was kidnapped when there are really hostages in subhuman conditions in Gaza,” Milei said, according to a translation of his remarks from Spanish provided by the Knesset.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, with the overall death toll after more than 20 months of war surpassing 55,000 Palestinians.

Delicate issue

Milei had pledged to move Argentina’s embassy during his first visit in February 2024, in which he also prayed at the Western Wall, a revered religious site for Jews in Jerusalem.

Speaking in advance of Milei’s address to parliament this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu said “the city of Jerusalem will never be divided again”.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most delicate issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with Israel claiming the entirety of the ancient city as its capital, while Palestine claims its occupied eastern sector as the site of any future Palestinian state.

Israel first occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, before unilaterally annexing it in 1980 in a move rejected by the United Nations Security Council. Due to its disputed status, the vast majority of the 96 diplomatic missions present in Israel host their embassies in the Tel Aviv area to avoid interfering with peace negotiations.

Currently only six countries – Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and the United States – have embassies located in West Jerusalem.

During his first term in 2017, President Donald Trump made the shock decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital before moving the US embassy there a year later, prompting Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.

This status was not revoked under the Biden administration and Washington continues to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital today.

A Palestinian man in a red cap walks down the narrow alleyway in Nablus’s old city towards a group of Israeli soldiers, clearly unarmed.

He attempts to talk to the soldiers, who had flooded into the occupied West Bank city in the early hours of Tuesday as part of Israel’s latest military raid – believed to be the largest carried out in Nablus in two years.

The soldiers immediately kick and shove the man – 40-year-old Nidal Umairah – before his brother walks over, attempting to intervene. Gunfire follows, and soon the two brothers are lying dead.

Nidal and his brother 35-year-old brother Khaled were the latest victims of Israel in the West Bank, after they were killed late on Tuesday. It is unclear which brother had initially been detained, but witnesses were adamant that the behaviour of the Israeli soldiers was an unnecessary escalation that led to the deaths of yet more Palestinians.

Ghassan Hamdan, the director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Nablus, was at the scene of the killings.

“There were at least 12 soldiers and they all fired their automatic machine guns at once,” said Hamdan.

After the two men fell to the ground [medics] asked the soldiers if we could treat their wounds. They answered by firing at all of us.”

“We all took cover behind the walls of the old city,” he told Al Jazeera.

Hamza Abu Hajar, a paramedic at the scene, said that the Umairah brother who had initially approached the Israeli soldiers had been trying to go to his house to move his family out and away from the Israeli raid.

“They lifted his shirt up to prove he was unarmed,” Abu Hajar said. “They then started shooting at him, and at us as well.”

The Israeli army said it acted in self-defence after one of the Umairah brothers tried to seize a weapon from a soldier. It said that four soldiers had been injured in the incident.

West Bank raids

The raid in Nablus, which lasted more than 24 hours, is the latest Israel has conducted in the West Bank.

Israel has taken advantage of the world’s focus on its own war on Gaza since October 2023 to escalate its land theft and violence in the West Bank.

During that span, Israel has killed at least 930 people in the West Bank, 24 of whom were from Nablus, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Many of these deaths are the result of violent Israeli raids ostensibly aimed at clamping down on Palestinian fighters in the West Bank, but which have resulted in mass destruction and thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes.

According to Hamdan, Israeli troops mainly targeted Nablus’s old city by storming into hundreds of homes in the middle of the night. Dozens of people were also reportedly arrested.

Young people in the city protested by burning tyres and throwing rocks at Israeli troops, yet they were met with heavy tear gas, injuring at least 80 Palestinians in the raid.

In the past, Palestinian protesters have been imprisoned on “terrorism” charges or shot and killed for simply resisting Israel’s occupation by throwing rocks or defying Israeli soldiers.

This time around, the Israelis classified the entire old city in Nablus as a closed military zone for 24 hours. No ambulances or medics were allowed inside to aid distressed residents, said Hamdan.

“Nobody was allowed in or out. Nobody was allowed to make any movement at all. We [as medics] could not enter the area during the entire raid to try and help people in need,” he told Al Jazeera.

Assault and vandalism

During the raid, Israeli troops stormed into several apartments after blowing off door hinges with explosives.

