Top News

Beersheba: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Iran had “completely violated” the ceasefire between Israel and Iran by launching missiles after the ceasefire came into effect. Katz said he instructed the Israeli military to resume targeting Iranian paramilitary and government targets.

Israel said it had identified missiles launched from Iran into its airspace less than three hours after the ceasefire went into effect, after both Israel and Iran accepted President Donald Trump’s plan to end the 12-day war roiling the Middle East.

A tentative truce proposed by President Donald Trump hung in the balance as Israel said it had identified missiles launched from Iran into its airspace less than three hours after the ceasefire went into effect.

Explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning on Tuesday, after both Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted the ceasefire plan to end the 12-day war roiling the Middle East.

The agreement came after Tehran launched a retaliatory limited missile attack on a US military base in Qatar on Monday and after it launched an onslaught of missiles targeting Israel that killed at least four people early Tuesday morning. Israel launched a blitz of airstrikes targeting sites across Iran before dawn.

Though Israel said it had intercepted the midmorning barrage of missiles, it showed how dangerous the situation remained.

Netanyahu accepts ceasefire as Iranian state TV says fighting has stopped

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump.

Netanyahu said that he had reported to Israel’s security cabinet Monday night that Israel had achieved all of its war goals in the 12-day operation against Iran, including removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Israel also damaged Iran’s military leadership and several government sites and achieved control over Tehran’s skies, Netanyahu said.

“Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire,” Netanyahu said.

Heavy Israeli strikes continued in Iranian cities until shortly before 4 a.m., followed by Iranian barrages that sent Israelis hurrying into bomb shelters as the sun rose.

Writing over an hour after a deadline passed for Iran to halt its attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!”

Iranian state television reported that the ceasefire went into effect at 7:30 a.m., but Iranian officials have not commented since Trump’s announcement. Hours earlier Iran’s top diplomat said the country was prepared to halt airstrikes.

“As of now, there is NO agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X. “However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.”

Araghchi added: “The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”

In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.

The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel.

The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said.

There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.