Witnesses have described the bloody aftermath of an Israeli strike on a crowded seaside cafe in Gaza, which left at least 24 dead and many more injured on Tuesday.

Al-Baqa cafe, close to the harbour in Gaza City, was almost full in the early afternoon when it was hit by a missile, immediately transforming a scene of relative calm amid the biggest urban centre in Gaza into one of carnage.

Among those killed, who included many women, children and elderly people, was a Palestinian photojournalist, Ismail Abu Hatab, and an artist, Frans al-Salmi, who had exhibited internationally.

View image in fullscreen Ismail Abu Hatab, a photojournalist, was among those killed at the cafe. Photograph: Ismail Abu Hatab

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that it was reviewing the attack, which it said had struck “several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip”.

Abu al-Nour, 60, said he had stepped outside the cafe to get some lunch and was returning when the attack took place.

View image in fullscreen Aftermath of the Israeli airstrike at Al-Baqa cafeteria on Gaza’s seafront. Photograph: Enas Tantesh/The Guardian

“Just as I was close, a missile struck. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and the place filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. I couldn’t see anything. I ran toward the cafe and found it destroyed. I went inside and saw bodies lying on the ground. All the cafe workers were killed,” he told the Guardian.

“There was a family there with their young children – why were they targeted? It was a place where people came to find some relief from the pressures of life.”

The cafe and restaurant had so far survived more than 20 months of war and offered some respite from the relentless violence of the conflict.

“There’s always a lot of people at that spot, which offers drinks, spaces for families and internet access,” said Ahmad al-Nayrab, 26, who was walking on the nearby beach when he heard a loud explosion.

“It was a massacre,” he told AFP. “I saw bits of bodies flying everywhere, bodies mangled and burned. It was a bloodcurdling scene; everybody was screaming.”

Adam, 21, was working nearby, renting chairs and tables on the small promenade.

1:17 Israeli airstrike on popular Gaza beachside cafe leaves at least 30 dead – video report

“When the strike happened, we dropped to the ground as shrapnel began falling on us. We started running, trying to understand what had happened, and we helped with the rescue efforts. When I reached the site, the scenes were beyond anything imaginable. I knew all the workers at the place. It was full of customers of all ages,” he told the Guardian.

Other witnesses described seeing a dead four-year-old child, an elderly man with both legs severed and many others with severe injuries. Photographs showed pools of blood and flesh amid shattered concrete columns and roofing, as well as a deep crater suggesting the use of a powerful weapon by Israel.

The IDF spokesperson said that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.

View image in fullscreen The cafe and restaurant had survived more than 20 months of war and offered some respite from the relentless violence of the conflict. Photograph: Enas Tantesh/The Guardian

Two other strikes in Gaza City killed 15 people, according to al-Shifa hospital, which received the casualties, and there were also reports from witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s health ministry that Israeli forces killed 11 people who had been seeking food in the south of the territory.

Israel has ramped up its offensive in Gaza in recent days, with multiple waves of airstrikes and new “evacuation orders” which have forced tens of thousands of people to leave makeshift homes across a swath of the north of the devastated territory.

The orders warned of impending assaults and told Palestinians to head south to overcrowded coastal zones where there are few facilities and a limited supply of water. About 80% of the territory is now covered by such orders or controlled by Israeli forces.

The IDF has signalled that it plans to advance into the centre of Gaza City, the most densely populated part of Gaza, to fight Hamas militants based there.

The war began when Hamas-led militants launched an attack into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel’s subsequent military offensive has killed more than 56,500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, displacing almost the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza and reducing much of the territory to rubble.

