Latest 7 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza as Iran-Israel ceasefire holds

     Jerusalem, Jun 25 (AP) Seven Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when their armoured vehicle was struck by an explosive, an Israeli military official said on Wednesday.
    The announcement comes a day after witnesses and hospitals in Gaza said Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of Palestinians waiting for aid in separate incidents in southern and central Gaza early Tuesday, killing at least 44.
    Meanwhile, people in Iran began returning to their lives as a ceasefire with Israel, negotiated by President Donald Trump, appeared to be holding. State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea area and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city.
    The Iran-Israel conflict saw Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites. On Sunday, the US intervened by dropping bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
    
     Here is the latest:
    
     Israel says it killed head of currency exchange in Lebanon
     Israel's military said it killed Haytham Bakri, the head of a currency exchange in Lebanon, in a strike on Tuesday, claiming he was transferring funds to Hezbollah for militant activities.
    The military said Wednesday that Bakri was the head of the “Al Sadiq” exchange, which funnelled funds from the Quds force -- the expeditionary arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard -- to Hezbollah.
    Israel's claims about Bakri could not be immediately verified and there was no immediate response from Hezbollah. Despite a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes targeting what it says are Hezbollah sites and officials.
    
     IAEA chief suggests Iran can rebuild nuclear infrastructure
     The head of the UN nuclear agency has declined to offer an assessment of a report that the strikes against Iran's nuclear sites only set back Iran's atomic programme a few months. But he suggested that Tehran could rebuild the infrastructure.
    Some of the infrastructure has survived the attacks and “the reconstruction of the infrastructure is not impossible”, said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, after meeting with senior Austrian officials Wednesday. “This is work that Iran knows how to do. It would take some time."
    Grossi said he wants to try to “re-engage” with Iran as soon as possible so that inspectors can return to its nuclear sites. He said that “we cannot afford that, because of this, the inspection regime is interrupted”.
    He didn't address criticism of the IAEA by Iran.
    Asked about the possibility of Iran opting out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Grossi said that would be “very regrettable".
    Grossi added that “hard words and emotions are of course, perhaps … if not normal, inevitable at times of war. But we are working for diplomacy. We are working for a solution that (is) really sustainable”.
    
     Trump says ceasefire going very well
     US President Donald Trump described the ceasefire between Iran and Israel as going “very well” while speaking to journalists at a NATO summit at The Hague.
    “They're not going to have a bomb and they're not going to enrich,” Trump added.
    
     Official describes attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza
     Israel's military spokesperson says that the seven Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza Tuesday died when a bomb was attached to their tank, setting the armoured vehicle aflame.
    “Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” said Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the military's spokesperson.
    “This is a complex event that is still being investigated. When the investigation is completed, we will present it first to the families and then to the public. This our duty.”
    Turning to Iran, Defrin claimed that Israel had “significantly damaged” its nuclear programme and “set it back by years”.
    
     China hopes for lasting and effective ceasefire
     China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and close Iranian partner, says it hopes a “lasting and effective ceasefire can be achieved so as to promote the realization of peace and stability in the Middle East”.
    Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun added Wednesday that China was “willing to maintain friendly cooperation with Iran to benefit the two peoples and inject positive factors to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East”.
    China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and has long supported the regime politically, blaming Israel for starting the latest conflict and destabilizing the region.
    
     Iranian Parliament takes step toward ending cooperation with IAEA
     Iran's Parliament voted nearly unanimously Wednesday to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to Iranian state TV.
    The move comes a day after a ceasefire deal took hold between Iran and Israel following a destructive 12-day war.
    If successful, the legislation would make any external oversight of the country's nuclear program much more difficult.
    Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Arab media Tuesday that it was too early to determine whether his government will continue working with the UN's nuclear watchdog, saying that the IAEA treaty “failed to protect our rights and our facilities”.
    While Iran's Parliament has the ability to pass legislation, the final decision on any security-related matter would ultimately come from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
    
     Israeli forces kill a Palestinian woman in East Jerusalem, official says
     An local Palestinian official says Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman in East Jerusalem Tuesday night.
    Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Zahia Obeidi with a shot to the head around 10pm and seizing her body, said Marouf Al-Refai, an advisor to the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem.
    Israeli forces arrested her husband and sons later that night, Refai said. It was not clear by morning whether they had been released.
    Israeli police said they were investigating her death, saying she arrived at the Shuafat checkpoint with “penetrating” injuries and was pronounced dead by paramedics on scene.
    
     7 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza
     Israel's military said Wednesday that seven soldiers had been killed the day before inside Gaza.
    A military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said that the seven were killed around 5pm when an explosive affixed to their armoured vehicle in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis detonated.
    The military said another soldier was badly wounded Tuesday from RPG fire.
    The incident was an unusually deadly one for Israel's troops operating inside Gaza.
    The military says over 860 soldiers have been killed since the war began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack — including more than 400 during fighting inside Gaza.
    
     Hamas claims attack on Israeli soldiers
     Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, said on its Telegram channel Tuesday it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building in the southern Gaza Strip.
    Some of the soldiers were killed and other injured after they were targeted by a Yassin 105 missile and another missile south of Khan Younis, Hamas said.
    Al-Qassam fighters then targeted the building with machine guns.
    It was not immediately clear whether the incident was related to the Israeli military's announcement that seven of its soldiers were killed Tuesday in Gaza.
    
     Iran executes more prisoners
     Iran executed three more prisoners Wednesday over allegedly spying for Israel, its state-run IRNA news agency reported, the latest hangings connected to its war with Israel.
    Iran identified the three men executed Wednesday as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul.
    Iran is one of the world's top executioners. After the brutal 1980s Iran-Iraq war, Iran carried out the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners and others, raising concerns among activists about a similar wave coming after the war with Israel.
    The hangings happened in Urmia Prison in Iran's West Azerbaijan province.
    IRNA cited Iran's judiciary for the news, saying the men had been accused of bringing “assassination equipment” into the country.
    Wednesday's executions bring the total number of hangings for espionage around the war up to six.
    
     Israeli strikes killed more than 1,000 in Iran, group says
     Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 1,054 people and wounded 4,476 others, according to figures released Wednesday by the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
    The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said of those killed, it identified 417 civilians and 318 security force personnel.
    Iran's government provided sporadic casualty information throughout the war. Its latest update on Tuesday put the death toll at 606 people killed, with 5,332 others being injured.
    In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. (AP) PY
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)