‘If we stop now, we did it for nothing,’ Beersheba resident says

Dan Johnson

Reporting from Beersheba

The air raid siren sounded just as I finished speaking to Michael Pollock whose apartment was damaged here this morning.

An Iranian missile hit the car park at 06:30 local time (04:30 BST) in front of these residential blocks in Beersheba. The windows are smashed, the balconies hanging off.

An excavator had just finishing filling in the crater. Seven people were injured here this morning.

Now we’re sheltering in the basement of the ruined blocks with the emergency teams and construction workers who were just starting the clear up.

Alerts are in place right across the country but Beersheba feels particularly vulnerable – the hospital here was hit yesterday, injuring more than 70 people.

Michael had just told me that he supported continued Israeli military action against Iran and he wanted the US to back it with more powerful weapons. “If we stop now we did it for nothing,” he says.

“They will have nukes and then we’re done” he tells me, before his city came under attack for a third time in two days.

When I asked Michael if he feared continuing conflict would mean more attacks, more damage and injury, he says “I’m sure bad things will continue to happen until the people who try to destroy us are no more”.

Security review launched after activists break into RAF base

24 minutes ago Share Save Ruth Comerford BBC News Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent Share Save

BBC

A security review has been launched across UK military bases after pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed two military planes with red paint. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the action as “disgraceful”, saying it was an “act of vandalism”. Footage posted online by Palestine Action on Friday showed two people inside the Oxfordshire airbase in darkness, with one riding on a scooter up to an Airbus Voyager and spraying paint into its jet engine. Downing Street said the incident had not blocked any planned aircraft movements or stopped any operations. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it is working with Thames Valley Police, which is leading the investigation.

Defence Secretary John Healey said he was “really disturbed” by the incident and had ordered an investigation and the wider security review. Palestine Action said the activists evaded security and claimed they had put the air-to-air refuelling tankers “out of service”. However, RAF engineers are assessing the damage and a defence source told the BBC they did not expect the incident to affect operations. In a statement, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.” Thames Valley Police confirmed it had received a report about people gaining access to the base and causing criminal damage. “Inquiries are ongoing to locate and arrest those responsible,” the force said. RAF Brize Norton serves as the hub for UK strategic air transport and refuelling, including flights to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The air force has conducted reconnaissance flights over Gaza out of the Cyprus base. The base is encircled by a large perimeter fence, with security camera and sensors in the area in addition to manned security checkpoints. Patrols around the base are also carried out from time to time. But a defence source said these measures would not have been able to provide complete cover around the large airbase. Palestine Action has engaged in similar activity since the start of the current war in Gaza, predominantly targeting arms companies. In May, it claimed responsibility for the daubing of a US military plane in Ireland. The group said the activists who entered RAF Brize Norton used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the planes’ engines.

Palestine Action Footage posted by Palestine Action activists riding on scooters inside the Oxfordshire airbase

UK preparing to charter flights from Israel, Lammy says

The statement came as Lammy arrived in Geneva for talks with Iran, in the hopes of negotiating an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Israeli airspace is currently closed due to the ongoing conflict with Iran. The two nations have exchanged waves of air strikes since Israel targeted military and nuclear sites, as well as military commanders and nuclear scientists, a week ago.

David Lammy confirmed the government was working with the Israeli authorities to provide flights out of Tel Aviv airport, the number of which will be based on demand.

The UK is arranging charter flights to return British nationals from Israel once Israeli airspace re-opens, the foreign secretary has said.

British nations who wish to return home from Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been advised to complete a form with their email and UK passport number.

Lammy said this was to “register their presence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be contacted with further guidance on these flights”.

Flights will only be provided to those who hold a UK passport, the Foreign Office said.

Land routes out of Israel remain open and Lammy said UK staff will be on hand to support British nationals who have crossed the border – including providing transportation to nearby airports.

Earlier, the Foreign Office said families of staff at the UK embassy in Tel Aviv and the British consulate in Jerusalem had been temporarily withdrawn “as a precautionary measure”.

The talks in Geneva with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will also include top diplomats from the EU, Germany and France. They are Iran’s first face-to-face discussions with Western counterparts since the conflict began last week.

Ahead of the meeting, Lammy said “a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution”.

The conflict began on 13 June, when Israel launched a series of attacks across Iran, stating that they were to prevent Iran producing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Tehran retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, and the two have traded strikes in the days following.

Several other countries have initiated complex evacuation operations.

Australia is repatriating around 1,500 nationals from Iran and 1,200 from Israel. Some Australians have already left Israel on a ship to Cyprus.

China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and several hundred from Israel, its foreign ministry says, advising nationals to leave via land routes.

India has said it plans to evacuate nationals in Israel who wish to leave, while Japan is sending two military aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of its citizens from both Iran and Israel.

Meanwhile, around 3,000 Pakistanis have left Iran since hostiles began.