From 2d ago 11.22 BST Iran says it has ‘serious doubts’ over Israel’s commitment to ceasefire Back to some news regarding Iran. The country’s armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi has said Tehran is not convinced Israel will honour a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war earlier this month. “We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power, and as we have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force” if attacked again, Mousavi was quoted as saying by state TV, six days into the ceasefire which Donald Trump hastily announced on Tuesday. Iran has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear program. Its parliament has agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the IAEA, which has monitored the program for years. Share Updated at 11.23 BST

2d ago 15.56 BST Closing summary Iran’s armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi said Tehran is not convinced Israel will honour a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war earlier this month. “We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power, and as we have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force” if attacked again, he said.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”, despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks.

At least 56,500 Palestinian people have been killed and 133,419 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said. Over 85 Palestinian people were killed and 365 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said in its regular update.

An Israeli court has postponed Benjamin Netanyahu ’s testimony in his corruption trial after he requested a delay with the support of Donald Trump .

Iran’s judiciary said that the Israeli airstrike on the notorious Tehran’s Evin prison on Monday killed at least 71 people. Thanks for joining us. We are closing this blog now. You can find all our latest coverage of the Middle East here. Share Updated at 15.56 BST

2d ago 15.27 BST The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites. On Friday the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying they had been told to fire at crowds near food distribution sites to keep them away from Israeli military positions. The soldiers said they had concerns about using unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat. You can read the full story by my colleagues Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh here: IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites Read more Share

2d ago 14.57 BST Iran will likely be able to produce enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months’, nuclear watchdog chief says The UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”, despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks. “The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CBS News in an interview. “Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,” he added, according to the transcript of an interview due to air on Sunday. For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordow, the main uranium enrichment facility. “We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said. You can read more of his comments in this story. View image in fullscreen International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months’. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA Share

2d ago 14.22 BST Iran demands UN recognise Israel and US as being responsible for the 12-day war Iran has demanded that the UN recognise Israel and the US as being to blame for their recent 12-day war, in a letter to the secretary-general published on Sunday. “We officially request hereby that the security council recognise the Israeli regime and the United States as the initiators of the act of aggression and acknowledge their subsequent responsibility, including the payment of compensation and reparations,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a letter to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. There has not been an official response to this from Israel or the US yet. Israel relentlessly attacked Iran beginning on 13 June, targeting its nuclear sites, defence systems, high-ranking military officials and atomic scientists. But the attacks killed at least 627 people, including many civilians, according to Iran’s health ministry. The US then struck three nuclear facilities in Iran – Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan – with “bunker buster” bombs over the weekend, prompting Iran to launch missiles at a US military base in Qatar in response. There were no reported casualties. Retaliatory missile attacks by Iran on Israel killed 28 people during the 12-day war, according to Israeli authorities. Share Updated at 14.23 BST

2d ago 13.58 BST Israeli court postpones Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance in corruption trial An Israeli court has postponed Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial after he requested a delay with the support of his ally, US president Donald Trump. “Following the explanations given… we partially accept the request and cancel at this stage Mr Netanyahu’s hearings scheduled” for this week, the Jerusalem district court said in its ruling. Netanyahu’s lawyers had asked the court to excuse him from testifying over the next two weeks so he could focus on national security issues following a ceasefire with Iran and amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Netanyahu is standing trial for three charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies the charges. The Israeli leader has been on trial for a long time: since May 2020, partially because he has been employing numerous legal delay tactics. Trump has called for the long-running corruption trial to be cancelled or, at least, for the Israeli leader to be pardoned. View image in fullscreen Benjamin Netanyahu is facing charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three complex, overlapping criminal cases. Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/AP Share Updated at 14.00 BST

2d ago 13.31 BST In an earlier post, we showed images of Palestinian people mourning loved ones killed overnight by an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis. Here is a video of footage compiled in the aftermath of the attack: 1:12 At least five killed in Israeli strike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis – video Share

2d ago 13.07 BST Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 56,500, says health ministry At least 56,500 Palestinian people have been killed and 133,419 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Over 85 Palestinian people were killed and 365 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said. It added in its post on Telegram: A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them. Share

