Al Jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands

    Lebanon declares day of mourning following wave of Israeli attacks that killed at least 254 people, injured more than 1,165 in a single day on Wednesday, as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said to be mobilising “all of Lebanon’s political and diplomatic resources to stop the Israeli killing machine”.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lebanon was not included in ceasefire between the United States and Iran, as US Vice President JD Vance also says, “We never made that promise.”

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the US-Iran “terms are clear” regarding Lebanon, and Washington must choose between a “ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both”.

    Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine appeals for international assistance as health system strains to treat mass civilian casualties from day of attacks by Israel.

    Al Jazeera Media Network condemned Israel’s “targeting and killing” of Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Mohammed Wishah, as a “heinous crime”.

    Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.

Israel kills Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza drone strike

    Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Mohammed Wishah was killed in a drone strike west of Gaza City on Wednesday.

    Mohammed is at least the 12th Al Jazeera journalist Israel has killed in Gaza since launching its assault on the Palestinian territory in October 2023.

    Overall, Israel has killed at least 262 journalists in Gaza since the start of its genocidal war, and at least 700 Palestinians in the war-torn territory since signing a “ceasefire” in October 2025.

Trump says US military will remain in and around Iran until ‘real agreement’ is ‘fully complied with’

    In a post on his TruthSocial platform, the US President said this would include “US Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy.”

    Trump said that while it was “highly unlikely” the agreement would not be followed, but warned that if for “any reason it is not… then the “’Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

    “It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE,” he added.

US Senator Cory Booker says Democrats will force War Powers vote

    Booker said that he and other Senate Democrats will “once again force a vote on a War Powers Resolution to finally end this dangerous war in the Middle East”.

    “Trump’s unauthorised military actions and reckless war-mongering must stop,” Booker said in a post on social media.

    “The American people do not want and have not authorised [this war], but nonetheless keep paying the price,” he said.

    Under the War Powers Resolution, introduced in 1973 after the US war in Vietnam, the powers of the US president as commander-in-chief are limited, and can only be exercised if war is declared by Congress, or in the case of a “national emergency created by attack on” the US or its armed forces.

‘Patients we saw were all in shock’: head of Beirut hospital emergency department

By Alexander Durie

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

    Alain Kortbaoui, the head of the Emergency Medicine Department at the Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui, Beirut, said victims of Israel’s large-scale attacks across Lebanon were “all in shock”.

    Kortbaoui told Al Jazeera that the hospital was treating four patients with major injuries from the attacks, and that none of them “even understand what’s going on”.

    “The first one that came in had two floors that fell on him. He’s just waking up, and he doesn’t remember anything,” Kortbaoui said.

    “Our patients are all figuring out what’s going on,” he said.

    “Another patient who is pretty severely injured is disoriented, and she probably has a brain injury, so we’re doing scans for the time being with a neurosurgeon.”

‘It’s all a theatrical show that Trump is playing’

    We’ve been speaking to Iranians in downtown Tehran about the US-Iran ceasefire.

    The mood was mixed – relief from some, scepticism from others – but uncertainty ran through it all, with many doubting that diplomacy alone can deliver lasting peace.

    “If even one day passes without killing and bloodshed, that would be very good. It would make us happy. I swear to God, when I saw all this killing, I was so upset, I couldn’t even stay in my own home,” one woman said.

    Another man said that a ceasefire “has no meaning at all when our martyred leader has not even been buried yet, and when the rules of war are still being violated”. He specifically referred to the ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

    Yet another woman said she did not think the truce will last.

    “It’s all a theatrical show that Trump is playing. We have no belief in this ceasefire,” she said.

Al-Aqsa Mosque reopens after 40-day closure by Israel

    Worshippers have flocked to the Jerusalem holy site in the early hours of this morning, as Israeli authorities finally lifted restrictions that had lasted weeks.

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    Translation: Scenes from inside Al-Aqsa Mosque after its closure for 40 days by the Israeli occupation authorities.

US crude sees price rise after falling on news of US-Iran ceasefire

    US crude futures rose ⁠earlier this ⁠morning after settling in the aftermath of price falls on Wednesday ⁠due to US President Donald Trump ⁠announcing a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

    US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.68, or 2.84 percent, to $97.09 a barrel ‌at 22:18 GMT on Wednesday.

    Earlier in the day, world stock indexes surged while oil prices plunged 14 percent to settle near $95 per barrel, after falling as low as $90.40, on news of a two-week pause in the conflict.

Situation for shipping in Hormuz Strait uncertain as Israel continues attacks on Lebanon

By Resul Serdar Atas

Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    For the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of this chokepoint is still unclear.