Israel strikes unfinished Arak heavy water reactor in Iran

16 hours ago Share Save David Gritten BBC News Share Save

Reuters Iranian state TV broadcast footage showing smoke rising from the Arak facility

Israeli jets have bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in central Iran during a wave of air strikes on the seventh day of the conflict between the two countries. The Israeli military said it targeted the Arak heavy water reactor’s core seal to stop it being used for “nuclear weapons development”. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the reactor was hit and that it contained no nuclear material. Spent fuel from heavy water reactors contains plutonium suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iran – which says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful – agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to redesign and rebuild Arak so it could not produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The following year, the IAEA said Iran had removed Arak’s calandria, or reactor core, and rendered it “inoperable”. The global nuclear watchdog’s latest quarterly report from late May said minor civil construction work was ongoing at the reactor, and that Iran expected it to be commissioned this year and to start operating in 2026. The Israeli military said Iran’s government had “deliberately ordered [workers] not to complete the conversion… in order to exert pressure on the West”. “The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” it added. Black-and-white aerial footage of the attack released by the military appeared to show a bomb hitting the domed roof of the reactor building and several large explosions from Arak, which about 250km (155 miles) south-west of Tehran and is also known as Khondab. Daytime video broadcast by Iranian state TV showed two large plumes of white smoke rising from the facility. It also cited Iranian officials as saying that the site had been “secured in advance” and that there was “no contamination resulting from the attack”. Satellite imagery showed a large hole in the reactor building’s roof. Also visible were what analysts identified as destroyed distillation towers belonging to the adjacent heavy water production plant. The IAEA initially reported that damage to the heavy water plant was not visible. But the agency later said it had assessed that key buildings at the facility were damaged, including the distillation unit.

The Israeli military also announced on Thursday that its fighter jets had struck a “nuclear weapons development site” at Natanz. It is the location of Iran’s main plant producing enriched uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel for power stations but, if further enriched, can be used in nuclear weapons. The first wave of Israeli strikes last Friday destroyed the above-ground part of Natanz’s Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), where cascades of centrifuges were enriching uranium, as well as electricity infrastructure at the site. The IAEA also found indications of direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls. Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, told the BBC on Monday that the sudden loss of power at the underground enrichment halls was likely to have severely damaged, if not destroyed, the centrifuges operating there. Four buildings were destroyed in a separate attack on Friday on the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, he said. But very little, if any, damage was visible at Iran’s underground enrichment plant at Fordo, he added. President Donald Trump is said to be weighing up whether the US should participate in a strike on Fordo because it is the only country with a conventional bomb large enough to destroy it. Sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that his mindset was that disabling the facility was necessary.

Israeli military kills 23 Palestinians near aid site in Gaza, witnesses and medics say

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shooting incidents near aid sites

The GHF has denied a shooting occurred near its sites. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in similar incidents since late May.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops fired warning shots after people gathered nearby. An Israeli aircraft then struck “several suspects” who the IDF said continued walking towards troops.

Tanks and drones fired at thousands of people near a distribution centre in central Gaza run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the witnesses and medics said.

Israeli forces have killed 23 Palestinians after opening fire on crowds gathered near an aid distribution site, witnesses and medics say.

That is when the GHF took over most aid distribution in Gaza in an attempt by Israel to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid.

The move followed a complete three-month Israeli blockade during which no food entered the territory, putting the entire population at critical risk of famine according to a UN-backed assessment.

In almost all incidents, witnesses have said that Israeli troops opened fire, although there have also been reports of local armed gunmen shooting at people.

A spokesperson for al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat confirmed they received 23 bodies and more than 100 wounded. Images from the hospital showed bodies on the floor.

The IDF said the incident was under review.

The UN children’s agency Unicef said the Israel- and US-backed food distribution system run by GHF was “making a desperate humanitarian situation worse”.

Unicef spokesperson James Elder said a lack of public clarity on when the sites, some of which are in combat zones, were open was leading to mass casualty events.

“There have been instances where information (was) shared that a site is open, but then it’s communicated on social media that they’re closed, but that information was shared when Gaza’s internet was down and people had no access to it,” he told reporters in Geneva.

He said many women and children had been wounded while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died.

On Thursday, at least 12 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces while waiting for aid, according to rescuers and medics. The GHF denied there were any incidents near its site. The Israeli military told Reuters that “suspects” had attempted to approach forces in the area of Netzarim, and that soldiers had fired warning shots.

On Tuesday witnesses said more than 50 people were killed when Israeli forces opened fire and shelled an area near a junction to the east of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had been gathering in the hope of getting flour from a World Food Programme (WFP) site, which also includes a community kitchen nearby. The Israeli military said “a gathering” had been identified “in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area” and the incident was under review.

Unicef also warned that Gaza was facing a man-made drought as its water systems were collapsing. Just 40% of rinking water production facilities were still functioning, Mr Elder said.

“Children will begin to die of thirst,” he said, adding: “We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza.”

In a separate Israeli attack on Friday, a medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent told the BBC that 11 Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a home in the al-Ma’sar area west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Eyewitnesses said Israeli warplanes struck a two-storey house belonging to the Ayash family.

Hamas-run civil defence officials say Israel has carried out a wave of deadly air strikes on Gaza in recent days, following a brief lull in air operations that coincided with the escalation between Israel and Iran.

They reported on Thursday that at least 77 Palestinians had been killed in such strikes, which heavily targeted the Shati area in western Gaza City.

Local sources speculated that the renewed strikes may be linked to the targeting of Hamas security elements who have recently re-emerged across parts of Gaza, attempting to reassert control amid a breakdown in law and order. These movements appear to have been timed with the temporary easing of Israeli aerial surveillance due to the simultaneous military focus on Iran.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,706 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including more than 15,000 children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.