Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Reports say apartment block, mall near IDF HQ in Tel Aviv were damaged during war with Iran
A luxury residential building close to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv was damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile strike early on in the recent 12-day war with the Islamic Republic, the Haaretz daily reports.
This information had not previously been made public inside of Israel, as Israeli authorities sought to limit information on impact locations, arguing that they could be used by Iran to better calibrate its missiles.
According to the report, the 32-story apartment block, located close to the Kaplan Street entrance to the IDF headquarters, caught on fire as a result of the missile impact, and its residents had to be evacuated.
Separately, Channel 12 reports that the Azrieli Mall, also located in the vicinity of the Kirya, was also damaged by a ballistic missile strike.
The main building is unharmed, but several storefronts that open out directly onto the street suffered extensive damage, estimated at over a million shekels.
Then, days later, looters stole large amounts of merchandise and cash from the damaged stores, the report says.
Over the course of the 12-day direct conflict, Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles at Israel, killing 28 people and wounding thousands.
‘Live fire against Jews is forbidden’: Smotrich slams IDF for its handling of settler attack on soldiers
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, criticizes IDF soldiers for using live fire while defending themselves against a group of rioting settlers in the West Bank on Friday night.
The throngs of rioting settlers had attacked troops, including a high-ranking officer, at the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik near Ramallah, after the forces arrived there to prevent them from attacking the village. During the incident, soldiers responded to a group of some 30 settlers throwing stones at them by firing into the air.
In a post on X, Smotrich condemns the settler attack, saying that “anyone who harms IDF soldiers is fighting against the settlements, not for them,” but also criticizes the IDF for its response.
“The IDF’s live fire against Jews is a forbidden and dangerous crossing of a red line which requires an in-depth investigation,” the far-right Religious Zionism leader writes.
“The incident must be investigated independently and thoroughly,” he adds. “Lessons must be learned, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
IDF says Lebanon drone strike killed intel commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force
Another Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon earlier today, the IDF says.
According to the military, the strike in Mahrouna killed Abbas al-Hassan Wahbi, chief of intelligence in a battalion of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
Wahbi was involved in efforts to restore Hezbollah’s capabilities as well as transfer weapons, the IDF says.
His actions “constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.
Settler leader lashes out at army over attack on soldiers
The head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing settlement municipalities in the West Bank, lashes out at the army over a settler attack on soldiers last night.
“An incident that begins with enforcing an order for a closed military zone and ends with live fire at a 14-year-old must immediately be investigated,” Omer Rahamim writes on X. “The Israel Defense Forces doesn’t shoot at Jews!”
Alleged spy for Iran placed powerful explosives near home of defense minister — report
Defense Minister Israel Katz at the scene of an Iranian missile strike in Holon, June 19, 2025 (Video screenshot)
A 24-year-old Israeli arrested in April as an alleged spy for Iran placed powerful explosives somewhere near the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz, as part of an “Iranian plot to assassinate” the minister, Channel 12 reveals.
The report says Roy Mizrahi has been charged with “aiding the enemy at a time of war.”
Channel 12 says the explosives were intended to explode when Katz passed close by. It says the Iranians were “very close to succeeding.”
However, the report does not specify how close to Katz’s home Mizrahi placed the explosives, nor does it state that the explosives were primed to detonate, indicating that Mizrahi’s action was not the final stage in the plot.
The report details how Mizrahi was recruited via a Telegram site and roped in a friend, Almog Attias.
They initially filmed various locations, including the Shin Bet headquarters and the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv for an Iranian agent named Alex.
They were then asked to place two spy cameras in Katz’s hometown, Kfar Ahim, in southern-central Israel. They collected the cameras from a home in Holon and went to install them, but were spooked when a security vehicle with flashing lights drove by and tossed the cameras into some bushes.
Mizrahi was then asked to assassinate a scientist at the Weizmann Institute for a payment of $1 million, but he refused to do so after “Alex” refused to pay him half the sum in advance.
Roy Mizrahi (via Facebook; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Subsequently, Mizrahi was contacted by a second Iranian agent, named Getz, who tasked him with placing the explosives near Katz’s home.
Mizrahi collected a blue bag with the explosives from one location and transported it to a spot near Katz’s home. It says he was paid in cryptocurrency for doing so. He also took a brick of the explosives home himself, the report says.
His lawyer told Channel 12 he was a foolish youth who had caused no harm to state security.
Superintendent Maor Goren said that, time after time in the war, it became clear that Iran was targeting sites that had been filmed for it by Israeli spies.
The report says, without elaborating, that the plot against Katz was one of several Iranian plots to target senior Israelis.
French FM says Paris ready ‘to contribute to the safety of food distribution’ in Gaza
France “stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution” in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says.
