Afternoon summary
It’s almost 5pm in Gaza City, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Here is a round-up of today’s events:
The UN’s nuclear watchdog declared Iran is not complying with its obligations for the first time in 20 years. It is thought that a defiant Iran may now intensify its uranium enrichment programme in reprisal for the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voting to find Tehran in repeated breach of its obligations to limit enrichment and to allow inspectors to visit its nuclear sites.
A third uranium enrichment site that Iran announced as a countermeasure to a UN nuclear watchdog resolution has already been built and is ready to operate when equipped with machinery, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation Mohammad Eslami has told state media. Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on reaching out to the west, struck a harder line after the IAEA vote: “I don’t know how to cooperate with the outside world to stop them from doing evil acts and let the people live independently in this country,” he said. “We will continue down our own path; we will have enrichment.”
Iran’s retaliation to any Israeli aggression will be “more forceful and destructive” than in past offensives, Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told state media, after Tehran said it had been alerted of a potential attack. Tensions have been rising in the region, with the US state department saying yesterday that it had ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad and US broadcaster CBS reporting that US officials have been informed that Israel is “fully ready” to launch an attack on Iran.
At least eight Palestinians who worked for the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation died in a Hamas ambush, the GHF said. A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was raked with gunfire last night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the organisation said, adding that many of its staff were injured and some might have been kidnapped. Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying GHF workers tied to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia that has challenged Hamas’s supremacy in the territory and is being armed by Israel.
An Israeli NGO representing activists detained aboard a boat attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza said that six were en route to the airport for deportation. Eleven activists were onboard the Madleen alongside Greta Thunberg. “After more than 72 hours in Israeli custody following the unlawful interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla in international waters ... six volunteers are now being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport for deportation,” the Adalah rights group said in a statement.
The UK government said that it is currently training IDF service members on British soil. In a response to a written question, published yesterday, Luke Pollard, the armed forces minister, said: “As part of routine Defence engagement with Israel, the UK is currently training a limited number of Israel Defense Forces personnel on UK-based training courses.”
Updated
Egyptian authorities have deported dozens of foreign nationals who arrived in Egypt to take part in a pro-Palestinian march and dozens more face deportation, the organisers and airport and security sources told Reuters.
Hundreds of people came to Egypt this week for the Global March to Gaza, an international initiative intended to exert pressure for an end to an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory and draw attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
Organisers said people from 80 countries were set to begin the march to Egypt’s Rafah Crossing with Gaza, and confirmed some had been deported or were detained at the airport.
Three airport sources told Reuters at least 73 foreign nationals had been deported on a flight to Istanbul today after authorities said they violated entry protocols, and that about 100 more were at the airport awaiting deportation. Egypt’s foreign ministry has not commented.