Umm Hassan, a 58-year-old resident who did not want to give her full name, recalls feeling terrified when several Israeli soldiers broke into her home.

About five months ago, her husband passed away from cancer, an illness that also claimed two of her children years ago.

Umm Hassan is also battling cancer, yet she said Israeli soldiers showed her no mercy. They flipped her television on the ground, broke windows and tossed her paintings off the walls and onto the living room floor.

They even vandalised her books by throwing them on the ground, including the Quran.

“I told them to leave me alone. I was alone and so scared. There was nobody to protect me,” Umm Hassan told Al Jazeera.

Another woman, Rola, said that Israeli soldiers stormed into her home two times in the span of six hours during the raid.

When Israeli soldiers returned the second time, Rola said that they attacked her elderly father, hitting him on the head and chest with the butts of their guns.

Rola described her three nieces and nephews – all small children – cowering with fear as Israeli soldiers vandalised and destroyed their home.

“The second time they came to our home, they put us all in a room and we weren’t able to leave the room from 8am until 3:30pm,” said Rola.

“We [Palestinians] always talk about being resilient. But the reality is when Israeli soldiers come into your private home, then you get very scared. It’s natural. We are humans and humans get scared,” she told Al Jazeera.

Psychological warfare

More than 80 Palestinians received treatment from the Palestine Red Crescent Society during the raid, 25 of them as a result of gunshot wounds.

While Israel says its raid was “precise”, inhabitants of Nablus say that the attack on the city was the latest attempt to intimidate and frighten Palestinians.

“Honestly, what were Israeli soldiers searching for in my home? What did they think they were going to find?” asked Rola. “The reason for their raids [violence] is to uphold the [illegal] occupation.”

SIR Keir Starmer yesterday doubled down on sanctioning Israeli ministers, despite being savagely rapped by the US.

Donald Trump’s administration hit out at Britain after the PM broke with tradition and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on two far-right members of Israel’s government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

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In a scathing attack on the move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions “do not advance American efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home and end the war”.

Mr Rubio warned Britain “not to forget who the real enemy is”.

The US ambassador to the UK said he “fully supported” Mr Rubio’s slap down and warned the PM against “impeding constructive dialogue”.

Ben-Gvir, who is pushing to annex the West Bank and wants to permanently expel Palestinians from Gaza, said: “The American administration is a moral compass in the face of the confusion of some Western countries that choose to appease terrorist organizations like Hamas.

“Israel is not afraid — we will continue to fight terrorism.

“History will judge the Chamberlains of our time.”

At PMQs Sir Keir defended the sanctions as a bid to “uphold human rights and defend the prospect of a two-state solution”.

The PM said: “Acting alongside our allies, we have sanctioned individuals responsible for inciting appalling settler violence and expansion.

“We will continue to support all efforts to secure a ceasefire, the release of all hostages despicably held by Hamas and the humanitarian aid that needs to surge in.

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The seizure of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters has not deterred other aid convoys from heading towards Gaza. Palestinian-American writer Ahmad Ibsais explains how humanitarian aid has become a politically charged weapon of war.

Wherever Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks, trouble seems to be looming.

Criticism of his government’s war on Gaza is mounting, with charges of genocide and war crimes coming from both foreign leaders and former Israeli prime ministers.

Internationally, Israel is looking increasingly isolated, as images of the starvation it is inflicting on Gaza flood global media.

Domestically, Netanyahu faces deep criticism of a war many believe he is only prolonging to stay in power.

Legally, the prosecution in his corruption trial has begun its cross-examination of him, while politically, he is facing a possible collapse of his governing coalition.

Netanyahu has never seemed so embattled in his career, but is this really the end for Israel’s longest-serving prime minister?

Here’s what we know.

Just how unpopular is Netanyahu with the Israeli public?

Very, and it’s growing.

Netanyahu has long been accused of manipulating the war in Gaza for his political ends, an accusation that gained new momentum since March, when Israel broke the ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas, further endangering the captives held in Gaza.

In late May, a poll for Channel 12 television showed a majority of Israelis thought Netanyahu cared more about retaining his grip on power than returning the captives.

