Israel-Iran strikes intensify as Trump weighs joining attacks

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Thursday that the militant group would "act as we see fit" in response to the ongoing war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

In a statement, Qassem said Hezbollah was "not neutral" in the conflict between the two regional superpowers, saying that the group would "act as we see fit in the face of this brutal Israeli-American aggression".

This comes after the US special envoy for Syria warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the war.

Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a "couple of weeks," the White House said Thursday, as US President Donald Trump debated whether to take military action against the Islamic republic.

"Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The body of a Ukrainian woman was recovered Thursday from a site in central Israel four days after an Iranian missile strike, municipal officials in Israel's Bat Yam said.

"The municipality of Bat Yam sadly announced that, in the past few minutes, a body was found at the site of the missile impact in the city," a statement said, identifying the victim as Maria (Marina) Peshkarova, 31, who arrived in Israel in December 2022.

Including her, nine people were killed in the Sunday strike. Since the war began with Israeli attacks on Iran on Friday, 25 people have been killed in Israel, according to authorities.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will decide whether to attack Iran within a fortnight, as Israel and its regional rival continued to trade fire for a seventh day.

"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement read out by his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

Ianian state media said air defence systems were activated Thursday against "hostile targets" over the capital Tehran, a week into a war triggered by major Israeli attacks.

"Iran's air defences confront hostile targets in northern Tehran," said official news agency IRNA without elaborating. Another news agency, Mehr, gave the same report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was "changing the face of the world" in its war with Iran, now in its seventh day.

"I said that we're changing the face of the Middle East, and now I say we're changing the face of the world," he told public broadcaster Kan, adding that Israel had destroyed "more than half" of Iran's missile launchers.

The chief of the United Nations atomic watchdog rejected Iranian allegations that a recent nuclear-inspections report, which determined Tehran is in breach of its legal obligations, "in any way" justified Israel's attacks on the Islamic Republic.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi rejected that his inspectors provided cover for Israel's attacks, which started on June 13 and have damaged at least some nuclear facilities.

"The role of a report by the director general of the IAEA could never be conceived as a justification for any military activity by Israel," Grossi said Thursday in an interview with Al Jazeera.

"To pretend in any way that a report by the IAEA is a green light or enabler of an attack is absolutely absurd," he said.

The US has moved aircraft and Navy ships in the Middle East to guard against possible Iranian retaliation, CNN reported, citing defense officials.

• Non-sheltered planes were evacuated from Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar, with satellite images confirming the move.

• US Navy ships also left Bahrain’s Naval Support Activity base, though their current locations are undisclosed.

• Extra blood supplies have been pre-positioned in the region, a standard precaution.

Officials described the actions as precautionary, following Iran’s warnings to strike US assets if Washington supports Israeli attacks on its nuclear sites.

Trump has yet to decide on a US strike. Iran has threatened to retaliate through its regional proxies using drones and missiles.

The WHO's leader on Thursday denounced attacks on health facilities in the conflict Iran-Israel war as "appalling", urging all sides to protect hospital buildings, staff and patients.

"The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran is putting health facilities and access to health care at risk. The reports on the attacks on health so far are appalling," World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced the launch of the 15th wave of combined missile and drone attacks on Israel, according to state media reports.

The IRGC said the new round of strikes is aimed at military targets and defence-related industrial facilities in Haifa and Tel Aviv. It claimed more than 100 combat and suicide drones have been deployed, focusing primarily on air defence systems in the targeted cities.

The statement ended with a warning: the IRGC will intensify its missile attacks on Israel’s military and defence industry infrastructure.

Israel's military stood down an alert of incoming Iranian missile fire, telling citizens they could now leave their shelters.

Air raid sirens had sounded across large parts of northern Israel after the latest launch on Thursday afternoon, the army's Home Front Command said.

But around 20 minutes later, the army released a statement saying people were permitted to leave their shelters.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 72 people in the Palestinian territory on Thursday, including 21 who had gathered near an aid distribution site in central Gaza.

Updating an earlier figure, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the death toll had risen to 72, "due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today - 21 of them were waiting for aid".

The Israeli army said that troops had fired "warning shots" at "suspects" approaching them in the Netzarim area where the civil defence agency said 15 people were killed waiting for aid, but that it was "not aware of any injured individuals".

The United Nations said Thursday it was appalled to see civilians being treated as collateral damage in the conflict between Iran and Israel and urged maximum restraint on all sides.

"It is appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities. Threats and inflammatory rhetoric by senior officials on both sides suggest a worrying intention to inflict harm on civilians," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

Israel's military said sirens sounded in the country's north on Thursday after missiles were fired from Iran, on the seventh day of war between the two countries.

