Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly, here is an overview of the day’s main developments:
The UN said on Saturday that the fuel shortage in Gaza has reached “critical levels”. The statement said that a lack of fuel meant “lifelines will vanish for 2.1 million people”, who the UN said were “teetering on the edge of starvation”. It said fuel supplies were needed to move essential goods across the Gaza Strip and operate a network of bakeries producing fresh bread for the affected population.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said on Saturday. The four children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr’s hospital said.
The family of a Palestinian American man who was beaten to death by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have demanded for an investigation to be launched, claiming a group prevented ambulance from reaching him for three hours. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that US citizen Sayafollah Musallet, who was in his early 20s, died after being severely beaten in the incident on Friday evening in Sinjil, north of Ramallah. A second man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, also died after being shot in the chest.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Saturday that a so-called snapback of UN sanctions could end Europe’s role in the issue of Tehran’s nuclear programme. The comments came as the minister said the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency “will take on a new form”. A new law from the Iranian parliament stipulates that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme national security council, Iran’s top security body.
The UN said on Friday that nearly 800 people had been killed trying to access food in Gaza since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month blockade on deliveries. UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said most of the deaths occurred near facilities operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by the US and Israel.
Asked about the UN figures, the Israeli military said it had worked to minimise “possible friction” between aid seekers and soldiers, and that it conducted “thorough examinations” of incidents in which “harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported”. GHF called the UN report “false and misleading”, claiming that “most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys”.
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Saturday killed one person, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. In a statement, the ministry said that an “Israeli enemy strike” on a home in Wata al-Khiam killed one person.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Saturday that a so-called snapback of UN sanctions could end Europe’s role in the issue of Tehran’s nuclear programme, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Such measures “would signify the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear dossier,” Araghchi said.
A clause in the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed in the event Tehran breaches the deal.
Araghchi told diplomats in the Iranian capital:
The Islamic Republic of Iran remains ready to build this confidence through diplomacy but, before that, our counterparts must convince us that they want diplomacy and not that diplomacy is a cover for other goals and objectives they have.
The minister also said that access to Iran’s bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues. The comments came as the minister said the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency “will take on a new form”, Reuters reports.
A new law from the Iranian parliament stipulates that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs approval by the Supreme national security council, Iran’s top security body.
State media cited Araqchi as saying:
The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious.
For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined.”