2d ago 12.46 BST In further updates to reports of the death toll in Gaza on Sunday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 17 people including three children. Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 16 people died in airstrikes at five locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre. Share

2d ago 11.59 BST Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli attacks have killed at least 14 people, including three children, so far on Sunday. Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 13 people were killed in airstrikes at four locations around the Gaza Strip, and another from Israeli gunfire near an aid distribution centre. Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Wednesday that at least 549 Palestinian people had been killed and 4,066 others injured by Israeli forces while trying to access humanitarian supplies over the last month. Share Updated at 12.01 BST

2d ago 11.22 BST Iran says it has ‘serious doubts’ over Israel’s commitment to ceasefire Back to some news regarding Iran. The country’s armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi has said Tehran is not convinced Israel will honour a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war earlier this month. “We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power, and as we have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force” if attacked again, Mousavi was quoted as saying by state TV, six days into the ceasefire which Donald Trump hastily announced on Tuesday. Iran has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear program. Its parliament has agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the IAEA, which has monitored the program for years. Share Updated at 11.23 BST

2d ago 10.28 BST Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza. These pictures show mourners weeping during the funeral held for Palestinian people killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on Khan Younis: View image in fullscreen Mourners cry during the funeral held for Palestinians killed in an overnight Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters View image in fullscreen Khan Younis has been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military during its assault on the Gaza strip. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters View image in fullscreen A mourner weeps while holding a child during the funeral for Palestinians killed in the Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters Share Updated at 10.29 BST

2d ago 10.12 BST Lisa O’Carroll Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s acting Ireland correspondent and also writes about the EU and Brexit The EU must come up with a more assertive response to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the violations of international law, the bloc’s former chief diplomat has said. In a strongly worded article, Josep Borrell said the EU had a “duty” to intervene and must come up with its own concerted plan to end the war instead of relying on the US. “Europe can no longer afford to linger at the margins,” he said in the article that was co-authored with Kalypso Nicolaïdis, an occasional adviser to the EU and professorial chair in international affairs at the Florence school of transnational governance at the European University Institute. “Not only is Europe’s own security at stake, but more important, European history imposes a duty on Europeans to intervene in response to Israel’s violations of international law,” they say, adding: “Europeans cannot stay the hapless fools in this tragic story, dishing out cash with their eyes closed.” View image in fullscreen Josep Borrell has previously accused the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Their intervention in Foreign Affairs magazine comes as EU member states continue to struggle to unite on action. Last week Borrell’s successor, Kaja Kallas, said it was “very clear” that Israel had breached its human rights commitments in Gaza but said the “concrete question” was what action the member states could agree on. Her remarks were made after a review of the EU-Israel association agreement, a trade and cooperation pact, was triggered last month by 17 member states in protest at Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza. You can read the full story here: EU ‘cannot linger at the margins’ of Gaza conflict, says former top diplomat Read more Share

2d ago 09.48 BST Deadly Israeli attacks across Gaza continue In Khan Younis, a city in the south of the Gaza strip, five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment near Mawasi, medics said. Meanwhile, medical sources at al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza City told Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, that five bodies were received at the facility following an Israeli airstrike on a home in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood, northeast of the city. Share Updated at 09.50 BST

2d ago 09.39 BST Germany’s interior minister Alexander Dobrindt expressed support for Israel this morning during a visit to the site of an Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv. It was the first visit by a senior foreign official since Israel’s war with Iran ended on Tuesday after a ceasefire was announced. “We must deepen our support for Israel,” Dobrindt said, speaking amid the rubble in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian strike killed nine people, including three children. שר החוץ גדעון סער סייר עם שר הפנים של גרמניה אלכסנדר דוברינדט באתר נפילת הטיל בבת ים. השר סער קרא לגרמניה, בריטניה וצרפת ליישם את מנגנון ה-Snapback, המאפשר החזרה של סנקציות שהוסרו מעל איראן@diklaaharon pic.twitter.com/7P9n9RIOvA — כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 29, 2025 The comments came after Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, reportedly told lawmakers in the Bundestag last week that his country’s “reason of state is to defend the state of Israel in its existence” as he backed Israel’s “right to defend” itself against Iran. On the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada on 17 June, he had said Israel was doing the “dirty work… for all of us” by targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Germany authorized €326.5m in arms exports to Israel in 2023 — a sharp increase from previous years, according to Reuters. But approvals fell last year amid mounting legal and political pressure over Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has been increasingly described as a genocide against the Palestinian civilian population. Share Updated at 09.50 BST

