Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declared that his country’s “victory” in the recent 12-day conflict with Iran had paved the way for new opportunities, most importantly the potential to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Addressing security officers, Netanyahu said, as quoted by AFP: “Many opportunities have opened up now following this victory. First of all, to rescue the hostages.”

He added, “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both goals.”

‘Israel’s Military Operation Opened Broad Regional Possibilities’: Netanyahu During Visit To Shin Bet

According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu made these remarks during a visit to a Shin Bet facility in southern Israel. He highlighted that Israel’s military operation had opened “broad regional possibilities.” Netanyahu stressed the priority: “First of all, [we need] to free the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I believe that we will achieve both tasks.”

During the visit, Netanyahu met with “S.,” the acting head of the domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, Times of Israel reported. The Shin Bet chief said they had successfully foiled, on average, two Iranian attempts each day to direct attacks inside Israel during the campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme, resulting in “zero successes” by Iranian operatives.

Netanyahu is currently holding a cabinet meeting at the IDF Southern Command Headquarters in Beersheba.

Iranian Nuclear Program ‘Obliterated Like Nobody’s Ever Seen’: Trump

Speaking to Fox News, US President Donald Trump boasted that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure had been destroyed in unprecedented fashion. “Iran’s nuclear program was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said, referring to the recent bombings of three key Iranian nuclear sites.

He described the strike on the underground Fordo facility in vivid terms: “The bomb went through it like it was butter, like it was absolute butter… It’s just thousands of tons of rock in that room right now. The whole place was just destroyed.”

Trump insisted that Iran did not manage to relocate its highly enriched uranium before the attack, stating: “I think first it was very hard to do. It’s very dangerous to do. It’s very heavy, very, very heavy. It’s a very hard thing to do. Plus, we didn’t give much notice because they didn’t know we were coming until just then.”

According to Trump, Tehran had been “weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon, but he argued Iran is now unlikely to restart its nuclear ambitions. He further claimed that more countries would seek peace with Israel in the wake of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, suggesting even Iran itself might have joined the Abraham Accords if the circumstances had been different.

Iran Condemns Trump’s Remarks As ‘Offensive And Undignified’

Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly criticised Trump over what it described as “offensive remarks and undignified behaviour” towards Iran’s supreme leader and its people. As cited by Iran International, the ministry’s statement read: “Undoubtedly, these insulting and bullying remarks and actions against Iran and the respected political and religious figures of Iranians and Muslims will only intensify disgust and hatred toward America’s short-sighted policies and further discredit its claims of seeking dialogue and engagement.”

The condemnation followed Trump’s comments on Friday, when he told Fox News that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had issued a “blatant and foolish” statement threatening a repeat of the “slap” Iran claimed to have delivered by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar. Trump added, “You have to tell the truth,” referring to Khamenei. “You got beat to hell.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel now has “an opportunity to free the hostages” held in Gaza and pursue broader regional shifts following what he described as a victory over both Hamas and Iran. Speaking during a visit to a Shin Bet facility in southern Israel, Netanyahu credited the war with removing “two deadly, immediate threats to our existence.”

He said that Israel will “succeed in both” bringing the hostages home and defeating Hamas. He added that Israel’s military and intelligence gains had opened “broad regional possibilities.”

The visit included a security briefing with the acting head of the Shin Bet, known publicly as “S.”, and covered covert operations in Gaza, counterespionage against Iran, and the deployment of new intelligence technologies. Netanyahu praised the agency’s offensive and defensive operations, saying, “You’ve done a very, very good job targeting and countering them—breaking new ground.”

The Shin Bet chief said the agency has prevented about 770 major attacks since the start of 2025—roughly two per day during the recent campaign against Iran. He said all of Tehran’s efforts to orchestrate attacks inside Israel during the war were “met with complete failure.”

He credited the results to continuous intelligence work and cooperation with the Israeli military and Mossad, and praised the thousands of Shin Bet employees who, he said, “worked tirelessly to deny our enemies any success.”

