Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 15 others in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations.

Australia has started evacuating almost 3,000 citizens caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict between Israel and Iran, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.

For days, Syrians have watched as Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the skies over their territory, but the new government in Damascus has so far remained officially silent on the unprecedented conflict.

The White House said Trump would receive an intelligence briefing on Thursday, a US holiday and top US diplomat Marco Rubio meanwhile will meet his UK counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict.

Khamenei's speech came six days into the conflict, with US president Donald Trump saying he may or may not intervene in the conflict, while demanding Iran's "unconditional surrender".

Doha, Qatar -- As Iran and Israel trade strikes and the US weighs joining in, wealthy Gulf states on the conflict's doorstep are engaged in frantic diplomacy to halt the war -- but solutions remain elusive. A spillover of the conflict or the Iranian government's collapse are both worrying outcomes...

Oil prices steadied Wednesday after Trump’s demand for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ roiled markets and revived supply fears, as regional diplomacy and major Gulf business deals unfolded alongside.

Of particular concern is the possibility of Iran shutting off the Strait of Hormuz, through which around an estimated fifth of global oil supply traverses, according to the Commerzbank note.

Despite international alarm, neither side has backed off from the long-range blitz that began Friday, when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign targeting Iranian nuclear and military facilities.

"Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded," said Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

Trump said that he wanted a "complete give-up" by Iran in return for peace, without elaborating on the outcome he seeks. China accused Trump of "pouring oil" on the conflict.

Oil prices rallied Tuesday after Donald Trump urged Tehran residents to evacuate, stoking fresh fears of all-out war as Israel and Iran continued to pound each other with missiles.

The United States and Iran had engaged in several rounds of indirect talks on Tehran's nuclear programme in recent weeks, but Iran said after the start of Israel's campaign that it would not negotiate while under attack.

The G7 statement said that Israel "has a right to defend itself" and stressed "the importance of the protection of civilians," as the growing attacks kill civilians on both sides.

Images verified by AFP, shot by a social media user from an overpass, showed near immobile traffic on a Tehran highway heading north with almost no vehicles in the opposite lane.

Israel's surprise strike against Iranian military and nuclear sites on Friday -- killing top commanders and scientists -- sent crude prices soaring as much as 13 percent at one point on fears about supplies from the region.

The decision added drama to the major aerospace industry event, which was already under the shadow of last week's deadly crash of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Black walls were installed around the stands of five Israeli defense firms at the trade fair in Le Bourget, an airfield on the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there’s a fresh opening to free hostages held in Gaza, backing a US-mediated proposal for a 60-day ceasefire as Israel continues its unprecedented military exchange with Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he ordered negotiators to "advance" talks on releasing hostages held in Gaza, after sensing an opportunity amid Israel's unprecedented attack on arch-foe Iran.

Mediators Qatar and Oman were told by Iran that Tehran "will not negotiate while under attack", an official briefed on the talks said Sunday, amid a massive exchange of strikes between Israel and the Islamic republic.

Trump has praised Israel's strikes, noting it used US weapons, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defied his public calls to hold off as the United States sought a negotiated solution with Iran on the state's contested nuclear work.

Israel's military said its air force hit Mashhad airport in Iran's far east, making it the longest-range strike of the conflict with the target "approximately 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) from Israel".

Bat Yam, Israel -- A shocked Julia Zilbergoltz said she had never experienced anything like the Iranian missile strike that hit her home in central Israel early Sunday. "I'm stressed and in shock. I've been through hard times in my life, but I've never been in a situation like this,"...

Iran announced it will scale back cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expressing deep dissatisfaction over what it views as the agency’s failure to condemn Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities.

In the central region, at least four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed and around 100 others wounded in a rocket strike, according to a spokesperson for Magen David Adom (MDA).

Britain is deploying assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East amid tensions between Iran and Israel, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday heading to Canada for G7 talks.

Following decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region.

Air raids sirens and explosions rang out across Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airwaves to warn he expected "several waves of Iranian attacks" in response.

Trump warns Tehran that the "next planned attacks" will be "even more brutal" and said Iran should cut a deal to roll back its nuclear program "before there is nothing left".

ICAN said Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States together spent nearly $10 billion more than in 2023.

Washington, United States - The United States still hopes to hold talks Sunday with Iran, even after Israel launched a massive attack on the Islamic republic, a US official said. "We still intend to have talks Sunday," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The official had no further...

Israel charged on Thursday that Hamas was "weaponising suffering in Gaza" after a US and Israeli-backed charity accused the Palestinian militant group of killing eight of its aid workers in the territory.

Israel's operation struck at the "heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme", taking aim at the atomic facility in Natanz and nuclear scientists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israel's defence minister on Wednesday called on Egypt to block two pro-Palestinian activist convoys planning to head to Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

The Gaza civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting to enter a US-backed food distribution centre on Wednesday, killing 31 and wounding "about 200".

Brussels, Belgium -- The EU on Wednesday urged Israel to undo a move by a far-right minister that threatens to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday that Israel had cancelled a waiver allowing its banks to work with Palestinian ones. "The European Union is deeply...

The Madleen departed from Italy on June 1 to bring awareness to food shortages in Gaza, which the United Nations has referred to as the "hungriest place on Earth", with the entire population at risk of famine.

I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement from his office. "Turn back because you will not reach Gaza," Katz added, calling the activists "Hamas propaganda mouthpieces".

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 13 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting incident near a US-backed aid distribution centre in the territory's south.

Thursday's attacks on what the Israeli military said were underground Hezbollah drone factories came after an Israeli evacuation call on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a key Muslim religious festival, and sent huge numbers of residents of Beirut's southern suburbs fleeing.

News of the soldiers' deaths came as Gaza's civil defence agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year.

"This is a final and urgent warning ahead of an impending strike," army spokesman Avichay Adraee said. The army "will strike all areas from which rockets are launched."

Paris, France -- French anti-terror prosecutors have opened probes into "complicity in genocide" and "incitement to genocide" after French-Israelis allegedly blocked aid intended for war-torn Gaza last year, they said on Friday. The two investigations, opened after legal complaints, were also to look into possible "complicity in crimes against humanity"...

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on four judges at the International Criminal Court including over an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it ramped up pressure to neuter the court of last resort.

Negotiator Khalil al-Hayya made the declaration in a speech marking the start of Eid al-Adha festivities, typically a joyous date on the Muslim calendar, but one many Gazans say they will not be able to celebrate this year amid crushing shortages.

Under a November ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group was required to pull its fighters out and dismantle its military infrastructure south of the Litani.

The accusation against Israel of genocide has been made with increasing force from quarters ranging from "Schindler's List" star Ralph Fiennes to Amnesty International and some Israeli historians.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned on Wednesday Israeli strikes in retaliation for overnight rocket fire, saying they were aimed at destabilising his country.

Sales to countries considered part of the Abraham Accords -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco who signed groundbreaking normalization agreements with Israel in 2020 -- appeared to have sharply risen from 3 percent in 2023 to 12 percent.

Dublin, Ireland -- Ireland's prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at "ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law". The university's board informed students by email on Wednesday that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever "institutional...