A military statement said that "sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel", with the army's Home Front Command saying air raid warnings were activated in large parts of the north.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that "hospitals must be respected" after a hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack on day seven of the war.

"Under international humanitarian law, the wounded and sick, medical personnel and hospitals must be respected and protected", the ICRC said on X after the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was hit.

Iranian police announced the arrest on Thursday of 24 people accused of spying for Israel and of seeking to tarnish the country's image, according to a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

"Twenty-four individuals who were spying for the Zionist enemy offline and online, and who were... trying to disturb public opinion, and to tarnish and destroy the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, were arrested," said police commander for west Tehran Kiumars Azizi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday to "remove" the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by Iran, on the seventh day of war between the arch foes.

"We are committed to destroying the nuclear threat, the threat of a nuclear annihilation against Israel," Netanyahu told reporters in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit during an Iranian missile attack.

"Our goal is twofold - nuclear, ballistic missile. We're going to remove them. We are in the process of completing the (removal of) this threat."

A key Iranian body warned the United States on Thursday that any intervention in support of its ally Israel would be met with a "harsh response".

"The criminal American government and its stupid president must know for sure that if they make a mistake and take action against Islamic Iran, they will face a harsh response from the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Guardian Council said in a statement carried by state television.

Russia's foreign ministry warned the United States not to take military action against Iran, amid speculation over whether Washington will enter the war alongside Israel.

"We would like to particularly warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would "pay a heavy price" after a hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack on Thursday, while his defence minister said Iran's supreme leader would be "held accountable".

"This morning, Iran's terrorist dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital... and at civilians in the centre of the country. We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price," Netanyahu said in a post on X.

China's President Xi Jinping said Thursday a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was the 'top priority' during a phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin, Chinese state media reported.

"Promoting a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities is the top priority. Armed force is not the correct way to resolve international disputes," Xi said, according to Xinhua.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Iran in a phone call, the Kremlin said, adding that both leaders called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

"Both sides adhere to identical approaches, strongly condemn Israel's actions," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, adding that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities "should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means".

Israel's defence minister said Thursday that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "can no longer be allowed to exist" after an Israeli hospital was hit during an Iranian missile attack.

"Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed - he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals. He considers the destruction of the state of Israel to be a goal," Israel Katz told journalists in Holon near Tel Aviv. "Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist."

The US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Thursday warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

"I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump... that would be a very, very, very bad decision," Barrack said, responding to a question on what the US position would be on any involvement by Hezbollah in the war.

Iran on Thursday accused the UN's nuclear watchdog of acting as a "partner" in what it described as Israel's "war of aggression".

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran in a report prior to the start of the Iran-Israel war of non-compliance with its obligations in its nuclear programme.

"You betrayed the non-proliferation regime; You've made IAEA a partner to this unjust war of aggression," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X, in a post addressed to the head of the agency, Rafael Grossi.

Iran said Thursday the main target of a missile attack that hit a hospital in southern Israel was an Israeli military and intelligence base, not the health facility.

A hospital in southern Israel and two towns near Tel Aviv were struck after a barrage of Iranian missiles, with Israeli rescuers reporting at least 47 people injured in Iran's latest attacks.

"The main target of the attack was the Israeli Army Command and Intelligence Base (IDF C4I) and the Army Intelligence Camp in Gav-Yam Technology Park, located in the vicinity of the Soroka Hospital," state news agency IRNA said.

It said the hospital was "exposed only to the blast wave", and that the "direct and precise target" was the military facility.

Iran's deputy foreign minister warned the United States on Thursday against intervening in the war to back up its ally Israel, adding that his country was ready to defend itself in case of escalation.

"If the United States wants to actively enter the field in favour of the Zionist regime, Iran will have to use its tools to both teach a lesson to aggressors and defend its national security and national interests," said deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi, according to state TV.

"Naturally, our military decision makers have all the necessary options on the table," he added.

China said Thursday it opposed the "use of force", in response to a question about US President Donald Trump warning he was weighing US military action in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Beijing "opposes any act that... infringes upon the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of other countries, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations", foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing.

China urged countries in the Middle East, "especially Israel", to cease fighting on Thursday after fresh exchanges of fire with Iran, and as US President Donald Trump warned he was weighing US military action in the conflict.

"China strongly calls on all parties involved in the conflict, especially Israel, to put the interests of the region's people first, immediately cease fire and stop fighting," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said Thursday that at least 47 people were injured in Iran's latest missile strikes, updating an earlier toll and reporting 18 more injured "while running to shelter".

Three people are in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition, an MDA spokesperson said in as statement, adding that "an additional 42 people sustained minor injuries from shrapnel and blast trauma, and 18 civilians were injured while running to shelter".