His comments came as criticism grows over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory.
IDF chief calls for ‘broad and decisive’ action against settlers who attack troops
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left) shakes hands with the commander of the Binyamin Regional Brigade's 7114th Battalion, Lt. Col. "Gimmel" in the central West Bank, June 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the military’s Binyamin Regional Brigade, following last night’s settler attack against troops in the area in the central West Bank.
“I strongly condemn any violence against IDF soldiers, Border Police, and all security forces. I expect all law enforcement authorities, legal entities, and welfare agencies to address the phenomenon in a broad and decisive manner,” Zamir is quoted as saying in an IDF statement.
The IDF chief met with the commander of the brigade’s 7114th Battalion, who was assaulted by settlers near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik last night, and other senior officers.
Woman in Iran tells Israeli TV that she saw arrest of 10 Iranian Jews
Following unconfirmed reports that several Jewish community leaders in Iran have been arrested in recent days on suspicion of having ties to Israel, a resident of the Islamic Republic tells Channel 12 that she witnessed the arrest of 10 Iranian Jews.
Miriam, who Channel 12 says it has spoken with in the past for reports on life in Iran, says she saw six Jewish women and four Jewish men being arrested at 1:30 am on a recent morning.
Armed men “jumped over the wall” into the courtyard of the area where she lives, threatened residents, and told them to hand over their phones. “I had hidden mine under the carpet as soon as I heard their voices,” she says.
“They took away 10 people simply because they are Jewish… loading them like sheep into the car.”
The six women have since been released on bail, she says.
Rani Amrani, from an Israeli radio station called Ran Radio, says that the Iranian Jewish community recently organized a gathering, attended by its rabbis and by many Iranian Jews who serve in the Iranian army, designed to “avert any suspicion of spying or, heaven forbid, betrayal.”
Ex-captive Liri Albag: PM’s ‘brave decision’ on Iran must be followed by return of hostages
Freed captive Liri Albag speaks during a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, June 28, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Speaking to a 2,000-odd crowd packed into Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Liri Albag, one of five soldiers released in the latest ceasefire with Hamas, says the war with Iran “proved to the world that we’re strong and we have the most powerful army in the world,” but laments how it took attention away from the 50 remaining captives.
“The [past] two weeks, all the headlines were about Iran. My brothers and sisters were pushed aside,” she says.
“Fifty souls, 50 worlds, and it’s time to bring them back,” says Albag. “It’s time for a deal.”
She describes an occasion when her captors disguised her with traditional Palestinian garb and marched her underground, where she was locked up in a cage with five other women and girls.
“We’re marching in the streets of Gaza for three hours in the tiring heat, wrapped in strange hijabs and galabiyas. Finally, we’re led to the yard of a ground-floor home. Next to the door is a tall, armed masked man,” she says.
“We pass through holes in the walls, from one home to another, until we reach a peculiar structure, something between an empty mosque and an abandoned library,” she says.
There, she says, she saw a large butcher knife lying on a chair: “My heart stopped.”
“The terrorist takes the knife and says: ‘You’ve seen Gaza from above, now you’re going to see Gaza’s underground,'” says Albag, adding that she and her friends were ushered in through a hole in the ground covered by a carpet.
They were taken through a narrow tunnel to a cage roughly 2×2 meters in area and 1.6 meters high, where they were fed “a quarter of a pita, a date and half a bowl of rice a day.” There was a hole in the floor some 800 meters away for them to use as a toilet, says Albag.
“Every second there is an eternity,” she says. “This is the reality of the hostages… they’re counting not just days but also water bottles, quarters of pita and holes in the wall.”
Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, she says: “You made a brave decision on Iran. Now make a brave decision that ends the fighting in Gaza and brings back everyone… because that’s our moral duty as a nation.”
This was the first Hostages Square rally in three weeks, with the previous two being canceled due to the threat of missiles from Iran. Instead of rallies, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum held online events featuring interviews with captives’ relatives.
Haredi MKs said threatening to withhold support for some bills until new draft exemption law advanced
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers announce they will resume their boycott of private member bills submitted by coalition MKs until a new version of the draft exemption law is brought forward and passed, Channel 12 reports.
The move increases pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is reportedly working to resolve the crisis and present an agreed-upon version of the law that would grant continued military service exemptions to yeshiva students.
IDF says veteran Hamas operative who helped plan Oct. 7 was killed in Gaza City strike
Hamas official Hakem al-Issa in an undated photo. (Social media)
One of the founders of Hamas and among those who planned the October 7 onslaught was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City last night, the IDF announces.
Hakem al-Issa, who served as chief of staff at the “combat and administrative support division” in the terror group’s military wing, was killed in a strike in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, according to the military.