2d ago 09.23 BST During the 12-day war, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 627 people, including civilians, and injured nearly 4,900 others in Iran, according to official figures. The war on Iran – cast as a preemptive attack for self-defence – was launched by Israel and later joined in by the US. Both countries struck Iranian nuclear facilities but did not destroy the Iranian nuclear programme, likely setting it back by a couple of months, according to an early Pentagon intelligence assessment of the attack. View image in fullscreen Satellite image shows a close up view of destroyed buildings at Isfahan nuclear technology centre, after it was hit by US airstrikes, in Isfahan, Iran, on 22 June 2025. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters Israel claimed the attacks were necessary before its adversary got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the US government had assessed that Iran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during its war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent media restrictions. Share Updated at 12.15 BST

2d ago 09.06 BST Israeli airstrike on Tehran’s Evin prison killed at least 71 people, Iran’s judiciary says Iran’s judiciary has said that the Israeli airstrike on the notorious Tehran’s Evin prison killed at least 71 people. Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir posted on the office’s official Mizan news agency website that those killed on Monday included staff, soldiers, prisoners and members of visiting families. We have not been able to independently verify these claims. The 23 June attack, the day before the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took hold, hit several prison buildings and prompted concerns about the safety of the inmates, many of whom were detained for political reasons by the Iranian government France’s foreign minister, for example, said the attack was “unacceptable” because it endangered the lives of two of its citizens held there. Jahangir did not break down the casualty figures but said the attack had hit the prison’s infirmary, engineering building, judicial affairs and visitation hall, where visiting family members were killed and injured. View image in fullscreen Recuers search through the rubble of a damaged section of Evin Prison following the Israeli airstrike. Photograph: Mostafa Roudaki/AP Share

2d ago 08.52 BST Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US was “not going to stand” for what he framed as the continued prosecution of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges. “The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. An Israeli court on Friday rejected Netanyahu’s request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, ruling that he had not provided adequate justification for his request. Netanyahu is standing trial for three charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies the accusations levelled against him and say they are politically motivated. Israel relies heavily on the US, a vitally important strategic ally that provides diplomatic cover and weapons that allow it to continue its assault on Gaza. Share

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia sent Ukraine at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Kyiv, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded PoW’s and remains of troops. Zelenskyy said that an “Israeli mercenary” fighting for Moscow was among the dead Ukraine had received. Officials did not disclose the identities of the bodies: “They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said. He said the Russian side insisted the dead were all Ukrainians.

Zelenskyy has also accused western firms of supplying Russia with “machine tools” used to make weapons, in remarks made public Saturday. He said companies from Germany, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Japan were among them, as well as one business “supplying a small number of components from the United States.” He said most of the companies supplying tools to Russia were from China, but that dozens of western firms were also culpable: “We have passed on all this information to all countries, our partners, everyone … We strongly urge everyone to impose sanctions on these companies,” the Ukrainian leader added.

The Ukrainian president also called on Ukraine’s western partners to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to helping Kyiv ramp up weapons production and said the country plans to sign agreements this summer to start exporting weapon production technologies. In remarks released for publication Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania to launch joint weapon production. He also said on Saturday he was planning staff changes in Ukraine’s diplomatic corps and also in government institutions to boost the country’s resilience. He gave no time frame for the decisions.

Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a leading Belarus opposition figure, was freed on Saturday after more than five years in prison, in the most significant move so far by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko to try to ease his isolation from the West. Lukashenko has been shunned by the West for years and faced sanctions after brutally crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in 2020 and then allowing Vladimir Putin, his close ally, to launch part of his 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory. The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that Lukashenko met with US president Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, in Minsk.

In the Donetsk region, Russian strikes on Saturday on key towns on the eastern front of the war in Ukraine killed at least one person. The Russian military said its forces had captured another small village in its slow advance westward through Donetsk region. Russian forces struck Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – two cities that Moscow will target as its forces press on. Donetsk region Governor Vadym Filashkin said one person died and three were injured in Sloviansk. In Kramatorsk, officials said at least one person was trapped under rubble and a number of other residents were injured.

In the north, another person died in a drone attack in the north near the Russian border, Ukrainian officials said. A mass drone attack on the town of Nizhyn near the Russian border killed one person and damaged local infrastructure. Reports from Kharkiv region in the north-east suggested Russian troops were closing in on the city of Kupiansk. On Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said it had captured the village of Moskovka, just outside the city of Kupiansk.

From 20 Jun 2025 05.18 BST Education minister intervenes to address crisis unfolding at ANU Caitlin Cassidy The education minister, Jason Clare, has launched an “unprecedented” intervention into the leadership of the Australian National University (ANU) by writing to the vice-chancellor and referring governance and management concerns to the higher education regulator.

The move follows continued backlash over the university’s leadership decisions, including an ongoing restructure that would shed more than 600 jobs to make savings of $250m. Education minister Jason Clare. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP In March, more than 800 ANU staff passed a no-confidence motion in the leadership of the vice-chancellor, Prof Genevieve Bell, and the chancellor, Julie Bishop.

Clare said following “significant concerns” raised by Labor colleagues he had written to ANU on 6 June “seeking assurances that they are managing these issues appropriately”. He had also forwarded criticisms raised by independent senator David Pocock to TEQSA.

At a town hall meeting held by Pocock on Wednesday, he accused management of “trashing” the university over its handling of the restructure, including breaching its enterprise agreement, and giving wrong information to the Senate.

