Iran’s reformist presidential candidate eyes improved relations with US

Masoud Pezeshkian hopes to win over an apathetic electorate and revive talks on the country’s nuclear deal

The sole reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential elections this month has said he wants improved relations with the US, as he accused his conservative rivals of blighting the Iranian economy by not doing enough to revive the a nuclear deal with the west that had led to the lifting of some sanctions.

Masoud Pezeshkian, who has unveiled the combative former foreign minster Javad Zarif as his foreign policy adviser, also suggested under his presidency he might also review its relations with Russia, arguing eastern powers should not think that they are Iran’s only option.

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Search for missing pilgrims continues after hajj heat deaths

Relatives seek news of missing loved ones after hundreds reported dead as temperatures hit 51.8C in Saudi Arabia

Friends and family of missing hajj pilgrims have been searching hospitals and pleading online for news, fearing the worst after hundreds died during the annual rites in Saudi Arabia.

Arab diplomats on Tuesday told Agence France-Presse at least 550 pilgrims had died this year, the majority due to heat-related illnesses after temperatures reached 51.8C (125F) in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

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EU-funded Egyptian forces ‘rounding up and deporting Sudanese refugees’

Egypt forcibly returned 800 Sudanese detainees in first three months of this year, Amnesty International reports

The Egyptian authorities have used EU-funded security forces in a campaign of mass arrests and forcible deportations against refugees from the Sudan war, according to a human rights group report.

Amnesty International found Egypt “forcibly returned an estimated 800 Sudanese detainees between January and March 2024, who were all denied the possibility to claim asylum”.

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More than 550 hajj pilgrims die in Mecca as temperatures exceed 50C

At least 320 of the dead are from Egypt and Saudi officials report treating more than 2,000 people for heat stress

At least 550 pilgrims have died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.

At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, the two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP.

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Israeli foreign minister says decision on all-out war against Hezbollah is near

Signoff on planning for a Lebanon offensive follows release of Hezbollah drone footage of Haifa in northern Israel

The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, as Israel generals announced late on Tuesday that they had signed off planning for an offensive into Lebanon.

The escalating rhetoric came after the release of video footage from a Hezbollah surveillance drone’s overflight of the northern city of Haifa, which included images of sensitive sites and civilian neighbourhoods.

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Moroccan authorities pushed asylum seekers into ‘death trap’, NGO claims

Border Forensics say dozens of deaths in 2022 at EU’s Melilla border was result of antagonistic security policy

Moroccan authorities took a series of fateful decisions that led to the deaths of dozens of asylum seekers attempting to scale the border fence into the Spanish north African territory of Melilla two years ago, survivors and an investigation by an NGO have claimed.

At least 27 migrants and asylum seekers died when up to 2,000 people tried to climb over the fence on 24 June 2022 – the deadliest day in recent memory along the EU land border with Africa – while 70 others are still missing and unaccounted for.

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At least 17 killed in Gaza refugee camps after latest Israeli strikes, say medics

Airstrikes kill Palestinians in historic Nuseirat and Bureij camps as tanks advance into Rafah in south

A series of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday have resulted in the deaths of at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps, as tanks advanced further into the southern city of Rafah, according to reports from residents and medics.

Nuseirat and Bureij are home to families and descendants of people who fled to Gaza in the 1948 war around the creation of Israel.

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Israel-Gaza war: 17 Palestinians reportedly killed by double Israeli strike on Nuseirat refugee camp – as it happened

Al-Jazeera reporter says it has been ‘another bloody night across central Gaza’ with attack on camp housing families evacuated from Rafah

The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned that the rights situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was drastically deteriorating, while there had been “unconscionable death and suffering” in Gaza.

Reuters reports Volker Türk, UN high commissioner for human rights, said “The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating.”

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Labor senator Fatima Payman calls on government to ‘recognise Palestine’ in rebuke to Albanese

Party were ‘fierce champions of Palestine’ in opposition and they must ‘summon that spirit of old’, she writes for Al Jazeera

The Labor senator Fatima Payman has called on her own government to “recognise Palestine” and undermined efforts by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to discredit protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Payman, writing for Al Jazeera, argued that nations needed to take a “definitive stance” on Palestinian statehood because Israel “continues to disregard its obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and cease genocidal acts”. Israel denies committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October attacks by Hamas.

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Tuesday briefing: How millions are living through Sudan’s ‘harrowing’ humanitarian crisis

In today’s newsletter: The war has devastated Sudan, destroying much of the country and leaving 18 million facing acute hunger

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Good morning.

The war in Sudan has caused destruction throughout much of the country. And with every passing week the conflict seems to get worse between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary group who say their main goal is to establish democracy, though the frequent human rights abuses they commit do not support this claim.

Conservatives | Jeremy Hunt said Liz Truss’s economic ambitions were a “good thing to aim for” and her disastrous mini-budget hadn’t left an impact on the economy, according to two leaked recordings obtained by the Guardian. The chancellor was recorded at a meeting of students when he said he was “trying to basically achieve some of the same things” as the former prime minister, but that he was doing it “more gradually”.

Israel | Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.

Italy | At least 10 people died and dozens were missing after two separate shipwrecks close to the Italian coast, rescuers said. Ten bodies were found on Monday in the lower deck of a wooden boat in the central Mediterranean by rescuers from Nadir, a ship operated by the German charity ResQship.