The IDF says Issa was a “central source of knowledge and one of the last senior Hamas operatives who held high-level positions before October 7 and remained in the Gaza Strip.”
“In the past, Issa led Hamas’s force build-up efforts in the Gaza Strip, was one of the founders of the military wing’s operations division, served as head of the training division, and was a member of Hamas’s general military council,” the IDF says in a statement.
The military adds that “Issa played a significant role in planning and executing the murderous massacre on October 7.”
During the war, including in recent days, “Issa served as head of combat support, advancing terror plans from the air and sea against Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF says.
“Alongside advancing these plans, Issa worked to rebuild Hamas’s arrays that were damaged during the war,” the statement adds.
Hostage’s father: Iran war was great but ‘we won’t forget and won’t forgive’ gov’t over Oct. 7
People take part in a protest demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, in Tel Aviv on June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Some 1,500 anti-government protesters return to the Begin Road entrance to the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters for their first weekend rally in three weeks, following the 12-day war with Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday.
An Iranian missile hit a residential building on the other side of the military base in the first days of the war. Debris from the missile struck buildings on the Begin Road side as well. A bakery and cafe that made brisk business during the protests are now boarded up and undergoing renovations.
Itzik Horn, father of hostage Eitan Horn and freed captive Iair Horn, says that despite “what we did in Iran, which was a great thing… we won’t forget and won’t forgive” the government for the failure to avert the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
“Since October 7, no minister or member of Knesset from the coalition has spoken to me,” says Horn.
He also assails the truce-hostage deal offer proposed by White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, which would see hostilities pause for 60 days during which Hamas would release roughly half the living and dead captives, in multiple phases.
“According to the Witkoff framework, half the hostages stay behind,” says Horn, likening such a release to the Nazis’ selektzia, or selection, of Jews deemed fit for hard labor from those sent straight to the slaughter.
“It’s impossible to explain why the prime minister always chooses to release the hostages piecemeal,” says Horn.
Despite Trump’s optimism, Israel and Hamas said sticking to their guns in hostage talks
A senior Israeli official denies to the Walla news site that there has been any breakthrough in the hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, after US President Donald Trump said he believes a deal will be reached “within the next week.”
The official is quoted as saying there has been no significant shift in the stances of Israel and Hamas on the key points of contention, including the terror group’s demand for guarantees that the war in Gaza will end.
Channel 12 reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a consultation with senior officials tomorrow on potential progress toward a hostage-ceasefire deal. It says Israel had indicated a certain flexibility in recent indirect contacts, but is still awaiting any sign of Hamas flexibility on the key issues preventing a new deal.
It says Netanyahu aims to be in Washington in early or mid-July, amid Trump’s efforts to reach a deal in Gaza and advance potential normalization efforts with Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and other possible Abraham Accords partners.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is expected to fly to Washington on Monday for talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and others.
Netanyahu condemns settler attack on IDF troops, says assailants ‘a small minority’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a statement denouncing the settler attack on IDF soldiers in the West Bank overnight.
“I strongly condemn the acts of rioting that occurred in the Binyamin area, in which IDF soldiers were attacked,” he says in a statement. “The State of Israel is a country of laws and no one can take the law into their own hands.”
He also calls for an investigation “to bring to justice anyone who violated the law and acted against our soldiers.”
“These people are a small minority who do not represent the absolute majority of settlers, who are law-abiding and serve in the IDF and security forces,” Netanyahu adds.
IDF says it killed Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon drone strike
A Hezbollah commander was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Kounine earlier today, the military says.
According to the IDF, Hassan Mohammad Hamoudi was the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile unit in the Bint Jbeil area.
During the war, Hamoudi “led numerous anti-tank missile attacks on Israel,” the military adds.
Bennett claims planned attack on Sinwar and Hamas chiefs was shelved when Yamina MK quit coalition; tells Netanyahu to ‘go home’
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, right, and MK Idit Silman attend the vote on the state budget at the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem on November 4, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Bennett defends his approach to Hamas-ruled Gaza while he was premier, asserting that plans were in place to take out Yahya Sinwar and other top members of the terror group but they were shelved “because Idit Silman toppled the government,” referring to a member of his then-Yamina party who helped bring down his coalition in 2022 by depriving it of a ruling majority.
“We talked about decapitating them and all the leadership of Hamas,” he says. According to Bennett, this was not because he predicted October 7, 2023 — “I did not foresee October 7,” he stresses — but because the security chiefs had warned of a potential multi-front conflict relating to the Temple Mount, he feared that would set the region on fire, and thus he wanted to take the initiative against Hamas.
