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Gaza death toll surges past 38,000

By
IFP Media Wire
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Gaza War

A ministry statement said that some 87,445 other people have been injured in the onslaught.

“Israeli forces killed 58 people and injured 179 others in four ‘massacres’ against families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry added.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it noted.

Flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Mokhber to Putin: Iran-Russia strategic ties change world equations

By
IFP Media Wire
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Putin Mokhber

Mokhber made the remarks in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Thursday on the sidelines of the 24th summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

He said Iran and Russia enjoy deep-rooted, strategic and unchangeable relations which influence the ongoing developments in the world.

He added that a new chapter has opened in relations between Tehran and Moscow which would be beneficial not only to the two sides but also the region and the entire world.

Pointing to the growing cooperation between Iran and Russia, especially in the economic, commercial and transportation as well as the energy sectors, he emphasized the need to accelerate the implementation of a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement.

Over the past couple of years, the two countries have strengthened their bonds of friendship. The strategic cooperation deal is expected to elevate relations between the two allied countries to a new level.

In a meeting with Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky in Tehran last month, Mokhber stated Iran and Russia should make necessary decisions to implement their comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement as soon as possible.

He stressed the importance of completing the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a project that will facilitate transportation and greatly reduce transportation time.

In 2002, Russia, Iran, and India signed an agreement for the INSTC, a 7,200 km multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

Putin, for his part, said his country has friendly, unbreakable and unchanging relationship with Iran, and commended developing bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic and commercial sectors.

The Russian president added a free trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) was an important step towards further development of cooperation and an appropriate ground for benefiting more from interactions with the union’s member countries.

In December 2023, Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union signed a major agreement to start free trade some six years after Tehran joined the bloc in a bid to diversify its trade partners amid sanctions imposed by the West.

The Russian president further noted Tehran and Moscow have a common stance on regional and global issues including the efforts to form a multipolar world.

He expressed Russia’s support for the proposal regarding Iran’s joining of the Eurasian Union as an observer member.

90% of people in Gaza have been displaced at least once: UN

By
IFP Media Wire
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Gaza War

Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said, “At the moment, we estimated that nine out of every 10 people in Gaza Strip had been internally displaced at least once, if not up to 10 times, unfortunately, since October.”

“Out of the current Gaza population, we also estimate that 1.9 million are internally displaced multiple times,” he added, speaking to reporters at a briefing from occupied East Jerusalem.

De Domenico also noted the difficulties involved in delivering much-needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza, saying that this remains to be “a daily struggle”.

“Literally, we have to make gigantic efforts to sustain some lifeline of our services. Nowhere and no one is safe in Gaza.”

The regime has been waging the war since October 7 following Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance movements, during which hundreds were taken captive.

The war has so far claimed the lives of nearly 38,000 Palestinians, most of them women, children, and adolescents.

Iran launches project to save Lake Urmia

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Lake Urmia

Iran’s Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, in a ceremony on Thursday, launched the canal system in West Azerbaijan province to supply up to 180 million cubic meters per year of water from Badinabad dam to Lake Urmia.

Lake Urmia was once one of the world’s sixth saltwater lakes and the biggest of its kind in West Asia.

Unsustainable water consumption by farmers in the region and climate change have taken a toll on the lake.

However, the lake has been in a better condition due to the increase in downpours in the catchment area and the release of water from upstream dams.

Acting president calls on SCO to conduct transaction through Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Mohammad Mokhber

Mokhber made the remarks on Thursday at the 24th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)’s Summit held in Kazakh capital of Astana.

He also proposed the establishment of joint free economic zones and preferential trade agreements between the SCO member states.

The acting Iranian president highlighted the economic bloc’s opportunities and capacities in trade, energy, transportation, agriculture, customs, telecommunications, and the development of AI technology.

He said, “These capacities should be used for the welfare of nations and the establishment of sustainable peace and inclusive development in the SCO region and around the world.”

Earlier in the day, Mokhber met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit.

Putin said strong ties between Iran and Russia would continue to grow, no matter who wins the snap presidential election in Iran to replace the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Israel announces largest Palestinian land grab in over 3 decades

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israeli Settlement

The anti-settlement group Peace Now reported on Wednesday that Israeli authorities have declared 3,138 acres (1,269 hectares) of land in the Jordan Valley as “state land”, paving the way for the construction of hundreds of settlement housing units.