Germany | Eight alleged members of the German far-right Reichsbürger are to go on trial accused of a plot to violently overthrow the state, in the third in a row of similar court cases being held across the country. The defendants, including a GP, a celebrity chef and an astrologer, are accused of serving as the plot’s leadership council and, prosecutors say, were set to become a cabinet in waiting if the group’s plan overthrow the government had succeeded.

UK news | Officers who hit an escaped cow with a car “probably did the right thing at the time” even if it looks “horrendous”, a union leader and farmer has said. A video showing a police car hitting the calf on Friday night on a residential street in Staines-upon-Thames was met with widespread outrage, including from the RSCPA which criticised it as “disproportionate”.

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Government could repatriate Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps if it had ‘political will’, court says

The federal court dismissed the case brought by Save the Children and ruled that the government had no legal obligation to bring them home

If the federal government had “the political will” to repatriate Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps “it would be a relatively straightforward exercise”, the full bench of the federal court has said in a judgment.

But there is no legal obligation on the government to bring its citizens back to Australia, the court ruled.

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Dua Lipa says criticism of Israeli war in Gaza was for ‘greater good’

Singer due to headline Glastonbury embraces risk of backlash over ‘Israeli genocide’ post on Instagram

The pop star and soon-to-be Glastonbury headliner Dua Lipa has said she is willing to risk a backlash over political statements after she recently described military operations in Gaza as “Israeli genocide”.

In an interview with the Radio Times, the 28-year-old said she repeatedly checked herself before making a statement, but did so if she felt it was for the “greater good” and worth the risk.

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Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israel’s war cabinet – as it happened

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Hostilities continue in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, Reuters reports Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini, told the media in Oslo on Monday.

In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed it is still operating in the Rafah area of Gaza, where it says “IDF troops located numerous weapons and struck a number of structures rigged with explosives that posed a threat to the forces.”

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Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves Israeli war cabinet

Move is apparent rebuff to far right and attempt to tighten grip on decision-making over Hamas and Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the Israeli war cabinet that had been overseeing the conflict in Gaza, rebuffing his far-right allies who had been seeking seats, and apparently moving to solidify his grasp on decision-making over the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.

The prime minister announced the move to ministers, saying the war cabinet had been established as part of an agreement in which the moderate politician Benny Gantz and his National Unity party joined an emergency coalition last year.

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US envoy visits Israel for talks aimed at averting deeper conflict with Hezbollah

Negotiator Amos Hochstein dispatched by Washington amid anxiety that deepening conflict could trigger war

A senior envoy from the Biden administration has met Benjamin Netanyahu for talks aimed at averting a deepening conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after Israel warned over the weekend that it was on the brink of a “wider escalation”.

Amos Hochstein has spent months in largely behind-the-scenes diplomacy in an attempt to quieten tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. Since the war in Gaza began in October, there have been worsening daily exchanges of fire, and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced on both sides of the “Blue Line” between Israel and Lebanon.

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‘We need the world to wake up’: Sudan facing world’s deadliest famine in 40 years

Millions face disaster as Sudanese army and RSF accused of using food access as a weapon in on-going war

Sudan is facing a famine that could become worse than any the world has seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago, US officials have warned, as aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies but arms supplies to both sides continue to flow in.

With much of the world’s attention focused on Gaza, the scene of another human-made famine, Sudan is already the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and is slipping towards a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, with far less media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs.

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Netanyahu reportedly criticises military tactical pause in Gaza amid divisions with IDF

Israel’s prime minister is said to have called the decision ‘unacceptable’ after Itamar Ben-Gvir said whoever decided it was a ‘fool’

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate the delivery of aid

On Sunday the military announced a daily pause that would begin in the Rafah area at 8am and remain in effect until 7pm along the main Salah al-Din road, to allow aid trucks to transit between the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, adding that the pause would take place every day until further notice.

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At least 14 pilgrims die during hajj pilgrimage amid soaring temperatures

Jordanians died in Saudi Arabia after suffering heatstroke, said officials, with temperatures reaching 47C in Mecca

At least 14 Jordanian pilgrims have died while on the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as temperatures soar in the kingdom.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said “14 Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing” during the performance of hajj rituals. It said its nationals had died “after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heatwave” and that it had coordinated with Saudi authorities to bury the dead in Saudi Arabia, or transfer them to Jordan.

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Israeli military announces daily ‘tactical pause’ in southern Gaza to allow in aid

Eleven-hour window to allow in aid via Kerem Shalom crossing will take place every day until further notice, military says

The Israeli army has said it will observe a limited daily “tactical pause” along one of the main roads in the Gaza Strip to allow delivery of increased quantities of humanitarian aid, as UN agencies have suspended deliveries from a US-built pier.

The Israel Defense Forces, however, added that the pause should not be seen as a “cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.

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UK ‘morally incoherent’ for sending arms to Israel and aid to Gaza, says Oxfam chief

Exclusive: Charity granted permission to intervene after ministers rejected calls to suspend weapon sales

Supplying arms to Israel while simultaneously providing humanitarian aid to Gaza is “intellectually and morally incoherent”, the head of Oxfam GB has said.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 37,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Israel and Hamas have both been accused of breaking international law.

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