Asked whether October 7 could have taken place on his watch, he stresses that “the event took place on Netanyahu’s watch. That’s the fact,” and claims he had a “zero tolerance” for Hamas attacks. “I didn’t let them get close to the fence.”
He says Israel is a “nation of lions, with failed leadership,” and notes that he coined the term “nation of lions” as Israel responded after October 7, 2023, when “the government disappeared… and the people rose” to fight back.
Bennett says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs to go home,” and, at the third time of asking, rules out the prospect of joining a future government led by him. “That’s correct,” he says, when asked specifically whether he is saying that he would not sit in a government with Netanyahu.
In any democracy, 20 years is too long for a prime minister to serve, and cites the damage he has done to Israeli society by failing to take responsibility for his failures and spreading internal “poison.”
He denounces the current government for continuing “to fund Hamas” via aid sent into Gaza.
He says in light of its failure to take decisive decisions on Gaza, the government should “go for a comprehensive deal, getting out all the hostages, deploying [the IDF] along the entire Gaza perimeter.” It should leave the work of destroying Hamas to the next government, he says.
“The government’s performance is dreadful,” he says, citing its failure to draft the ultra-Orthodox and enable the IDF to deploy the necessary force for a “crushing blow” against Hamas.
The people want a government that runs the country calmly and effectively, he says, and does not want to be the subjects of Haredi politicians in a government where the tail wags the dog. “This so very good generation [of Israelis] wants a good state, united, normal… Netanyahu represents the opposite of that.”
He says he hopes there will “be a compromise, an agreement” that puts Netanyahu’s criminal trial “behind us.”
That matters less to him, he says, than the fact that soldiers are going into Gaza in inadequately protected vehicles because the government is focused on other, less important issues.
Bennett says Iran strikes ‘proved to the world that we’re still bastards’; says ‘it’s clear’ regime will try to renew nuclear program
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett visits at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, May 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett praises the decision to strike Iran, saying the attacks targeting the Islamic Republic “went better than expected.”
“It’s an extraordinary achievement,” he says, and one that contrasts deeply with the failures and “total collapse” surrounding October 7, 2023.
In a pre-recorded interview aired this evening by Channel 12 news, Bennett states that his government budgeted some NIS 6 billion for operations in Iran, without which he argues the recent strikes would not have been possible.
“The failure was in 2018,” Bennett says, explaining that Israel did not put plans in place to attack Iran after US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
“I think this attack, like the [exploding] pagers targeting Hezbollah and other very nice things, proved to the world that we are still bastards, we have outside-the-box tricks, and that we have force and will,” he adds.
He says that he said seven years ago that Israel had to target “the head of the octopus” — Iran — and complained that Israel was not doing so. “I pushed for this, and also, as prime minister, I took action inside Iranian territory several times.”
He says that he “devoted the first month” that he was prime minister, from June 2021, “to delving deep into [the threat posed by] Iran,” including its nuclear program. He concluded that Iran was far weaker than was believed.
He was also “stunned,” he said, to discover that the previous Netanyahu government “had not carried out” the necessary preparations and thus “we didn’t have the capacity to attack Iran.”
The NIS 6 billion shekels necessary for intelligence and munitions “had not been budgeted, the order had not been given.” Therefore, in his term, he allocated the budgets and ordered those various means and capacities without which no attack could be executed. “Without the actions we took in 2021, it would not have been possible to give the order in 2025.”
Detailing that it takes four days to enrich uranium from 60% to weapons-grade, he says he believes some of Iran’s pre-war 400-kg. stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium remains, but does not know if it is “all or only some.”
He says we’ll also know “soon” whether some of the “halls of centrifuge cascades” survived the Israeli and American strikes.
Bennett says that Israel, in principle, should work for the fall of the regime in Iran, and that “the regime will fall… in 40 years or 4 years… The regime is loathed by the [Iranian] public… But you cannot bring down the regime with bombs.”
He says he has in the past proposed ideas to help enable the regime’s fall, including sending in tens of thousands of Starlink devices to re-enable the internet when the regime shuts it down as it quells internal protests, steps to help bolster the opposition, moves to harm the regime economically, and other measures.
There need to be “comprehensive moves” to accelerate the demise of the regime, because “it’s clear that they will now start to renew” the nuclear program. The key is to prevent them from doing that, too.”
English group leads ‘death to the IDF’ chant as anti-Israel acts take the stage at Glastonbury
The flag of Palestine is waved in a crowd of festivalgoers at the hip hop trio Kneecap's performance during the Glastonbury Festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset, England, June 28, 2025. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Irish-language rap group Kneecap performs to tens of thousands of people at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio’s members.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November. He’s on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August.
