Summary of the day so far
Israeli troops opened fire on Saturday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by an Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, without providing additional details. Trump made the comment during a dinner with lawmakers at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since 6 July, discussing a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
The death toll from violence in Sweida province, heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor said, despite the announcement of a ceasefire, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 182 of whom were “summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel”.
Syria’s Islamist-led government said its internal security forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday as the presidency called on all parties to respect a ceasefire following bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has left hundreds dead. In a statement, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and urged all parties to commit to it and end hostilities in all areas immediately.
Dr Omar Obeid, who heads the Sweida division at Syria’s Order of Physicians, said Sweida’s only government hospital has received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning”, including women, children and the elderly. He said: “It’s not a hospital any more, it’s a mass grave,”
Iran’s state media is reporting that at least 15 people were killed after a bus overturned in the south of the country. State-run IRNA quoted Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, as saying that so far 15 people were confirmed dead and 27 were injured after the accident in the south of Shiraz city, the capital of the province.
Nearly 80,000 people have been displaced by sectarian violence in southern Syria that began last week, the UN’s migration agency said on Friday. In a statement, the International Organization for Migration said “79,339 people have been displaced since 13 July, including 20,019 on 17 July”, adding that water, electricity and telecoms services in Sweida had “collapsed” and fuel shortages had crippled transportation and emergency logistics.
Key events
Reuters reports that a fire that broke out on Saturday at a unit of Iran’s Abadan refinery, killing one employee, has been brought under control, Iran’s oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported.
It said operations were unaffected.
Shana reported:
According to initial technical probes, the cause of the fire was a leak in one of the pumps in Unit 70, and no evidence of sabotage or human intervention has been observed so far.
State television said firefighters from Abadan and nearby areas had responded.
Local new agencies earlier carried videos showing large flames and dark stacks of smoke rising from a segment of the refinery, Iran’s oldest crude processing facility in the southwestern oil-rich Khuzestan province, which is now among one of the hottest places in the world. Temperatures are nearly 50C (122F).
The refinery, like almost all Iranian oil and gas processing plants, needs major works and renovation.
Six local officials detained after Iraq mall fire
Iraq has detained six local officials and suspended other public employees following a fire that killed 61 people at a shopping mall earlier this week, authorities said on Saturday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The blaze, which broke out late on Wednesday in a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut, is the latest fatal disaster in a country where safety regulations are often ignored.
After an initial investigation, the interior ministry said “there was clear negligence among several officials and employees” in Kut, located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.
It added that three local officials, including the head of civil defence in Kut, had been detained, and 17 employees suspended from work until further notice.
The Commission of Integrity, an anti-graft body, said later that security forces had detained three more officials “over the violations that led to the fire” at the Corniche Hypermarket Mall, including the head of the violations department at Kut’s municipality.
Officials say their investigation is ongoing, and the number of detainees may change.
Safety standards in Iraq’s construction sector are often ignored, and the country frequently experiences fatal fires and accidents as a result of its weakened infrastructure from decades of conflict.
The cause of the mall fire was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP an air conditioner had exploded on the second floor before the five-storey building was rapidly engulfed in flames.
Several people told AFP they lost family members, and in some cases whole families, who had gone to shop and dine at the mall days after it opened.
21 people reported dead after Iran bus crash
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the number of people killed when a coach overturned in southern Iran on Saturday has risen to 21, with nearly 30 having been injured, state media reported.
The accident, the cause of which remains unclear, occurred near Kavar, a town about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the capital, Tehran.
“Unfortunately, 21 deaths have been recorded,” Kavar hospital director Mohsen Afrasiabi told state television, adding that 29 people were injured.
Iranian media showed images of a coach lying on its side on a mountain road.
At least 32 reportedly killed by Israeli fire in Gaza
At least 32 people were killed by Israeli fire while they were on their way to an aid distribution site in Gaza at dawn on Saturday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Reuters reports.
The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots at suspects who approached its troops after they did not heed calls to stop, about a kilometre away from an aid distribution site that was not active at the time.
Gaza resident Mohammed al-Khalidi said he was in the group approaching the site and heard no warnings before the firing began.
He said:
We thought they came out to organise us so we can get aid, suddenly (I) saw the jeeps coming from one side, and the tanks from the other and started shooting at us.