Most of the protests held in Israel have focused on the captives taken during the Hamas-led assault of October 7, 2023, and how extending the war for political motivations endangers them.

But recently, a small but significant number of Israelis have also protested against the intense suffering their government is inflicting upon the people of Gaza. In addition to an open letter from the country’s academics denouncing Israel’s devastation of Gaza, a growing number of photographs of Palestinian children are being held by demonstrators as part of wider Saturday night protests against the war in Tel Aviv.

Even members of the military are growing unhappy with the war in Gaza.

As reports of reservists refusing to fight increased, open letters by current and former officers in various divisions appeared, calling for an end to the war.

What political criticism of Netanyahu has there been?

Two of Israel’s former prime ministers have recently publicly criticised Netanyahu.

Ehud Barak, a former general and prime minister from 1999 to 2001, said in Time magazine that Netanyahu must choose between a deal brokered by United States President Donald Trump to free the captives and end the war, or continuing with his politically motivated “war of deception”.

Ehud Olmert, prime minister from 2006 to 2009, wrote in Haaretz that Israel was guilty of having committed war crimes in Gaza and that: “This is now a private political war.”

“A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a pastime, and does not engage in mass population displacement,” former general and leader of the Democrats party, Yair Golan, told local radio station Reshet Bet.

He was referring to the stated plans of far-right ministers like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to expel Palestinians from Gaza in order for Israelis to settle it.

Olmert added on Tuesday that Trump should tell Netanyahu that “enough is enough”.

What is the threat to Netanyahu’s coalition?

For years, Israel has been divided over the conscription of its ultra-Orthodox youth, who were exempt from military service if they were full-time students in religious schools or yeshivas.

In June 2024, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the exception could no longer apply, fulfilling a longstanding demand by secular Israelis who protested against the double standard.

But the leaders of the two ultra-Orthodox parties in the ruling coalition, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), are threatening to collapse the government unless it passes legislation that would override the Supreme Court decision. 

It is unclear whether elections would result in a parliament more sympathetic to the ultra-Orthodox, but recent developments, like plans to increase the number of conscription notices to ultra-Orthodox students, have pushed the issue to the fore.

How internationally isolated has Israel become?

Arab and European leaders have become increasingly vocal in their criticisms of Netanyahu and the war.

However, for now at least, he still has the vital support of the US and President Donald Trump.

In early May, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League slammed Netanyahu after he suggested that expelled Palestinians would be able to settle in Saudi territory.

Later the same month, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, who had all previously supported Israel’s war on Gaza, issued a statement describing the level of human suffering in the enclave as “intolerable”.

Spain and Ireland, which, along with Norway, recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024, have also called for action to be taken against Israel and the Netanyahu government.

The UK, along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, also announced on Tuesday that they would impose sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.

How long Netanyahu will keep Trump’s support, however, is not clear, as speculation that the mercurial US president may be tiring of Netanyahu is widespread and growing.

And his legal problems?

Netanyahu has been embroiled in multiple corruption investigations since 2019. If he is found guilty, he faces jail, possibly up to 10 years.

His trial, which began in 2020, has faced numerous delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the war on Gaza, which he is accused of extending and at times exacerbating precisely to avoid his trial.

Critics also say he is extending the war to avoid being held accountable for his government’s failings during the October 7 attack.

So, is time up for Benjamin Netanyahu?

Controversy and scandal have followed Netanyahu throughout his political career, and opposition to his rule is growing within Israel and parts of the West, yet he may still survive, observers say.

However, to do so, Netanyahu must retain US support for his government while sustaining a war that Trump appears to want ended.

“I don’t know if Netanyahu can come back from this,” one of his former aides, Mitchell Barak, told Al Jazeera in May.

“There’s a lot of talk about Netanyahu being at the end of his line … They’ve been saying that for years, and he’s still here … but I can’t see any more magic tricks that are available to him.”

Cameron told ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan that applying for arrest warrants for Israeli officials would be like ‘dropping hydrogen bomb’, media report says.