    What we understand from the ceasefire announcement of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the Strait of Hormuz is going to be reopened fully.

    On Wednesday, early in the day, there have been some vessels passing through that chokepoint, but quite a limited number of them. Not something that we have seen before the war, when the daily average was about 130 vessels.

    Later, when Israel started its attacks on Lebanon, the IRGC came out with a statement saying that this is a violation of the ceasefire, and then the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were halting or suspending all the passages through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Later again, there was another statement from the IRGC that was reported by a state-affiliated news agency in Iran, quoting the IRGC, saying that now, the IRGC is announcing alternative traffic routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help ships avoid possible sea mines.

    So, one thing is not clear, whether the sea – this chokepoint – is already mined or not.

    This is quite a new element.

    We do not know if this is a way of intimidation by the IRGC or whether the sea is really mined.

    If it is really mined, then it is going to be quite complicated, because even if the parties fully agree to reopen it, then clearing these mines from the Gulf and the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz could take weeks, months and even years.

Japan’s Nikkei retreats as ceasefire optimism fades

    Japan’s Nikkei share average has retreated as relief over the US-Iran ceasefire faded, and investors have adopted a more cautious stance after the previous session’s sharp rally.

    The ‌Nikkei was down 0.4 percent at 56,036.75, as of 02:00 GMT, and is on track to snap a fourth-session rally if the current trend persists. The broader Topix was down 0.5 percent at 3,755.52.

    Nikkei 225 Futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange crossed the 57,000 level overnight.

    In the ⁠previous session, the Nikkei surged 5.4 percent to ⁠its highest point in more than one month on hopes that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen after Trump agreed to a two-week ⁠ceasefire with Iran.

‘It’s a war with no rules’: Lebanese Red Cross president makes call for blood donations

By Alexander Durie

Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

    “It’s a nightmare, a nightmare,” Antoine Zoghbi, president of the Lebanese Red Cross, said, shaking his head in disbelief in his office in the Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut, on the night of Israel’s most devastating attack on Lebanon since the start of this latest war in early March.

    “It’s different today because they struck without warning,” Zoghbi told Al Jazeera.

    “They struck many regions at the same time. And they struck hard to cause harm, to inflict pain. Pain, pain, pain. It’s a war with no rules. It’s a war with no limits,” he said.

    The Lebanese Red Cross are the sole supplier of blood banks to hospitals in Lebanon, and the organisation has made an open call for blood donations.

    Blood supplies are direly needed after Israel’s heavy strikes on Wednesday, which killed hundreds, particularly in hospitals overwhelmed with patients.

    Many people acted quickly to donate blood shortly after the attacks, according to Zoghbi.

    “Whenever there is a crisis, the Lebanese people stand together,” he said.

Gulf states ‘extremely concerned’ Israeli attacks on Lebanon threaten ceasefire

By Resul Serdar Atas

Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    They are extremely concerned that these violations could lead to the collapse of the ceasefire.

    Since the beginning of the war, they have been targeted by Iranian missiles, drones and rockets. We are talking about nearly 7,000 projectiles.

    As a result, we have seen major energy facilities such as Habshan in the United Arab Emirates, Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia, the Yanbu energy facilities, again in Saudi Arabia, and Ras Laffan, the largest LNG (liquefied natural gas) facility in Qatar.

    But in addition to that, the airports, the power plants, the desalination centres, residential areas, so they want an end to this.

    That’s why they are extremely concerned.

Top Palestinian child rights organisation closes under pressure from Israel

    Defense for Children International – Palestine has announced that it has been forced to cease operations after 35 years of defending Palestinian childrens’ rights due to “Israel’s targeted criminalisation of Palestinian human rights organisations.”

    “Palestinian children are living through genocide, apartheid, military occupation, and the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements,” the organisation said in a statement announcing its closure.

    “For decades DCIP has worked relentlessly to protect Palestinian children against all odd. Now, we look to others to take up the charge and fight for the future that Palestinian children deserve.”

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Australia’s FM decries ‘humanitarian crisis’ in Lebanon

    Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said that “the conflict in Lebanon is contributing to a humanitarian crisis”.

    Wong made the comments while sharing a joint statement from Australia and six other countries calling for an “urgent end to hostilities in Lebanon” and the protection of aid workers.

    “We condemn in the strongest terms actions that have killed UN peacekeepers and significantly increased the risks faced by humanitarian personnel in southern Lebanon,” according to the statement, which was also signed by Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom.

    The statement also welcomed the “ceasefire agreed between the United States, Israel and Iran”, but did not include any other references to Israel, which has continued to bombard Lebanon since the ceasefire was announced.