Netanyahu went on to attend a cabinet meeting in the military’s Southern Command Headquarters in Beersheba.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for progress in ceasefire talks in the war in Gaza, saying that a deal should be made to stop the 20 month conflict that has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, amid signs of a possible agreement between Israel and Hamas.

There were also reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to visit Washington DC in the coming weeks.

“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday.

Trump raised expectations Friday for a deal, saying there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”

On the ground in Gaza, however, the Israeli military issued a displacement order for parts of northern Gaza, warning Palestinians in areas of Gaza City and Jabalia refugee to flee to Al-Mawasi in the south of the enclave.

Israel has issued dozens of displacement orders since resuming its onslaught on Gaza in the middle of March, forcing hundreds of thousands of people into ever smaller corners of Gaza.

Israeli forces also killed at least seven people in a series of attacks in Gaza City and Khan Younis in the south.

Medics said five people – including two women and a child – were killed in an airstrike on a tent in the Al-Mawasi displacement camp, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. A number of others were wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday (June 29, 2025) that his country’s “victory” over Iran in their 12-day war had created “opportunities”, including for freeing hostages held in Gaza.

“Many opportunities have opened up now following this victory. First of all, to rescue the hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an address to officers of the security services.

“Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both goals,” he added, referring to his country’s campaign to crush the Palestinian militant group.

In a statement late Sunday, the main group representing hostages’ families welcomed “the fact that after 20 months, the return of the hostages has finally been designated as the top priority by the prime minister”.

“This is a very important statement that must translate into a single comprehensive deal to bring back all 50 hostages and end the fighting in Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Hamas also holds the body of an Israeli soldier killed there in 2014.

The forum called for the hostages’ “release, not rescue”.

“The only way to free them all is through a comprehensive deal and an end to the fighting, without rescue operations that endanger both the hostages and (Israeli) soldiers.”

The October 7 attack triggered a fierce Israeli offensive to destroy Hamas and free the hostages.

That campaign has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.

Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

By Associated Press

Detroit (AP) — NBA free agent Malik Beasley is under investigation by the U.S. District Attorney’s office regarding gambling allegations tied to league games, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter.

“We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors’ investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement released to the AP and other outlets on Sunday.

ESPN was the first to report on the investigation.

“There have been no charges against Malik,” Steve Haney, Beasley’s attorney, told the AP. “It’s just an investigation at this point. We hope people reserve judgement until he’s charged — or if he’s charged. It’s not uncommon for there to be a federal investigation.”

The probe into Beasley comes 14 months after the NBA banned Toronto’s Jontay Porter, who was linked to a prop bet investigation and eventually pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud.

This past season, The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Terry Rozier — then of the Charlotte Hornets — was under investigation for activity related to unusual betting patterns surrounding him in a March 2023 game.

Rozier, now of the Miami Heat, has not been charged with any crime, nor has he faced any sanction from the NBA.

Porter’s ban came after a similar investigation into his performance and “prop bets” — wagers where bettors can choose whether a player will reach a certain statistical standard or not during a game. The Porter investigation started once the league learned from “licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets” about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter’s performance in a game on March 20, 2024, against Sacramento.

The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million.

Beasley signed last year with the Pistons, taking a one-year contract for $6 million in the hopes of cashing in this summer as a free agent. A second person, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity because no deal was announced, said Detroit was “very interested” in re-signing Beasley to a multi-year contract this summer. Those talks might be in jeopardy, given the uncertainty regarding the federal probe.

He made a single-season, franchise-record 319 3-pointers in the regular season. He helped Detroit make the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and end an NBA-record 15-game postseason losing streak in the first round against the New York Knicks.

Beasley averaged 16.3 points last season and has averaged 11.7 points over his career with Denver, Minnesota, Utah, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Detroit. He scored a career-high 19.6 points a game during the 2020-21 season with the Timberwolves.

The Atlanta native played at Florida State and the Nuggets drafted him No. 19 overall in 2016.

The-CNN-Wire

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