The Gaza Humanitarian Fund, a US-backed group which runs the aid site, said there were no incidents or fatalities there on Saturday and that it has repeatedly warned people not to travel to its distribution points at dark.
It said:
The reported IDF (Israel defence Forces) activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometres away from the nearest GHF site.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident.
The European Union has welcomed a US-brokered ceasefire between Syria and Israel, saying it was “appalled” by the deadly sectarian violence in Syria’s southern Druze heartland that prompted Israeli strikes, AFP reports.
The EU’s diplomatic service said in a statement:
Now is the time for dialogue and for advancing a truly inclusive transition. Syria’s transitional authorities, together with local authorities, bear the responsibility to protect all Syrians without distinction.
It also called for all perpetrators behind “grave violations” of international law to be held accountable.
Here are some of the latest images from Syria:
As we’ve been reporting, Syria’s presidency has called on all parties to respect a ceasefire following bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has left hundreds dead.
Our graphics team have provided this map showing where the fighting has taken place:
Summary of the day so far
Israeli troops opened fire on Saturday toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by an Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.
US president Donald Trump said on Friday that another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, without providing additional details. Trump made the comment during a dinner with lawmakers at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since 6 July, discussing a US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
The death toll from violence in Sweida province, heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor said, despite the announcement of a ceasefire, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 182 of whom were “summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel”.
Syria’s Islamist-led government said its internal security forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday as the presidency called on all parties to respect a ceasefire following bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has left hundreds dead. In a statement, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and urged all parties to commit to it and end hostilities in all areas immediately.
Dr Omar Obeid, who heads the Sweida division at Syria’s Order of Physicians, said Sweida’s only government hospital has received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning”, including women, children and the elderly. He said: “It’s not a hospital any more, it’s a mass grave,”
Iran’s state media is reporting that at least 15 people were killed after a bus overturned in the south of the country. State-run IRNA quoted Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, as saying that so far 15 people were confirmed dead and 27 were injured after the accident in the south of Shiraz city, the capital of the province.
Nearly 80,000 people have been displaced by sectarian violence in southern Syria that began last week, the UN’s migration agency said on Friday. In a statement, the International Organization for Migration said “79,339 people have been displaced since 13 July, including 20,019 on 17 July”, adding that water, electricity and telecoms services in Sweida had “collapsed” and fuel shortages had crippled transportation and emergency logistics.
Syria death toll rises to 940, war monitor says
The death toll from violence in Sweida province, heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor said, despite the announcement of a ceasefire, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 182 of whom were “summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel”.
They also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were “summarily executed by Druze fighters”. Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory said.
Donna Ferguson
A statement on Saturday by one of the three religious leaders of the Syrian Druze community, sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, said the ceasefire would guarantee safe exit for tribe members and the opening of humanitarian corridors for besieged civilians to leave.
Hours earlier, the US envoy announced that Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire, after Israel sided with the Druze factions and joined the conflict, including by bombing a government building in Damascus.
The UN had also called for an end to the “bloodshed” and demanded an independent investigation of the violence, which has killed at least 718 people from both sides since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israel on Saturday dismissed a renewed pledge by Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa to protect minorities after deadly sectarian clashes, saying it was “very dangerous” to be a minority in the country.
Foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X:
Bottom line: In al-Shara’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority – Kurd, Druze, Alawite or Christian,”
This has been proven time and again over the past six months.
He added the international community had “a duty to ensure the security and rights of the minorities in Syria and to condition Syria’s renewed acceptance into the family of nations on their protection”.
Interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa in a speech said that “Arab and American” mediation had helped bring calm, and criticised Israel for airstrikes against Syrian government forces in the south and Damascus during the week.
Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence, which began with clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions, before Damascus sent in government security forces.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in southern Syria and on the defence ministry in Damascus, saying it is protecting the Druze minority, of whom there are a significant number in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and urged all parties to end hostilities immediately.
At least 15 reported dead from Iran bus crash
Iran’s state media is reporting that at least 15 people were killed after a bus overturned in the south of the country, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
State-run IRNA quoted Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, as saying that so far 15 people were confirmed dead and 27 were injured after the accident in the south of Shiraz city, the capital of the province.
Abed also said 11 ambulances and two ambulance buses were dispatched to the scene.
With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the top countries for road and street accidents. The toll is attributed to the disregard of safety measures, the use of old vehicles and inadequate emergency services.