Several United Kingdom lawmakers have criticised the previous government over allegations in a recent media report that former Foreign Secretary David Cameron “privately threatened” to defund and withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its plans to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The report, published on Monday by the UK-based outlet Middle East Eye (MEE), cited sources with knowledge of a phone call Cameron allegedly made to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on April 23, 2024, after he had given advance notice of his intention to apply for the warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

MEE’s report cited unnamed sources, including former staff in Khan’s office, and had seen minutes of the conversation, claiming that Cameron warned the arrest warrants, which were issued in November that year, would be – in quotes reported by the sources – tantamount to “dropping a hydrogen bomb”, warning that if the ICC went ahead, the UK would “defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute”.

Khan reportedly stood his ground, with sources telling MEE that he said afterwards that he did not like “being pressurised”. “I won’t say if it rises to blackmail – I don’t like being threatened,” he reportedly said, adding that the government was “debasing” the UK with its clear attack on the independence of the court and the rule of international law.

Neither Khan nor Cameron, who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016, and now sits in the House of Lords as a life peer, has commented on the report.

Following the report’s publication, Labour Party MP Zarah Sultana said on X that Cameron “and every UK minister complicit in arming and enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza” should be investigated.

David Cameron — and every UK minister complicit in arming and enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza — must be investigated for war crimes. https://t.co/YYcsmFg1BN

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) June 9, 2025

Scottish National Party MP Chris Law said the allegations were “shocking”, but added the country was “not seeing much better under Labour”.

Shocking that the UK Tory govt tried to undermine the International Criminal Court for investigating those responsible for war crimes in Gaza. However not seeing much better under Labour #GazaGenocide‌ https://t.co/Wd3nK9UkhV

— Chris Law MP (@ChrisLawSNP) June 9, 2025

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP, called for an “independent inquiry into the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide”.

Concerning new allegations, which suggest the last foreign secretary tried to shield Israeli leaders from facing justice for war crimes.

We need an independent inquiry into the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide.https://t.co/JROBHyqtDo

— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) June 9, 2025

Zack Polanski, the deputy leader of the Green Party, was cited by MEE as saying: “It’s been clear for all to see that both the former and current government have stood with the oppressors, not the marginalised.”

When the ICC applied for the arrest warrants in May last year, the previous Conservative Party government, a strong backer of Israel, decried the move as “not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in”.

In July, the new Labour government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, dropped the previous Rishi Sunak-led government’s bid to challenge the ICC’s power to seek the warrants, which were issued for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders in November.

Starving Palestinians in Gaza are flocking to controversial aid distribution centres in search of food. More than 150 aid-seekers have been killed – shot dead by Israeli forces and armed gangs. Soraya Lennie breaks down what’s going on at these sites.

Israeli forces have killed more than 70 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources have told Al Jazeera, including hungry aid seekers, as Israel continues to relentlessly bombard the besieged enclave where the United Nations says a famine threatens the entire population.

Israeli troops on Tuesday again opened fire on crowds seeking meagre food parcels for their families near the Netzarim Corridor, killing at least 20 people, including a 12-year-old child, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The child has been identified as Mohammed Khalil al-Athamneh. More than 200 others were wounded.

The distribution points are operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israeli-backed drive in Israeli-controlled zones.

The aid sites have been branded “human slaughterhouses” as more than 150 people have been killed since GHF started operating on May 27. Nearly 1,500 have so far been wounded, according to the Government Media Office.

In a statement on Tuesday, the media office accused the GHF of playing a complicit role in what it described as “lethal ambushes” disguised as humanitarian relief.

“GHF has become a deadly tool in the hands of the Israeli military, luring starving civilians into death traps under the pretence of aid,” the statement said, denouncing the body’s continued operation despite documented attacks on unarmed crowds at its sites.

‘Theatre for repeated bloodshed’

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the GHF aid distribution centres have become “a theatre for repeated bloodshed and deliberate attacks on civilians”.

Witnesses confirmed that the Israeli military attacked them from “multiple directions”, Abu Azzoum said, adding that Israeli drones, tanks, and snipers have been deployed to the isolated aid sites.

“What’s taking place … is the systematic eradication of the humanitarian response system,” he said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has again sounded an alarm over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, saying on Tuesday the crisis has reached “unprecedented levels of despair”.

More than 2,700 children under the age of five were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in late May, the agency said, calling for the urgent restoration of humanitarian assistance.