“Glastonbury, I’m a free man!” Ó hAnnaidh shouts as Kneecap takes the stage at Glastonbury’s West Holts field, which holds about 30,000 people. A scattering of Palestinian flags flew in the capacity crowd before the show, which opened with an audio montage of news clips referring to the band’s critics and legal woes.
The Belfast trio has been praised for invigorating the Irish-language cultural scene in Northern Ireland, but also criticized for lyrics laden with expletives and drug references, and political statements.
The band draws, often satirically, on the language and imagery of the Irish republican movement and Northern Ireland’s decades of violence. It has faced criticism since videos emerged allegedly showing the band shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” and calling on people to kill lawmakers.
Before Kneecap took the stage, a member of the English punk group Bob Vylan led the crowd in chants of “free Palestine and, “death, death, death to the IDF.”
“Hell yeah, from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free,” added the singer.
Mother of hostage accuses Netanyahu of blocking hostage deal by refusing to end war
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza call for the immediate release of their loved ones from Hamas captivity as part of a deal to end the war.
The mother of hostage Matan Zangauker notes US President Donald Trump’s remarks yesterday that a deal could be reached in the next week.
“There is a deal on the table and what is preventing it is [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s refusal to end the war,” says Einav Zangauker.
She also warns that if the hostages aren’t returned imminently, “they will die in captivity.”
Zamir condems settler attacks on troops as he speaks to assaulted battalion commander
The slashed tire of an Israeli military vehicle is seen after a group of settlers assaulted troops near the West Bank village of Kafr Malik, June 28, 2025. (Courtesy)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir condemns the attack by settlers against soldiers in the West Bank last night, while speaking with the commander of the Binyamin Regional Brigade’s 7114th Battalion, who was assaulted, the military says.
Zamir also spoke with the commander of the Binyamin Brigade.
“The chief of staff stated that he fully supports the conduct and actions of the battalion and brigade, and strongly condemns any harm to IDF soldiers, including reservist fighters who operate with a sense of mission and personal sacrifice,” the military says in a statement.
“The battalion operated last night to disperse Israeli civilians who had entered a closed military zone near Kafr Malik, and violently attacked the force,” the IDF says.
“The IDF and its soldiers face many challenges. The undermining of the rule of law and the use of violence by a radical minority harms security and stability in the area,” the statement adds.
The battalion commander had been filmed amid the incident, telling the settlers, “We are here all day every day instead of looking after civilians, because of you.”
The incident began last night after a group of at least seven settlers gathered at an illegal outpost near Kafr Malik. A short while later, another 70 Israelis arrived at the area, according to an IDF investigation.
The IDF dispatched troops and police officers to the scene, as the area is a closed military zone, and days earlier, settlers had attacked the nearby village.
The group then began to attack the forces, hurling stones at them. The security forces responded with riot dispersal means, injuring one Israeli with a sponge grenade, the IDF says.
Shortly before midnight, the settlers physically assaulted the commanders at the scene, including choking and beating one. No soldiers required hospitalization.
The settlers also slashed the tires of a police cruiser at the same time.
Half an hour later, a vehicle with several Israelis in it tried to ram security forces, while a group of some 30 settlers again hurled stones at the forces.
The soldiers in this case responded with live fire in the air.
Simultaneously, five vehicles driven by the settlers intentionally rammed into an army vehicle that was blocking the road. The IDF says damage was caused to the vehicle, but there were no injuries.
Later, overnight, another IDF vehicle was vandalized, with the tires slashed, and a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a different army car. No injuries were caused, but damage was caused to both vehicles, according to the military.
Six suspects were detained and handed over to police amid the incidents.
Equipment key to producing a nuclear bomb was destroyed in strikes on Isfahan — NYT
This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 16, 2025, shows the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
Israeli and American airstrikes at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site destroyed equipment key to the production of nuclear weapons, according to The New York Times.
The report says the equipment is used for a process known as metallization that converts enriched uranium gas into metal, one of the final steps to producing the explosive core inside a nuclear bomb.
Analysts cited by the US newspaper say that Tehran intensified its nuclear activities at Isfahan after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, adding that the strikes on the metallization gear have denied the Islamic Republic the ability to assemble an atomic weapon in the near future.
“It’s a bottleneck,” David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, tells The New York Times regarding the destruction of the equipment. “They have to rebuild it.”
Iran announces reopening of central and western airspace to international transit flights
Iran has reopened its central and western airspace to international transit flights, state-run Nour News says.
Suspects attempt to torch police post in Beit El settlement after arrests over settler attack
Police report that a structure used by the force in the West Bank settlement of Beit El was vandalized overnight, in apparent revenge for the arrest of several settlers for attacking IDF troops.
The assailants tried to torch the police post, causing damage to the door, and spray-painted “revenge fire” on it.