The ANU was approached for comment. Share Updated at 05.30 BST

20 Jun 2025 08.15 BST Caitlin Cassidy Australia National University to request Clare and Pocock provide clarity on compliance act concerns The vice-chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU), Prof Genevieve Bell, says she is “disheartened” by concerns raised by the education minister and independent Senator David Pocock over the university’s governance. Both Jason Clare and Pocock have written to Bell taking issue with the university’s restructuring process and alleging ANU of giving wrong information to the Senate in a breach of the Public Interest Disclosure (PID) and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability (PGPA) acts. Bell said the allegations were something the university took “very seriously”. To date, no allegations of any breach of ANU’s responsibilities under either the PID Act or the PGPA Act have been made to the university. We are particularly disheartened to hear a public assertion that we have breached our obligations under the PID Act. This is something that the University and the team involved take extremely seriously, not least because a breach of that act can attract significant penalties, including imprisonment. Bell said ANU would be writing to Pocock and Clare today requesting clarity on the issues and would work with the regulator on addressing any compliance concerns. Share Updated at 08.24 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.58 BST Jordyn Beazley Public services union says buck stops with ministers as committee seeks warrant for staffers who did not appear before caravan inquiry The public services union has said its members shouldn’t be “pawns in parliamentary parlour games” after a parliamentary committee agreed to seek a warrant for the arrest of five Minns government staffers in a bid to get them to appear before an inquiry. Stewart Little, the general secretary of the Public Service Association, said in a statement: If upper house MPs want to know the facts they need to concentrate on getting the premier to appear before them, or the relevant ministers. In a parliamentary democracy it’s the elected members who call the shots and the responsibility lies with them, the buck stops there. They are accountable to the public through the electoral process as are departmental heads and senior bureaucrats. Pulling in staffers is the pits, drag in ministers or the senior departmental heads by all means, but junior public servants and parliamentary staffers have no bearing or consequence or meaning on the political process. Share Updated at 08.01 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.52 BST International law expert says Israeli attack on Iran cannot be justified under UN charter Following on from an earlier blog post: and international law experts argue Israel’s actions against Iran cannot be justified under the UN charter, which allows for a state to defend itself against armed attack. Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, argued that Israel’s actions were illegal. My own position is that on all the available evidence, Israel is not exercising a right of self-defence, but arguably has engaged in an act of aggression. Rothwell said under a “very generous” interpretation of article 51 of the UN charter it could be argued Israel was engaging in a form of “anticipatory” self-defence. “That [anticipatory self-defence] is widely considered among international law scholars, and indeed among the practice of states, as being at the very, very outer edge of what is a legitimate exercise of self-defence,” he said. Rothwell also argued that given Israel could not legitimately claim it was acting in self-defence, nor could the United States if Donald Trump ultimately decided to intervene to directly attack Iran. Share Updated at 07.59 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.47 BST Greens say Marles’s comments on Israel’s right to self-defence is attempting to ‘justify the unjustifiable’ David Shoebridge, the Greens spokesperson for defence and foreign affairs, said the defence minister Richard Marles’ repeated reference to Israel’s right to self-defence when pushed on the attacks in Iran was attempting to “justify the unjustifiable”. “Bombing nuclear reactors and nuclear storage sites is immensely dangerous to the people of Iran and the world,” Shoebridge said. Responding to questions about Israeli’s wave of missile strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and missile sites, Marles told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Thursday: We want to see diplomacy and dialogue being pursued at this moment and we are deeply concerned about the risk of escalating even more. Now in saying that, we absolutely acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself and we absolutely acknowledge the threat that the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile program represents to the peace and stability of the region and the world, and we’ve been very clear about. Marles said the language – which the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has also used – was an expression of Australia’s “national interest”. Israel has sought to justify the strikes – which began on 13 June – as necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, which it said posed an existential threat to the Jewish state. Marles was contacted for comment. Share Updated at 07.58 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.41 BST Rafqa Touma That’s all from me this afternoon. Handing over to Cait Kelly who will keep you updated with this evening’s news. Share

20 Jun 2025 07.27 BST Patrick Commins Independent watchdog says proposed Coalition budget would have caused long-term deficits – though not as much as the Greens The Coalition’s policies they took to the last election would have left the budget a little better off in the coming few years, but substantially worse off in the longer term, according to the independent budget watchdog. The Parliamentary Budget Office’s newly released election costings report reveals the Greens’ policy platform would have left the budget with the biggest deficits, not least the roughly $15bn a year for putting dental care into Medicare. The PBO report said that “the Coalition’s platform improves the debt position over the forward estimates relative to PEFO (but with an increase in debt by the end of the medium term) and the Greens’ platform would increase the debt level considerably”. (PEFO is the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook.) The PBO did not find that the costings presented by the parties leading into the election were much different from their own estimates. The Coalition’s policies they took to the last election would have left the budget a little better off in the coming few years, but substantially worse off in the longer term, according to the independent budget watchdog. Share Updated at 07.32 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.14 BST ‘A new low’: chair of ‘fake terrorism’ caravan plot inquiry to pursue warrants for arrest of no-show Minns staffers Rod Roberts, chair of the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the “fake terrorism” caravan plot, says “everybody else that has ever been asked to appear before a committee … have always attended” after five Minns government staffers who were summoned did not show up. Roberts spoke to reporters a short while ago: I just expressed to [the legislative council president] what the committee’s determination was this morning. That we believe we should be pursuing warrants for the arrest of these people, to bring them before the committee so we can obtain from them the evidence that we require. Asked if today’s events were unprecedented, Roberts agreed: Well it is, yes. Everybody else that’s ever been asked to appear before a committee or ministerial staffers have always attended. Some have required a summons, but when they’ve been served the summons, they’ve attended. Today is a new low in terms of politics, and these people not responding to lawfully issued summonses. Share Updated at 07.27 BST