Israel has maintained a crippling aid blockade since March 2, allowing only a limited trickle of assistance through the GHF. At the same time, it has barred established humanitarian organisations from operating in the territory – excluding those who have decades of experience in providing aid from hundreds of distribution points to the entire population of Gaza.

Elsewhere in Gaza, an air strike in al-Mawasi – an Israeli-proclaimed “safe zone” that has come under repeated attack, east of Khan Younis – killed three people sheltering in displacement tents. Three more Palestinians were killed after an Israeli drone strike targeted a group of people in the Ma’an area, east of Khan Younis.

The attacks come as one of the southern city’s last remaining functioning hospitals has ceased operations due to “increasing hostilities” in its vicinity, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

In a post on X, Tedros warned that with the closure of al-Amal Hospital, Nasser Hospital is now the only remaining hospital with an intensive care unit in Khan Younis.

Hospitals are overwhelmed and on the brink of collapse, the Health Ministry has repeatedly warned.

In Gaza’s north, medical sources reported that four paramedics were killed by Israeli gunfire while carrying out their humanitarian duties in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City. Another three were killed in an air strike on Jabalia.

Nablus residents ‘under lockdown’

Israeli forces have also stepped up incursions into towns and villages across the occupied West Bank in recent days as part of a months-long assault on the territory.

On Tuesday, during an hours-long raid in Nablus, Israeli troops fired tear gas and live bullets towards residents that killed two brothers, identified as Nidal and Khaled Mahdi Ahmad Umairah, aged 40 and 35, respectively.

Israeli troops had opened live fire on the Umairah brothers in the Old City of Nablus during the ongoing military raid, preventing ambulance crews from reaching them, the Wafa news agency reported.

More than 85 people were injured in the assault, while many others have been detained.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said residents of Nablus’s Old City are “under lockdown”.

“They cannot leave their homes; they cannot have access to any services,” she said. “Even paramedics are telling us they are having a very difficult time reaching those who need their assistance.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says the images of children being killed during Israel’s war on Gaza are “painful” and have left him “deeply troubled”.

The Spanish manager of the English Premier League club urged the world to speak up instead of choosing to stay silent “in the face of injustice” as he addressed an audience after receiving an honorary degree at the University of Manchester on Monday.

“It’s so painful what we see in Gaza. It hurts all my body,” Guardiola said.

“Maybe we think that when we see four-year-old boys and girls being killed by bombs or being killed at a hospital, which is not a hospital any more, it’s not our business. Yeah, fine, it’s not our business. But be careful – the next four- or five-year-old kids will be ours.”

Mentioning his three children – Maria, Marius and Valentina – Guardiola said that every morning “since the nightmare started” in Gaza, whenever he sees his two daughters and son he is reminded of the children in Gaza, which leaves him feeling “so scared”.

About half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are children.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 17,400 children, including 15,600 who have been identified, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Many more remain buried under the rubble and are presumed dead.

Many of the surviving children have endured the trauma of multiple wars, and all of them have spent their lives under an oppressive Israeli blockade.

Over the past 20 months, Israeli attacks have left their homes in ruins, destroyed their schools, and overwhelmed their healthcare facilities.

‘Deeply troubled’ by wars

During his emotional speech, which has been widely shared on social media, Guardiola said the world remains silent in the face of injustice.

“We feel safer [staying silent] than speaking up,” he added.

“Maybe this image feels far away from where we are living now, and you might ask what we can do,” he added.

He then went on to narrate the story of a bird trying to put out a fire in a forest by repeatedly carrying water in its beak.

“In a world that often tells us we are too small to make a difference, that story reminds me the power of one is not about the scale – it’s about choice, about showing up, about refusing to be silent or still when it matters the most.”

The former Barcelona coach and player said the images out of Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine left him “deeply troubled”.

Guardiola, who has formerly voiced his support for the independence of his native Catalonia, lashed out at world leaders for their inability to stop the wars.

“We see the horrors of thousands and thousands of innocent children, mothers and fathers.

“Entire families suffering, starving and being killed and yet we are surrounded by leaderships in many fields, not just politicians, who don’t consider the inequality and injustice.”

An independent United Nations commission report released on Tuesday accused Israel of committing the crime against humanity of “extermination” by attacking Palestinian civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites in Gaza.