There are no reports of injuries.
Police say officers were dispatched “to locate the lawbreakers,” adding that an investigation was opened.
“This is a grave and violent incident, which constitutes a clear crossing of a red line against the rule of law and sovereignty,” says a statement from the force.
בעקבות אירועי הלילה בבנימין – יהודים ניסו להצית מבנה בשימוש משטרת בית אל, וריססו עליו כתובת: ״נקמה״.
גורם ביטחוני: ״תמימות אין פה״. pic.twitter.com/TlOu52WQFL
— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) June 28, 2025
Israel had ‘boots on the ground’ in Iran from as early as 2010 — report
This image grab taken from footage broadcast by Iran's IRINN news on June 13, 2025 shows what the television described as smoke billowing from explosions in Natanz after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites. (IRINN / AFP)
Israel had “boots on the ground” for years in the lead up to its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missiles program, monitoring and gathering intelligence from several locations as early as 2010, The Times reports, citing an intelligence source and leaked intelligence documents shared with Western countries.
The intelligence gathered by Israel showed that by the end of 2024, Iran had advanced past the research stage of weaponizing nuclear material to the point of carrying out experiments on building an explosive device “within weeks,” the reported documents say.
According to the report, Israel had intelligence officers who mapped the layout of the Natanz nuclear facility before it was attacked and destroyed. Reconnaissance infiltrated other sites, including Isfahan, Nur, Mogdeh, Shariati, and Shahid Meisami.
The report also says intelligence documents show Israel penetrated the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was also struck by the air force.
Katz blasts settler attack on IDF troops, calls on settlement leaders to join condemnation
Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks to reporters at the site of an Iranian missile impact in Holon, June 19, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he “strongly condemns the grave acts of violence and the attack on IDF soldiers” in the West Bank last night.
Dozens of settlers had attacked soldiers near the village of Kafr Malik, days after an attack against Palestinians in the area.
“I call on law enforcement authorities to act immediately to locate all those who engaged in violence and bring them to justice, as is done everywhere,” Katz says in a statement.
Katz says he also appeals “to the rabbis and settlement leaders to strongly condemn and disavow these acts of violence.”
“The State of Israel will not tolerate violence and taking the law into one’s own hands, and will not allow harm to IDF soldiers who bravely fight against Palestinian terrorism in Judea and Samaria and protect the security of the settlers day and night,” he adds.
Katz has previously said that acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are not terrorism. He also ended the policy of administrative detentions against extremist settlers while leaving them in place for Palestinians.
Golan casts Jewish extremism as ‘existential threat’ to Israel after settler attack on IDF troops
Leader of The Democrats party Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 26, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
The Democrats chair Yair Golan describes violent Jewish extremism as an “existential threat” to Israel after settlers attacked IDF soldiers overnight.
“Maybe it is not in the headlines, but the most serious existential threat to the State of Israel is not from Iran or Yemen, but from home,” he writes on X. “Kahanist, nationalist, and fanatical Israel is deliberately working to dismantle Jewish and democratic Israel.”
He says violence against innocents and IDF soldiers is not “not a fringe phenomenon,” but a “dangerous current that has taken a deep hold, even around the government’s table.”
Golan says Israel stands at a “crossroads” where it can remain a Jewish and democratic state or go down the route of extremism and messianism.
Emirates extends cancellation of Tehran flights until July 5
An Emirates Airlines plane lands at Dubai International Airport in Dubai on October 17, 2023. (Karim Sahib/AFP)
CAIRO, Egypt — Emirates airline has extended its cancellation of flights to and from Iran’s capital, Tehran, until July 5 due to the “regional situation,” it says in a statement on Saturday.
The Dubai-based carrier says it will recommence operations to Baghdad on July 1 and Basra on July 2.
Iran’s FM says Iranians gave their ‘blood’ but not their ‘honor’ during war with Israel
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russia's President at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on June 23, 2025. (Sergei Karpukhin / AFP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that his compatriots had given their “blood” during a 12-day war with Israel but “not honor,” as Iran held a state funeral.
“Iranians gave blood, not land; gave their loved ones, not honor; they withstood a thousand-ton rain of bombs, but did not surrender,” Abbas Araghchi says on his Instagram account, adding that Iran does not recognise the word “surrender.”
UK government distances incoming MI6 chief from ‘Nazi’ grandfather
LONDON — The British government has distanced the incoming head of its foreign intelligence service from her grandfather following reports he was a Nazi spy known as “the butcher.”
Blaise Metreweli will, in the Autumn, become the first woman to lead MI6 in its 116-year-old history, the British government announced earlier this month.
