Iran’s missile supply to Moscow may reveal true scale of Pezeshkian’s powers

Despite desire to improve relations with Europe, the president has put Iran back on the sanctions treadmill

Iran’s decision to sell Russia short-range missiles supplementing Moscow’s existing supplies appears, on the surface, to be a political reversal for Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s new reformist president.

He was elected on a promise to lift sanctions and develop more balanced relations with the east and west, especially Europe. The bulk of his diplomatic appointments, including the retention of the former foreign minister Javad Zarif as an adviser, underscored that intention, and already a lively debate had started in Tehran about the extent to which Iran and Russia’s interests truly aligned.

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Dubai conference cancels talk by ex-children’s hospital doctor investigated in UK

Former Great Ormond Street hospital surgeon Yaser Jabbar removed as speaker at orthopaedics event

A doctor who is being investigated for allegedly harming hundreds of children has been removed as a featured speaker from a health conference.

Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in London has launched an urgent review of the care of 721 children who are thought to have received botched treatment from one of its former consultant orthopaedic surgeons, Yaser Jabbar.

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UN says lives of staff endangered in Israeli halt of Gaza polio vaccine convoy

World body says two workers detained for questioning, live shots fired and vehicles damaged at checkpoint

Israeli soldiers halted a UN convoy involved in the recent polio vaccination drive in Gaza and detained two staff members for questioning, in an incident during which live shots were fired and vehicles damaged by a bulldozer, the UN has said.

Details of the incident, which occurred at the Al Rashid checkpoint, were revealed in a statement by the office of the UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestine, Muhannad Hadi, who said the lives of UN staff in the vehicles had been endangered.

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Khan Younis safe zone: Israel launches deadly strike on al-Mawasi, Gaza officials say

At least 19 people killed as missiles hit overcrowded area in attack that Israel says targeted a Hamas command centre

Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

At least four missiles hit the overcrowded supposed “safe zone” on the coast in the early hours of Tuesday, causing dozens of tents to catch fire and leaving craters as deep as 9 metres, the civil emergency service said. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in Mawasi, where conditions are dire, after being ordered to move there by the Israeli military.

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Blinken says Russia has received new ballistic missiles from Iran

US and Europe impose new sanctions on Iran in response to supply of weapons that US says Russia could use in Ukraine

Russia has received new deadly ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine and is likely to use them, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced on Tuesday in London as he prepared to travel with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to Kyiv.

The news, confirmed by the US for the first time and seen as of huge significance to the battlefield balance ahead of Ukraine’s difficult winter, led the US and Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran, so apparently slamming the door on the prospect of a rapprochement between the new reformist Iranian government and the west.

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Israel says ‘highly likely’ its troops killed Turkish-American activist

IDF expresses ‘regret’ over death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi on West Bank while US calls it ‘unprovoked and unjustified’

Israel’s military has said it was highly likely its troops fired the shot that killed Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.

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Egypt and Turkey’s nascent alliance tested by new crisis in Libya

Fallout from Libyan central bank governor’s dismissal presents immediate challenge for Sisi and Erdoğan

A new alliance between Egypt and Turkey designed to end a long-running dispute over events in the Middle East faces it first major test in the shape of a worsening political crisis in Libya linked to control of its oil wealth.

Egypt and Turkey fell out in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab spring, primarily because of the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s coup against his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi, an ally of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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‘We are all Jenin together’: West Bank city seeks normality after IDF’s deadly raids

Palestinians go back to work but struggle to see positive future after destruction of Israel’s 10-day raid that killed 21 in city

In the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, residents are struggling to return to normality after the longest – and deadliest – Israeli military operation in the area for 20 years. On Sunday, the start of the working week, traffic choked the city centre for the first time in nearly two weeks after roads were repaired; street vendors sold peaches and the first of the season’s pomegranates as the city slowly came back to life.

But in some places, sewage still flowed through streets dug up by military bulldozers. Many burnt-out buildings showed signs of fierce fighting, the upper floors now peppered with bullet holes and broken windows. Water and electricity infrastructure was severely damaged, and it is not clear when these services will be restored.

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Israel-Gaza war: killing of Turkish-American activist in West Bank ‘unprovoked and unjustified’, says Blinken – as it happened

US secretary of state says Israeli forces need to make ‘fundamental changes’ to operations in occupied West Bank after Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead during protest

We’re pausing our blog here. We will return to the live coverage if there are any major updates to bring you.

For now, you can read out full coverage of the search and rescue efforts after the deadly strike on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone here:

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Funeral procession held for US-Turkish peace activist killed in West Bank

Palestinian Authority holds ceremony for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi who was allegedly shot by Israeli troops during protest

The Palestinian Authority has held a funeral procession for an American-Turkish activist who a witness says was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week during a demonstration against settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Dozens of mourners – including several leading officials of the western-backed authority – attended the procession in Nablus for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who also held Turkish citizenship.

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Former head of Lebanese central bank in court on embezzlement charges

Protesters who lost savings in financial crisis demonstrated outside court as Riad Salameh pleaded not guilty

The former head of Lebanon’s central bank, Riad Salameh, appeared in court on Monday for the first time since he was arrested last week on charges of embezzling up to $42m (£32m) of public funds.