“While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, was not in itself a genocidal act, evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group,” the report said.

While the report focused on the impact on Gaza, the commission also reported significant consequences for the Palestinian education system in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a result of ramped-up Israeli military activity, harassment of students and settler attacks.

“Children in Gaza have lost their childhood. With no education available, they are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation and subhuman living conditions,” the report added.

“What is particularly disturbing is the widespread nature of the targeting of educational facilities, which has extended well beyond Gaza, impacting all Palestinian children.”

“It’s so painful, what we see in Gaza … And let me be clear, this is not about ideology.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola discusses his views on Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as how the images of children living through the war have affected him as a parent. pic.twitter.com/zwrlexAcxa

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 10, 2025

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has been pictured on a plane after Israel’s Foreign Ministry said they had deported her. Thunberg was one of 12 people on board the Madleen ship, which was seized by the military while attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Italy severs links with Paragon spyware after allegations of targeting critics and migrant rescuers spark outrage.

Italy has terminated its contracts with Israeli spyware company Paragon, after revelations that the surveillance technology was used against critics of the government – including journalists and migrant rescue workers – prompted political uproar and calls for a full investigation.

The move was confirmed in a parliamentary report released on Monday by the intelligence oversight committee COPASIR, which found that Italy’s intelligence services had initially paused, then cancelled their use of Paragon’s spyware.

The timeline of the contract’s end remains unclear, especially since Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government had told parliament in February that the deal was still active.

Both the Italian government and Paragon confirmed the termination, but offered diverging narratives.

The controversy has provoked condemnation from opposition parties and media freedom advocates. Italy’s journalists’ union, FNSI, urged prosecutors to determine whether state surveillance laws were broken.

Paragon’s software was allegedly used to target individuals in Italy, including a journalist and members of the migrant rescue organisation Mediterranea, which has frequently criticised Meloni’s right-wing government.

Meta-owned WhatsApp revealed in January that the spyware had been deployed against dozens of users globally — including some in Italy.

Italian government denies illegality

The government has admitted that seven Italians were targeted, but maintains that any surveillance was lawful and overseen by a public prosecutor. It denied engaging in illicit spying and said it had tasked the National Cybersecurity Agency with reviewing the matter.

One of those allegedly targeted, Francesco Cancellato, editor of investigative outlet Fanpage, had claimed to the Reuters news agency and others that he was placed under surveillance.

But COPASIR said it found no evidence supporting the claim. Paragon, in a statement to Fanpage, said it halted services to Italy once Cancellato’s case came to light and claimed the Italian government refused a joint probe into the matter.

Meloni’s office has declined to comment. Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers are demanding that the government explain its role in parliament.

The report also revealed that Italy’s intelligence services had authorised the use of Paragon’s spyware in 2023 and 2024 to monitor a small number of individuals in connection with criminal investigations, including suspected “terrorism”, people smuggling and espionage.

COPASIR defended the surveillance of Mediterranea members Luca Casarini and Beppe Caccia, saying it was not due to their activism but their suspected links to irregular migration. The spyware’s use on them was approved by Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, Meloni’s top intelligence adviser, on September 5, 2024.

Mantovano did not respond to requests for comment.

Last month, a Sicilian court ordered Casarini, Caccia and four others to stand trial for allegedly aiding irregular immigration – a case widely seen as a test of Italy’s approach to migrant rescues. All deny the charges.

A Gaza-bound aid boat illegally seized in international waters by Israeli forces has been towed into Ashdod Port, with the dozen international activists who were on board now facing detention and deportation.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which launched the ship to draw international attention to the looming famine in besieged Gaza, said it was captured at about 4:02am (01:02 GMT) on Monday, about 200km (120 miles) from Gaza, arriving at Ashdod as night fell.

Earlier, the coalition released a video from the vessel, which left Sicily on June 1, showing the activists – among whom are climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan – with their hands up as Israeli forces boarded the vessel and “kidnapped” them.

Adalah, a Palestinian legal centre representing the activists, said they were expected to be held at a detention facility before being deported.

It said that Israel had “no legal authority” to take over the ship, which was in international waters, heading not to Israel but to the “territorial waters of the State of Palestine”.

