al jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands and Alastair McCready
   Israeli cabinet ministers attend the “Return to Gaza” conference to plan illegal settlements on the land of recently destroyed Palestinian communities.
   A drone attack has killed three US service members at a military base near the Jordanian-Syrian border; US President Joe Biden vows to “hold all those responsible to account”.
   Israel pushes on with its assault on Khan Younis as more Palestinians are forced into dangerously overcrowded Rafah in southern Gaza.
   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes renewed talks on the captive exchange as “constructive”, but says gaps remain.
   At least 26,422 people have been killed and 65,087 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

    Iran denies involvement in drone strike on US troops

    Iran has no connection to the drone strike on US troops at a military base near the Jordan-Syria border, says Iran’s representative to the United Nations, Saeed Iravani.

    The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reports that Iravani blamed “conflict between US forces and resistance groups in the region” for the attack, in a statement to the UN. He also said “hawkish Republicans” were linking Iran to the drone strike.

    Three US troops were killed in the attack on the US Tower 22 military outpost on Sunday, which has been claimed by the Iran-backed group Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

    Israel’s ambassador to US says Iran ‘main destabilizing actor’ in region

    The Iranian government is “stoking fire” in the Middle East, says Israel’s ambassador to Washington Michael Herzog.

    “This attack, yet again, shows that Iran is the main destabilizing actor in the Middle East, and highlights the need to hold the regime accountable,” he wrote on X.

    Three US troops were killed in a drone strike on Sunday near the barracks of the US Tower 22 military outpost base near the Jordan-Syria border. The Iran-backed group the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility.

    Analyst: Material prospect of Palestinian state has ‘never looked bleaker’

    Ardi Imseis, an assistant professor of international law at Queen’s University in Canada, has said that the Israeli political establishment is displaying “complete disdain” for the “rules-based international legal order” with regards to illegal Israeli settlements.

    He pointed to the “Return to Gaza Conference”, held only days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, as evidence of this.

    At the conference, held in West Jerusalem on Sunday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians, while 21 illegal new Israeli settlements were also announced.

    Imseis said that, given the current political climate in Israel, the “material prospects of a Palestinian state look bleak”.

    “They’ve never looked bleaker, frankly. But that does not mean that the state of Palestine does not exist,” he said. “Juridically – that is in law – 140 states recognise the state of Palestine within the territorial confines of the occupied Palestinian territory.”