Monday’s hearing is the latest in the long saga of Salameh, once vaunted as a financial wizard who earned Lebanon its reputation as the “Switzerland of the Middle East” during his 30-year tenure. He has since fallen into disrepute and is suspected of engineering a country-wide Ponzi scheme that caused Lebanon’s 2019 financial meltdown and its five-year-long economic crisis.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli strikes on Syria kill at least 25 people, war monitor says – as it happened

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead include civilians as well as soldiers and ‘Syrians working with pro-Iran groups’

The UN human rights chief has said that ending the war in Gaza is a priority and asked countries to act on what he called Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the (UN) security council and orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), neither in this nor any other situation,” the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, said in a speech at the opening of the UN human rights council in Geneva.

The court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.

Forcible evictions, extensive house demolitions and restrictions on residence and movement.

The transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and maintenance of their presence.

Its failure to prevent or to punish attacks by settlers.

Restricting the access of the Palestinian population to water.

Israel’s use of the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The extension of Israel’s law to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Israeli strikes in Syria kill at least 25, war monitor says

State media says more than 40 injured as military research centre for arms production hit, according to sources

Israeli jets have launched a substantial strike on targets in Syria, killing at least 25 people, according to an opposition war monitor that said it was one of the most violent such attacks in years.

The main target appeared to be a military research centre in Masyaf associated with Syria’s chemical and ballistic missiles programme, but explosions were also heard in Damascus, Homs and Tartus. Syrian state media had put the death toll at 16 with 40 wounded.

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Jordanian driver kills Israeli workers at border with West Bank

Triple shooting on mostly quiet border with Jordan may be indicative of Gaza war spreading violence across region

Three Israeli workers have been killed at a border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire on them, in a fresh sign that the nearly year-old Gaza conflict is spreading violence across the region.

On the same day, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed a senior aid official and two women and two children from his family.

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Middle East crisis: Senior Gaza rescue service official killed in Israeli airstrike; three Israelis killed near Jordan border crossing – as it happened

Deputy director of Gaza Civil Emergency Service and four family members killed in Jabalia, say Gaza health officials; three Israeli civilians killed in shooting near Jordan border crossing, says IDF

Here is more on the earlier incident (see 9.08am post) in which three Israelis were killed.

Reuters reports that Israeli authorities said a gunman crossing from Jordan killed the three civilians at the Allenby Bridge border in the occupied West Bank on Sunday before being shot dead by security forces.

A terrorist approached the area of the Allenby Bridge from Jordan in a truck, exited the truck, and opened fire at the Israeli security forces operating at the bridge.

The terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, three Israeli civilians were pronounced dead as a result of the attack.

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West Bank residents tell of teargas then shots before US woman’s death

Palestinians say they have no faith in Israel Defense Forces inquiry into killing as US officials insist Gaza ceasefire is near

US officials have insisted that a ceasefire in Gaza is close even as fighting rages unabated in the blockaded Palestinian territory and violence spirals in the occupied West Bank, where witnesses told the Observer an American-Turkish dual national was killed by Israeli forces on Friday.

William Burns, who is also the US’s chief negotiator in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, echoed secretary of state Antony Blinken during a speech in London on Saturday in which he said that “90% of the text had been agreed but the last 10% is always the hardest”.

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Israel-Gaza war: US and UK spy chiefs ‘working ceaselessly’ for ceasefire deal – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

CIA director William Burns, the chief US negotiator trying to help secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages by Hamas, said a more detailed proposal on the ceasefire would be made in the coming days.

“We will make this more detailed proposal, I hope in the next several days, and then we’ll see,” Burns said at an FT event in London on Saturday.

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American-Turkish woman shot dead at anti-settler protest in West Bank

Witnesses say Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was fired at by Israel Defense Forces soldiers positioned in nearby field

An American-Turkish dual national has been shot dead – reportedly by Israeli troops – while participating in a protest against settler expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old volunteer with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement, died in hospital on Friday after being shot in the head during a protest in Beita, near Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

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Campaigners press US to ban Israel arms sales after UK’s partial halt

Activists say Britain’s decision bolsters case for Congress to follow suit and may embolden opposition to Biden policy

The UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel has bolstered the case for Congress to follow the example of its ally, US campaigners for a ban have said.

The campaigners are pressing the US Senate and the house to pass a joint resolution of disapproval blocking authorisation for an unprecedented $20bn (£15.2bn) weapons sale. The massive transfer was notified to Congress last month when it was in recess.

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Aid agency insiders claim BBC ‘blocking’ Gaza humanitarian appeal

Disasters Emergency Committee sources say BBC fears backlash from those supportive of Israel’s war with Hamas

The launch of a major humanitarian appeal for Gaza by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is being delayed by the BBC, it has emerged.

The corporation said the appeal did not meet all the established criteria for a national appeal, but the possibility of broadcasting an appeal was “under review”. Other channels have agreed to broadcast an appeal.

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