Israel's deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel called Iran's strike on an Israeli hospital on Thursday "deliberate" and "criminal", after the Islamic republic fired its latest salvo of missiles at the country.

"Iran just hit Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva with a ballistic missile. Not a military base. A hospital. This is the main medical center for Israel's entire Negev region. Deliberate. Criminal. Civilian target. The world must speak out," Sharren Haskel wrote on X.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said Thursday that at least 32 people were injured following Iran's latest missile strikes, which an Israeli military official said involved "dozens of ballistic missiles".

In a statement, an MDA spokesperson said that medics were "providing medical treatment and evacuating to hospitals two people in serious condition... as well as 30 people in mild condition with blast and shrapnel injuries".

It added that additional MDA teams were treating "several injured individuals at multiple scenes."

Israel's military said Thursday people were permitted to leave shelters in several parts of the country where they had been told to take cover after Iran launched a new barrage of missiles towards Israel.

"Following the situational assessment, the Home Front Command published that it is now permitted to leave protected spaces in several areas across the country," the military said in a statement.

A military official added that "dozens of ballistic missiles were launched at Israel in the last barrage from Iran".

Israel's foreign ministry reported a direct hit on a hospital in the south on Thursday, after Iran fired a fresh salvo of missiles at the country.

"BREAKING: A direct hit has been reported at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel. More details to follow," the foreign ministry posted on X.

A spokesperson for the hospital reported "damage to the hospital and extensive damage in various areas. We are currently assessing the damage, including injuries. We ask the public not to come to the hospital at this time."

AFP journalists heard violent, sustained explosions in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Thursday morning, as sirens sounded in several parts of the country and the Israeli army warned of incoming Iranian missiles.

According to the journalists, the explosions heard in Jerusalem around 7:10 am (0410 GMT) were the biggest since the conflict with Iran began one week ago.

Donald Trump has approved military plans for a potential strike on Iran but has not yet made a final decision, according to CBS News.

A senior intelligence official told the outlet that the US president paused the operation in hopes Iran might agree to halt its nuclear program.

One likely target under consideration is Fordow, Iran’s heavily fortified underground uranium enrichment facility.

The State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families from the US embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify and President Donald Trump warns of the possibility of getting directly involved in the conflict.

A government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave the country, said two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements. There was no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight or how many may have left by land routes to Jordan or Egypt.

The evacuations, comments from the White House and shifting of American military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East have heightened the possibility of deepening US involvement in a conflict that threatens to spill into a wider regional war.

Israel’s military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that proceeded strikes.

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers southwest of Tehran.

The first flight carrying 110 Indian citizens, including 90 students from Jammu and Kashmir, arrived in New Delhi after being successfully evacuated from Iran, on Thursday, amid the escalating military conflict with Israel.

All the Indian nationals were flown to Delhi on IndiGo flight 6E 9487.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, welcomed the evacuated students at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, IANS reported on Thursday.

Israel's military said it was carrying out a "series of strikes" around the Iranian capital Tehran and other areas of the country on Thursday.

There were no immediate details on the intended targets of the strikes, which came after Israel said it had intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" launched from Iran.

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group says.

Iran has not asked its ally Russia for military help amid its escalating air war with Israel, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"Our Iranian friends have not asked us about this," Putin said in response to a question from an AFP reporter at a televised press conference in Saint Petersburg.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country has remained committed to "diplomacy" but will continue to act in "self-defence" following Israel's surprise attack nearly a week ago.

"Iran solely acts in self-defence. Even in the face of the most outrageous aggression against our people, Iran has so far only retaliated against the Israeli regime and not those who are aiding and abetting it," said Araghchi in a post on X.

"With the exception of the illegitimate, genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, we remain committed to diplomacy," he added.

US President Donald Trump appeared to rebuff Vladimir Putin's offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own war in Ukraine first.

"I spoke to him yesterday and... he actually offered to help mediate, I said 'do me a favor, mediate your own,'" Trump told reporters as he unveiled a giant new flag pole at the White House.

"Let's mediate Russia first, okay? I said, Vladimir, let's mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later."

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the timing that Trump gave for the call.

"He (Trump) was speaking figuratively. Life is so eventful right now that looking back a few days is like looking back to yesterday," Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a deal to end the fighting between Israel and Iran was possible, and that Israel's strikes on Iran had led to a "consolidation" of Iranian society around its leadership.

"We see that today in Iran... there is a consolidation of society around the country's political leadership," Putin told foreign journalists, including AFP, in a televised event.

"This is a delicate issue, and of course we need to be very careful here, but in my opinion, a solution can be found," he added, referring to a possible deal that was in the interests of both Israel and Iran.