According to the watchdog, the seizure, which was approved last month but only published on Wednesday, is the largest land grab since the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The move follows a series of similar land seizures across the occupied West Bank, with 1,976 acres (800 hectares) seized in the Jordan Valley in March and a further 652 acres (264 hectares) between the settlements of Maale Adumim and Kedar in February.

“2024 marks the peak in the extent of declarations of state land,” Peace Now announced in a statement.

The group estimated that Israel declared 5,856 acres (2,370 hectares) of the West Bank as state land since the beginning of 2024.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has overseen a surge in Palestinian land seizures and settlement expansions since gaining sweeping authority over settlement planning in the occupied West Bank.

Last month, at a conference for his National Religious Party-Religious Zionism party, Smotrich admitted that Israel was advancing a plan to annex the West Bank “without the government being accused of annexing it”.

In a recording obtained by Peace Now, Smotrich stated that the land seizures in 2024 “are roughly 10 times the average in previous years”. He estimated that “by the end of the year, between 10,000 and 15,000 additional dunams [1,000 to 1,500 hectares] will be declared [as state lands]”.

In May, Smotrich instructed Israeli government ministries to prepare to accommodate an additional 500,000 settlers in the West Bank, including the development of infrastructure and services in settlements and outposts.

In February, Peace Now reported that in 2023, settlers established at least 26 new illegal outposts in the West Bank, with 10 of them following the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law.

Despite this, more than 700,000 settlers are thought to live in over 200 settlements and outposts across the territory.

Ukraine says no compromise with Russia

By
IFP Media Wire
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Russia Ukraine War

Speaking to reporters in Washington ahead of next week’s NATO summit, Yermak signaled that, while Kiev is open to any advice that could help to end hostilities with Moscow and achieve a “just peace,” Ukraine’s red lines remain unchanged.

“We [are] not ready to go to the compromise for the very important things and values… independence, freedom, democracy, territorial integrity, sovereignty,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.

He also weighed in on a plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, which was reportedly drawn up by advisers to Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. This road map reportedly proposes to establish an initial ceasefire based on the battle lines during peace negotiations, while allowing Kiev to refrain from formally ceding any disputed territories to Moscow. As part of the plan, Russia would reportedly be promised that Ukraine’s NATO accession talks would be put on hold.

Yermak, however, was cautious in his assessment of the supposed plan. “Honest answer: I don’t know. Let’s see,” he said, adding that Ukraine would continue to seek support from the US after the November election regardless of who wins.

His remarks echoed those of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who earlier said the “value of any plan lies in the nuances and in taking into account the real state of affairs on the ground”. On Wednesday, Peskov denied that any talks had taken place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump on the issue.

Last month, Putin floated a new plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, saying Moscow was ready to immediately open peace talks with Ukraine once it withdraws troops from Donbass and two other of its former regions and agrees to commit to a neutral status. Kiev and its Western backers have rejected the offer, as Ukraine has been promoting Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’, demanding that Russia withdraw from all territories it claims as its own.

Presidential election campaign ends for runoff vote in Iran

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Pezeshkian Jalili

According to election law, any election campaign is forbidden 24 hours before the polls open.

Reformist Massoud Pezeshkian and principlist Saeed Jalili campaigned for five days from Sunday, with two televised debates, text messages, online face-off, and street campaigns which peaked on Wednesday evening.

Pezeshkian runs on a platform of making an overhaul in economy, social reforms, and foreign policy détente.

Jalili believes the solutions to the persisting problems in the country lie at home, and his administration would take advantage of the domestic expertise and resources.

Over 10.4 million out of the 24.5 million people who took part in the first round voted for Pezeshkian and Jalili received 9.4 million votes.

Polls will open at 8 am on Friday for over 61 million eligible voters across the country to fill the top executive post left vacant after former president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage died in a helicopter crash in May.

Like the first round, over 58 thousand polling stations in Iran and over 344 stations outside the country will be set up to facilitate the voting, Mohsen Eslami, the spokesman for the Election Headquarters told the state broadcaster (IRIB).