The Daily Mail newspaper reported this week that her grandfather Constantine Dobrowolski defected from the Soviet Union’s Red Army to become a Nazi informant in the Chernigiv region of modern-day Ukraine.
The newspaper said German archives showed Dobrowolski was known as “the Butcher” or “Agent No 30” by Wehrmacht commanders.
“Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather,” a Foreign Office spokesperson says in a statement.
“Blaise’s ancestry is characterised by conflict and division, and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood.
An undated handout picture released by the UK Government press office, received in London on June 13, 2025, shows a portrait of Blaise Metreweli, the first ever female Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). (BRITISH GOVERNMENT / AFP)
“It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today’s hostile states, as the next chief of MI6.”
The Daily Mail said Dobrowolski had a 50,000 ruble bounty placed on him by Soviet leaders, and was dubbed the “worst enemy of the Ukrainian people.”
He also sent letters to superiors saying he “personally” took part “in the extermination of the Jews,” the newspaper added.
The head of MI6 is the only publicly named member of the organization and reports directly to the foreign minister.
Metreweli, 47, will be the 18th head of MI6.
Like her predecessors, she will be referred to as “C,” not “M,” as the chief is called in the James Bond film franchise.
Houthis claim responsibility for morning missile attack on south
Yemenis chant slogans and hold placards during a mass rally to celebrate what they call "Iran's victory" in the 12 day war with Israel, in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, June 27, 2025. (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)
The Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for this morning’s ballistic missile attack on southern Israel.
In a statement, the Iran-backed group claims to have targeted a “sensitive Israeli enemy target” in Beersheba, where sirens had sounded.
“The operation successfully achieved its goal, thanks be to Allah,” the Houthis say.
The IDF said the missile was “likely” intercepted. There were no reports of impacts.
Qatar sees ‘window of opportunity’ for hostage deal in Gaza
A banner showing photos of hostages held in Gaza, in Tel Aviv. June 26, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week’s ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce-hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip.
“If we don’t utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” Majed al-Ansari says in a Friday interview with AFP.’
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Rubio meets with hostages’ families: ‘Real victory in Gaza will be achieved when all hostages return home’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with representatives of hostages' families in Washington, DC, June 27, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with the relatives of hostages held in Gaza for the first time since entering his role, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a Hebrew-language statement.
“The real victory in Gaza will be achieved only when all the hostages return home,” Rubio was quoted as saying to the representatives of hostages’ families in Washington, DC.
The families told Rubio that there was a window of opportunity to reach a deal to release all the hostages, and expressed faith that the Trump administration would work towards that goal.
Dozens of settlers attacked, tried to run over IDF soldiers in West Bank overnight, military says
A group of dozens of Israeli settlers attacked and attempted to ram IDF soldiers with a car in the West Bank overnight, the military says.
The incident began after troops spotted Israelis in vehicles heading toward the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik, which was declared a closed military zone due to a previous settler attack there on Wednesday.
Troops were dispatched to the scene to disperse the Israelis gathering near the village.
“Upon the arrival of the forces, dozens of Israeli civilians hurled stones toward them and physically and verbally assaulted the soldiers, including the battalion commander,” the IDF says, adding that the assailants “vandalized and damaged security forces’ vehicles, and attempted to ram them.”
The troops used “riot dispersal means” to clear the gathering, and six suspects were detained and handed over to the police.
“The IDF and Israel Police condemn any act of violence against security forces and will act firmly against any attempt to harm security personnel carrying out their duty to protect Israeli citizens,” the statement adds.
Gazan media says IDF shelling in Khan Younis kills at least six
Gazan media reports that at least six people have been killed during IDF shelling in Khan Younis.
The military has yet to comment on operations this morning.
US didn’t use MOP bunker buster on Isfahan nuclear site because facility was too deep — report
This handout satellite picture, provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
The US did not drop the Massive Ordinance Penetrator bunker buster bomb on the Isfahan nuclear site because it was so deep underground that it would have likely not been effective, CNN reports, citing comments made by a top US general to senators Thursday.
The CNN report cites three people who heard the comments made by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and a fourth who was briefed on the remarks.
During its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last weekend, the US instead used Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine to hit the site, where US officials believe 60 percent of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is stored.
The MOP bunker busters were used on the sites in Fordo and Natanz.
Thousands line streets to mourn Iranian generals, nuclear scientists killed during war with Israel
Mourners gather in Enghelab Square to attend the funeral ceremony of the Iranian army generals, nuclear scientists and their family members who were killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Thousands of mourners line the streets of downtown Tehran for the funeral of the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.
The caskets of IRGC chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and others are driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street.
Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said was meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.
IDF says missile fired by Houthis apparently downed; no reports of injuries
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was likely intercepted by air defenses a short while ago, the military says.