NATO chief says ‘large majority of European nations’ lived up to commitments

    More from Mark Rutte’s comments on his meeting with Trump.

    “The large majority of European countries, and that’s what we discussed today, have done what they promised before in a case like this,” he told CNN. “What the US did with Iran, they could do because so many European countries lived up to those commitments. Not all of them, and I totally understand his disappointment about that, but it is, therefore, a nuanced picture.”

    When asked if NATO thinks the US and Israel waged an illegal war against Iran, Rutte said, “No”. “Because NATO has always taken the position that degrading these capabilities of nuclear and ballistic missiles is crucial; that Iran can never get its hands on those two capabilities. There is widespread support for that point of view,” he said.

    When asked about Trump’s threat to kill the entire Iranian civilisation, Rutte declined to comment and said: “What I want you to know is that I support the president, and I know large parts of Europe do, when it comes to taking out the capacity of Iran to export chaos to the region, to Europe, to the whole world. They are one of the main enablers of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.”

    He added that European countries preferred diplomacy. But then, he said, “we run the risk that this would lead into the North Korean moment, where you talk so long, that at a certain moment, it’s beyond the point where you can still get this down, because then they would get their hands on the nuclear capacity”.

    When asked if the world was safer because of the war on Iran, he replied, “Absolutely”.

Israeli forces open fire, injuring Palestinian child in West Bank raid

    The Israeli army has wounded a Palestinian child after opening fire during a raid on the Arroub refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

    The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews transferred a 15-year-old boy to the hospital after he was shot with live ammunition during the raid on the camp south of Hebron.

    Israeli forces also raided the town of Hizma, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, firing stun grenades and tear gas. There have been no reports of injuries or arrests.

    In a separate incident in the Jordan Valley, the Red Crescent said another Palestinian was taken to hospital after being beaten by Israeli settlers in the Ain Shabab area.

‘It’s the same people’: Reza Pahlavi contradicts US claims of Iran regime change

    The exiled son of Iran’s last shah has contradicted US claims that so-called “regime change” has taken place in Iran.

    “What regime change  It’s the same people, perhaps weakened,” Reza Pahlavi told French media.

    Pahlavi, who lives in the US, also called for “ending the regime like a wounded animal that must be finished off”.

    Speaking at political events in the US, he previously promised to “make Iran great again”.

    Pahlavi’s father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was ousted in Iran’s 1979 revolution.

NATO chief says Trump ‘clearly disappointed’ with allies

    As we’ve been reporting, Trump has denounced NATO saying the alliance “wasn’t there when we needed them and they won’t be there if we need them again”.

    He issued the statement shortly after holding talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a closed-door meeting at the White House.

    Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, spoke to CNN about their talks, but declined to answer directly when asked if Trump had said he would leave the alliance.

    “Let me be absolutely clear. He is clearly disappointed, and with many NATO allies. And I can see his point,” Rutte said. “But at the same time, I was also able to point to the fact that the large majority of European nations has been helpful, with basing, with logistics, with overflights, with making sure that they live up to the commitments, and there’s also widespread support for the fact that’s degrading the nuclear and the ballistic missile capacity for Iran was really crucial. And that only the US was able, at this point, to do that.”

    Rutte said his discussion with Trump was “very frank” and “open”.

What is NATO’s Article 5 and why is Trump so angry with the military alliance

    US President Donald Trump has again criticised his NATO allies for refusing to join the US-Israel war on Iran.

    Here’s what to know about NATO:

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed on April 4, 1949, in the wake of World War II.

    The US was one of 12 founding members alongside Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

    The alliance has since grown to 32 members, including several more Western and Eastern European countries, as well as Turkiye.

    Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members, and triggers an obligation for each member to come to its assistance”.

    Article 5 has only been invoked once, on September 12, 2001, following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in the US.

    Trump has repeatedly criticised NATO for not joining his war on Iran, saying the alliance “wasn’t there when we needed them”.

    The US and Israel launched their current war on Iran on February 28 amid negotiations with the leadership in Tehran.

‘Wishful thinking’: No indication US will pressure Israel to end Lebanon attacks

By Mike Hanna

Reporting from Washington, DC

    It’s a big issue for the US as well, because ongoing Israeli operations in Lebanon – from the Iranian reaction to them – make very clear that the negotiations are at very real risk.

    That the whole agreement could well fall apart shortly after it has been reached, because of Israeli operations in Lebanon.

    Vice President JD Vance has indicated that Israel may restrain itself. Is that wishful thinking  We simply do not know.

Will the US bring pressure to bear on Israel should it feel that the negotiations are being fatally impaired by the Israeli action?