Qatar’sforeign ministry spokesman says mediators are engaging withIsraelandHamasto build on momentum from this week’s ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in theGaza Strip.
Majed al-Ansari said in an interview with AFP on Friday:
If we don’t utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past.
We don’t want to see that again.
At least34 people were killedacrossGazabyIsraelistrikes, health staff say.
The strikes began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people at the Palestine Stadium inGazaCity, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought.
Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital.
Here is more detail on comments made by the head of the controversialUS- and Israeli-backedaid groupGaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), who has defended its work after repeated killings ofPalestiniansat aid hubs.
Johnnie Moore told theBBC World Service’s Newshourthat he did not deny there were deaths near the aid sites, but he added that “100% of those casualties are being attributed to close proximity to GHF” and that was “not true”.
“Moore also accused the UN and other international organisations of spreading information they could not verify,” the BBC added.
Moore also told Sky News there is a “disinformation campaign” fuelled by “some figures” coming out every day.
The UN said at least 410 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on 19 May. The Hamas-runGazahealth ministry said at least 549 people have been killed.
On Friday, the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called the GHF aid system “inherently unsafe”.
He said: “Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarised zones is inherently unsafe. The search for food must never be a death sentence.”
We have more on thestate funeralbeing held inTehranfor around60 people, including its military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The proceedings started at 8.00am local time (04.30 GMT) in the capital as government offices and many businesses were closed on Saturday for the occasion, AFP reports.
State TV showed footage of thousands of people wearing black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain military commanders.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other senior government officials and military commanders - including Esmail Qaani, head of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards - also attended the event.
The march began near Enghelab (Revolution) Square in central Tehran.
A patriotic eulogy blared from loudspeakers as the procession set out across the sprawling metropolis toward Azadi (Freedom) Square, 11 kilometres (seven miles) away.
Among the dead is Mohammad Bagheri, a major general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Iranian leader.
He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all killed in an Israeli attack.
Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be buried with his wife.
Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, who was killed on the first day of the war, will also be laid to rest after Saturday’s ceremony - which will also honour at least 30 other top commanders.
Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children and four are women.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in theMiddle East.
Donald Trumphas said he would “absolutely” consider bombingIranagain.
At a White House briefing, he said he would “without question” attack the country if Tehran is enriching uranium to concerning levels.
Trumpalso reacted sternly to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei’s remarks thatIran“slapped America in the face” by launching an attack against a major US base in Qatar following the US bombing raids. Khamenei also said Iran would never surrender.
In a social media post Trump wrote: “His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED, and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not letIsrael, or the US Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life. I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH.”
Iran, meanwhile, said a potential nuclear deal was conditional on the US ending its “disrespectful tone” toward the Supreme Leader.
“If PresidentTrumpis genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers,” Iran’s foreign ministerAbbas Araghchisaid in a post on X in the early hours of Saturday.
In other news:
Iranbegan a state funeral service Saturday for around 60 people, including its military commanders, killed in its war with Israel.
Johnnie Moore, head of the controversialUS and Israeli-backed aid group,GazaHumanitarian Foundation (GHF) has defended its work.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile launched fromYementoward Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted”.