The arrests of the 12 “unarmed activists” amounted to “a serious breach of international law”, it said in a statement.

Huwaida Arraf, an FFC organiser, told Al Jazeera there had been no contact with the activists since they had been detained in the early hours of Monday.

“We have lawyers on standby who are going to demand they have access to them tonight – as soon as possible,” she said.

The Madleen, she noted, was sailing under a United Kingdom flag when it was forcibly seized by Israeli commandos.

“So Israel went into international waters and attacked sovereign UK territory, which is blatantly unlawful. And we expect strong condemnation, which we have not yet heard from the United Kingdom,” she said.

The UK government urged Israel to handle its detention of the activists “safely with restraint, in line with international humanitarian law”.

“We have made clear our position in relation to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The PM has called it appalling and intolerable,” said a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, said: “Israel has absolutely no authority to intercept and stop a boat like this, which carries humanitarian aid, and more than everything else, humanity, to the people of Gaza.”

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman, said the activists would be accused of entering Israel illegally.

“These activists had no intention to enter Israel. They wanted to reach the shores of Gaza, which are not part of Israel,” she said.

“But that is how they will be processed, and they will be deported because of that.”

‘A form of piracy’

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs portrayed the voyage as a public relations stunt, saying in a post on X that “the ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel”.

It said the passengers were “undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health”, adding that all passengers were expected to return to their home countries.

Government spokesperson David Mencer reserved special scorn for 22-year-old Thunberg. “Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself. And she’s not here for Gaza, let’s be blunt about it. She’s here for Greta,” he said.

In a prerecorded video message that was shared by the FFC, Thunberg said: “I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible.”

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it was in contact with Israeli authorities.

“Should the need for consular support arise, the Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assess how we can best help the Swedish citizen/Greta Thunberg resolve her situation,” said a spokesperson in a written statement to the Reuters news agency.

United States President Donald Trump, who targeted Thunberg in 2019, dismissed her statement. “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said the president had asked Israeli authorities to release the six French nationals on board as soon as possible, calling the humanitarian blockade of Gaza “a scandal” and a “disgrace”.

Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack”, while Iran denounced it as “a form of piracy” in international waters.

Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said the activists would be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Hamas condemned the seizure of the boat as “state terrorism” and said it saluted its activists.

More killings at aid distribution point

On the ground in Gaza, Israeli forces continued their onslaught, killing 60 Palestinians since dawn, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Among them were three medics, killed in Gaza City, as well as 13 hungry aid seekers, killed near an Israeli- and US-backed aid distribution site in southern Gaza.

More than 130 people have been killed near distribution points run by the shadowy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since late May.

Israel engaged the group to distribute aid amid its total blockade on all imports, including food, fuel and medicine, as Israel ramped up its offensive after breaking its ceasefire agreement with Hamas in March.

The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, accusing it of lacking neutrality and suggesting the group has been formed to enable Israel to achieve its stated military objective of taking over all of Gaza.

“Israeli authorities have blocked the delivery of safe and dignified aid at scale to the people of Gaza for over three months now,” said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Monday.

“We are not asking for the impossible. Allow us to do our work: assist people in need and preserve their dignity,” it said.

On Monday, Israeli aircraft also bombed tents sheltering displaced families in al-Katiba square in Gaza City, causing additional deaths and injuries.

They also targeted the Shaarawi and Haddad buildings in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, resulting in multiple casualties.

At least one person was killed and others injured in an artillery attack on Old Gaza Street in Jabalia, in the north.

Israel has killed at least 54,927 people in Gaza since the start of the war, a figure estimated to be far lower than the actual death toll.

GRETA Thunberg has arrived on dry land and is to likely be deported after Israel seized the “Freedom Flotilla” stunt ship.

The climate campaigner, 22, alongside 11 other activists on board, is expected to appear in court on Tuesday morning having been taken to the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

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Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on X: “The ‘Selfie Yacht’ docked at Ashdod Port a short while ago.

“The passengers are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health.”

But lawyer Nariman Shehade Zoabi said they haven’t been able to contact the activists yet.

She told Expressen: “We demand information about the whereabouts of our clients and the right to meet them.”

