Closing summary
We are now closing the live blog. Here is a summary of events today:
The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.
United Nations secretary general António Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people”, Reuters reported.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that “the Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid” as it called on the Israeli authorities to end its siege on the territory.
At least 56,331 Palestinian people have been killed and 132,632 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said. At least 72 Palestinian people were killed and 174 others injured in the last 24 hours, it added.
Gaza rescuers said 62 people were killed on Friday by Israeli forces, including 10 waiting for aid.
Israel’s air force carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on Friday, in an attack that the Israeli military claimed targeted underground Hezbollah assets.
Lebanon said one person was killed and 21 wounded in strikes with Israel, blaming the death on Hezbollah arms.
The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, denounced the Israeli attacks saying they break the terms of the ceasefire signed between Israel and Hezbollah in November.
The 50th Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medic has been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, the PRCS said 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 says.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi indicated on Friday that Tehran may reject any request by the head of the UN nuclear watchdog for visits to Iranian nuclear sites, Reuters reports. In a post on X he said the UN nuclear watchdog head’s insistence to visit Iran sites is “meaningless, even malign”.
Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that Tehran wants to meet following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities last weekend, but gave no further details, Reuters reports. Trump also said that he would want the International Atomic Energy Agency or another trusted entity to have full rights to conduct inspections in Iran.
Israeli 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, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu’s request to postpone his upcoming testimony in his criminal trial by two weeks has been rejected.
Netanyahu is keen to meet US president Donald Trump at the White House in the coming weeks to celebrate the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign of Iran’s nuclear program, according to reports.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz says he had instructed military to prepare “enforcement plan” against Iran.
The UK said on Friday it would end evacuation flights out of Israel for UK nationals after a sixth and final flight scheduled for Sunday, as demand decreases in light of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Reuters reports.
Iran will hold what it described as “historic” funeral proceedings in Tehran on Saturday for 60 killed in its 12-day war with Israel, including top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists, 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, according to Reuters.
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% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralised,” the official said.