20 Jun 2025 07.00 BST Josh Butler Canavan flags review of Nationals position on net zero Matt Canavan says he has been tasked to review the Nationals’ position on net zero, and will involve the public in a process because “Australians deserve their say” on the climate and energy policy. It comes as the Nationals at state and federal level reevaluate or seek to dump the policy. The party’s leader, David Littleproud, had previously said the net zero commitment from the Nationals would be reviewed. Canavan, the Nationals senator from Queensland, tweeted this afternoon: “I have been asked by the Nationals party room to help measure the REAL cost of net zero.” While the details of this are still being worked out, I welcome your input in coming months on what you think about net zero. We will have various ways that you can be involved, so watch this space! He shared a screenshot of an article from the Australian Financial Review which reported fellow Nationals senator Ross Cadell was also on the internal party subcommittee and others may also join. “For too long, we have shot first and asked questions later on net zero. The Australian people never got to vote on net zero. That needs to change. Australians deserve their say,” Canavan wrote. It comes after weeks of some in the Nationals seeking to walk back the net zero commitment. As previously reported, the NSW branch had voted to dump net zero, as has the Country Liberal party in the Northern Territory. NSW Nationals vote to dump net zero by 2050, increasing pressure on Littleproud to follow suit Read more Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has been regularly posting on Facebook in opposition to net zero, writing just this afternoon: The problem you all have as taxpayers is you have not been told what the total amount of the subsidies are you have now paid, the fruits of which are butchering the Australian power grid. Share Updated at 07.02 BST

20 Jun 2025 06.43 BST Martin Pegan Former Neighbours actor asks to be spared conviction for alleged Nazi salute The former Neighbours and McLeod’s Daughters actor Damien Richardson is asking to be spared a criminal conviction for allegedly performing a Nazi salute, AAP reports. Richardson, 55, faced Moorabbin magistrates court in Melbourne on Friday, charged with performing a Nazi salute on 14 September 2024. Richardson is accused of intentionally performing the salute “whilst knowing that the symbol is associated with Nazi ideology” in a public place at Urban St restaurant in McKinnon, the court was told. His lawyer, Peter Monagle, said Richardson was preparing material to hand to prosecutors asking he be given a diversion, which would mean he is spared a criminal conviction for the offence. The prosecution must agree to the diversion and then recommend it to a magistrate. “The issues in dispute are legal,” Monagle told the court. “There was an action performed by my client, but there are provisions in the act that we say cover that, but the prosecution argues doesn’t cover that.” Richardson, who is on summons, will next face court on 15 July. He starred as Gary Canning in Neighbours from 2014 to 2020, and also appeared in Blue Heelers, McLeod’s Daughters and Wentworth. Share Updated at 06.45 BST

20 Jun 2025 06.30 BST 19-year-old allegedly stabbed at bus stop outside Wynyard station this morning A 19-year-old was allegedly stabbed at a Sydney bus stop this morning, with NSW Police appealing to the public for information. Officers were called to the corner of George and Angel St just before 5:30am after a man was found suffering a stab wound to his abdomen, police said in a statement. Police rendered first aid until NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived and the man – aged 19 – was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital for further treatment. A crime scene was established and police are investigating. The alleged stabbing happened at a bus stop outside Wynyard Station on Carrington St in Sydney’s CBD around 5am, police believe. Another man was seen in the area at the time of the incident, described as of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance with facial hair, and was last seen wearing a beige-coloured hooded jumper and light-coloured pants. Police are urging anyone with information about this man to contact Sydney City Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Share Updated at 06.33 BST

20 Jun 2025 06.02 BST Rafqa Touma Thank you to Nick Visser for rolling the day’s blog! I’ll keep you posted from here. Share Updated at 06.03 BST