Lawyer Zoabi added that Greta and the others would be taken to a “Givon prison” near the town Ramle where “illegal immigrants are detained” and there is a “court that can quickly decide on deportation”.

She is waiting in Ashdod with five others, and explained that the process of deportation could be fast.

Zoabi said: “Israel has no interest in detaining them and they themselves do not want to stay in the country.”

Israel accused the group who were aboard the boat of supporting Hamas terrorists who detonated Middle East mayhem by massacring 1,200 and kidnapping 251 hostages.

And all of those detained will be made to watch a screening of video footage showing innocents including children being slaughter by Hamas savages during the attacks.

The “selfie yacht” operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition was said to be “safely making its way to the shores of Israel”, Israel’s Foreign Minsitry said.

All passengers were safe and unharmed and activists handed sandwiches and water before the vessel docked at the southern Israeli port of Ashdod.

The boat was carrying a “tiny amount of aid” on board – which will be sent to Gaza.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that he has instructed the Israeli Defence Forces to screen footage of the 7 October attacks as soon as they arrive.

The disturbing footage – titled “Bearing Witness” – shows innocent people being massacred and mutilated.

And all the footage was taken from the Hamas terrorists’ bodycams as they filmed their massacre.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said early on Monday that Israeli forces had boarded the charity vessel.

Shortly before the FFC statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video on X showing the Israeli Navy communicating with the Madleen over a loudspeaker, urging it to change course.

“The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to naval traffic as part of a legal naval blockade,” a soldier said.

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“If you wish to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, you are able to do so through the (Israeli) port of Ashdod.”

The campaigners had said they are hoping to “break the siege” and raise “international awareness” of the humanitarian crisis on the Gaza Strip.

But Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant issued a warning as the vessel entered the final stretch of its journey, saying: “You should turn back – because you will not reach Gaza.”

Thunberg, 22, has posted on social media with a Palestine flag and wearing a keffiyeh scarf while on the journey.

Travelling alongside her is Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament of Palestinian descent.

She has previously been barred from entering Israel due to her outspoken criticism of the country’s policies towards Palestinians.

Organisers claim the voyage is “a non-violent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege” – and is carrying essential supplies to a population at risk of famine.

Israel imposed a near-total blockade on Gaza in late 2023, following Hamas’s horror massacre on southern Israel on October 7.

Though some limited aid has been allowed in since last month, aid agencies claim it is nowhere near enough.

Ahead of the journey, Thunberg said through tears: “We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying.

“Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity.”

CONTROVERSIAL CREW

The flotilla’s latest voyage follows a failed attempt in May, when another of its vessels was struck by two drones in international waters off Malta.

The group accused Israel of being behind the attack.

Despite the risks, activists aboard the Madleen have said they plan to enter Gaza’s territorial waters as early as Sunday.

The vessel’s controversial crew includes figures who have openly supported terrorist organizations and have made inflammatory public statements.

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila attended the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, calling the terrorist a “beloved” leader and a “martyr”.

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Avila said he was “very honoured” and “very happy” to attend, and described the funeral as something that “amazed him”.

He wrote that Nasrallah was an “important figure” who “inspired people all over the world”.

Also on board was Yasemin Acar from Berlin, who reportedly danced as Iranian rockets rained down on Israel and once told a white woman at a protest: “You’re a white person, you shouldn’t tell us what to do.”

French journalist Omar Faiad, of Al-Jazeera, sparked outrage for comparing the IDF to Nazis.

On X, he wrote: “The Israeli army resembles the Nazi army,” and claimed: “Israel is committing a new Holocaust in Gaza.”

Rima Hassan, meanwhile, previously tweeted:  “Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri Bibas were killed by an Israeli attack,” despite Hamas being responsible for their abduction and deaths.

She was also seen at a protest where demonstrators chanted: “We die for jihad.”

And it included included a London-based Palestinian named in Parliament in 2023 as being a London-based Hamas operative.

Zaher Birawi was at the launch of the Madleen and live streamed from the dock in Greece and is chair of the International Committee to Break the siege of Gaza.

Birawi, 62, has been photographed with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and runs UK-registered charity, Education Aid for Palestinians, which has raised more than £3 million since 2017.

Irish Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham was also on the boat.