Eslami said those who did not take part in the first round can cast their ballots in the run off. He added the final results would be announced on Saturday at noon.

Hezbollah showers Israeli sites after top commander killed

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Hezbollah Tension

The Lebanese armed group on Wednesday said that Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as “Hajj Abu Naameh”, had been killed. The Iran-aligned group later added it had launched 100 katyusha rockets targeting Israeli military positions.

The announcement of Nasser’s death on the group’s Telegram did not provide the location, but a source previously told Al Jazeera that a commander had been killed in the Hosh area in Tyre in southern Lebanon.

Nasser had the same rank as Taleb Abdallah, another top commander who was killed by an Israeli attack in June. At the time, Abdallah was the highest-ranking Hezbollah military official killed since the group began fighting Israel on October 8 in response to bombardment of Gaza. Following Abdallah’s killing, Hezbollah launched one of its largest rocket barrages on northern Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed it targeted Nasser, and noted he was a “counterpart” of Abdallah and in charge of Hezbollah’s “antitank and rocket fire from southwest Lebanon”. In January, an Israeli strike also killed Wissam al-Tawil, another top commander from the group.

On Thursday, Hezbollah announced it launched more than 200 rockets and drones targeting Israeli military positions.

The attack on Thursday was one of the largest so far along the Lebanon-Israel border as tensions skyrocket with the group sending exploding drones at several military bases in northern Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The latest attacks come amid an uptick in fighting and charged rhetoric between Hezbollah and Israeli officials that has sent US, European, and Arab mediators scrambling to prevent a wider regional escalation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in late June that Israeli forces must shift their focus to northern Israel, while far-right Israeli ministers called for a full-scale invasion of territory controlled by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said Israel is seeking to prevent a wider war, but warned that its military has the capacity to take “Lebanon back to the Stone Age”.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group was ready for war with “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings” in the event of a major Israeli attack.

For its part, Iran has warned that “all Resistance Fronts” would confront Israel if it attacks Lebanon, referring to the armed groups it supports throughout the region.

At least 543 people, including 88 civilians, have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, while at least 21 Israelis, including 10 civilians, have been killed in attacks by Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon since the beginning of the war.

At least 37,953 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel says studying Hamas response to ceasefire deal

By
IFP Media Wire
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consults with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (L) and Mossad chief David Barnea (C).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consults with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (L) and Mossad chief David Barnea (C).

“The mediators of the hostage deal have given the negotiating team Hamas’ response to the hostage deal outline. Israel is examining the response and will respond to the mediators,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement released on behalf of Mossad.

The proposal would include a deal to release the remaining hostages in the besieged enclave, which are believed to be around 120, and also would include a ceasefire in the besieged enclave.

Hamas has stressed on multiple occasions that any deal it agrees to would have to include a full end to the war, including the complete withdrawal of Israel’s military from Gaza.

Israel’s government, led by Netanyahu, however, has stated it would only accept a deal that would include temporary pauses in the fighting and has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X, citing a senior Israeli official, that Hamas’s response “makes it possible to move forward to individual negotiations on the issues that remain in dispute”, but that even if this were to happen those individual negotiations could take another several weeks.

In May, US President Joe Biden made the current ceasefire deal on the table public, which is a multi-stage deal that would see the release of hostages in exchange for the pullback of troops.

While Biden has blamed Hamas for not accepting the deal, the one outlined by Biden appears identical to the agreement Hamas had accepted at the beginning of May. That deal was later rejected by Israel, which launched an invasion of southern Gaza’s Rafah as a response.

Hamas’ Political Bureau chief has also contacted Qatari and Egyptian mediators as means of keeping up discussion about underway efforts at reaching a potential truce deal that could end the Israeli war on the besieged territory.

The movement announced the information in a statement on Thursday.

“In recent hours, the fighter brother Ismail Haniyeh conducted phone calls with the mediator brothers in Qatar and Egypt,” the statement said.

The conversations addressed “the ideas that the movement is discussing with them (the mediators), with the aim of reaching an agreement that puts an end to the brutal aggression to which our proud people are being subjected in Gaza”.

The regime has been waging the war since October 7 following Al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance movements, during which hundreds were taken captive.

The war has so far claimed the lives of nearly 38,000 Palestinians, most of them women, children, and adolescents.

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