The IDF says attempts were made to shoot down the missile, and they were apparently successful.
There are no reports of injuries or impacts.
Sirens had sounded in Beersheba, Dimona, Arad, and the surrounding area in southern Israel. Preceding the sirens by four minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.
Funeral starts for Iranian military commanders killed in war with Israel
Iran begins a state funeral service for around 60 people, including its military commanders and nuclear scientists, killed in its war with Israel, state media reports.
“The ceremony to honour the martyrs has officially started,” state TV says, showing footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain military commanders.
Iranian media broadcasts the first images of the funeral proceedings for the “martyrs of the war imposed by the Zionist regime.”
Footage showed coffins of military commanders killed in the war draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the slain commanders in uniform near Enghelab Square, where a ceremony is due to take place.
It will be followed by a funeral procession to Azadi Square, about 11 kilometres (seven miles) across the sprawling metropolis
Iranian state media have released the first photos of the coffins of senior military commanders and officials killed in Israeli airstrikes, just two hours ahead of their mass funeral in downtown Tehran.
The images purportedly show the bodies of Iran’s top general Mohammad… pic.twitter.com/tYeBzhJdwg— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) June 28, 2025
Sirens sound in southern cities after missile fired from Yemen
Sirens sound in Beersheba, Dimona, and towns in the surrounding area in southern Israel following the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen.
The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.
Probe into Surfside condo collapse expected to end in 2026
Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
More than four years after a Florida condominium collapse killed 98 people, federal investigators have yet to make a final determination of the cause — but they do have some leading theories.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the agency handling the probe, said this week it hopes to conclude the investigation in 2026.
“We intend for our investigation of this failure to have a lasting impact, save future lives and ensure this never happens again,” NIST investigator Judith Mitrani-Reiser says in the agency’s latest report.
Most residents were asleep in the 12-story Champlain Towers South when the beachfront condo building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed into a huge pile of rubble at 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021. As the investigation continued, a Miami judge approved a more than $1 billion settlement for personal injury and wrongful death claims from the disaster.
Meanwhile, a new luxury condominium is going up at the Champlain Towers site, a few miles north of Miami.
Ballistic missile fired from Yemen; sirens expected in south
A ballistic missile has been launched from Yemen at Israel, the military says.
Sirens are expected to sound in southern Israel in the coming minutes.
Trump denies reports that US considering $30 billion civilian nuclear deal with Iran
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump dismisses media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program.
CNN reported on Thursday and NBC News reported on Friday that the Trump administration in recent days had explored possible economic incentives for Iran in return for its government halting uranium enrichment. The reports cited sources.
CNN cited officials as saying that several proposals were floated and were preliminary.
“Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that ‘President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.’ Never heard of this ridiculous idea,” Trump writes on Truth Social late on Friday, calling the reports a “HOAX.”
Settlers allegedly beat and choke reservists amid riot in West Bank village; 9 arrested
A group of several dozen Israelis allegedly attacked IDF reserve soldiers while rampaging in the West Bank, in the latest act of settler violence.
The reservists and police were dispatched to Kafr Malik due to a fresh settler riot there, whereupon they were attacked by the settlers, according to Hebrew media reports, which said the Israeli assailants beat, choked and hurled rocks at the troops.
The settlers also slashed the tires of a police cruiser and tried to run over an officer, the Kan public broadcaster said.
Several of the soldiers were lightly hurt in the attack, for which nine suspects were arrested.
The latest violence comes days after a deadly settler rampage in Kafr Malik.
US Senate rejects Democratic bid to curb Trump’s authority to strike Iran
The Republican-led US Senate rejects a Democratic-led bid to block President Donald Trump from using further military force against Iran, hours after the president said he would consider more bombing.
The Senate vote is 53 to 47 against a war powers resolution that would have required congressional approval for more hostilities against Iran. All the senators voted, but the vote is being held open.
Iran’s FM tells Trump to drop ‘disrespectful tone’ against Khamenei if he wants a nuclear deal
If US President Donald Trump is genuine about wanting a nuclear deal with Iran, he should put aside “the disrespectful and unacceptable tone” toward Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and “stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says in a post on X.
IDF issues evacuation warning for Palestinians in central Gaza
The military’s Arabic spokesperson issues an evacuation warning for residents in parts of the central Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from there at Israel, instructing them to head southward ahead of IDF operations in the area.
The statement says the IDF will employ intensive firepower “to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas, and will attack any area used for launching rockets.”
US tells UN Security Council that aim of strikes ‘was to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity’
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 tells the United Nations Security Council in a letter seen by Reuters.
“The United States remains committed to pursuing a deal with the Iranian government,” writes acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea.
Washington justifies 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.
read more: