Israel identifies second hostage whose body was recovered from Gaza last week

June 15 (Reuters) - The Israeli military on Sunday identified the second of two hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza last week as Aviv Atzili, who was taken captive during Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Last Wednesday, the military said it had recovered two bodies of hostages and identified one of them as Yair Yaakov.

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The Sun

2 hours ago

• The Sun

Tensions in Middle East ramp up as B-2 stealth bombers leave US for possible strike on Iranian targets

TENSIONS in the Middle East ramped up further yesterday as B-2 stealth bombers left the US for a possible strike on Iran. US president Donald Trump is believed to have signed off on a hit on the rogue state's underground atomic plant at Fordow. 4 4 It came after a British national suspected of spying for Iran was arrested near an RAF base on Cyprus. Trump, who said on Thursday he would decide whether to join the offensive 'within two weeks', yesterday gave Israel free rein to continue attacking its enemy Iran. Meanwhile, B-2 bombers took off from the US and were thought to be heading to the Andersen Air Force Base on the Pacific island of Guam. The powerful B-2 Spirit is the only aircraft capable of delivering the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs needed to smash Iran's atomic site at Fordow, south of Tehran. Waves of attacks would be needed to destroy the plant, which is encased in steel under a mountain. Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also said to be sheltering in a bunker as Israel targets military leaders and nuclear facilities in his country. US officials last night said no orders had yet been given to move the B-2s beyond Guam. But it ramped up more pressure on Khamenei to cut a deal — with Trump demanding Iran scrap its nuclear and ballistic missile plans. Meanwhile, a suspected spy linked to Iran was arrested amid fears he was spearheading a massive attack on UK forces in Cyprus. Sources said he was posing as a British tourist when he was detained near the RAF's Akrotiri base with a large camera with telephoto lenses. US deploys bunker-buster bomb carrying B-2 planes to new military base as Iran tensions grow He was also found to have three mobile phones when armed officers swooped on Friday. Police sources confirmed yesterday he was being held on suspicion of terror -related offences and espionage. He is suspected to have links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Police swooped on him in the Zakaki suburb of Limassol. He has been in the country since April and is feared to have been mapping troops and jets. The Foreign Office confirmed he was a British national who is understood to be of Azerbaijani descent. 4 Akrotiri — where hundreds of British pilots, troops and back-up staff are based — is just 200 miles from Israel and well within range of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal. Britain and the US have been warned by Khamenei that their bases will be hit if their forces join Israel. The suspect appeared before the Limassol District Court on Friday and was remanded in custody for eight days pending inquiries. Cypriot sources said he was understood to have had the sprawling UK airbase 'under surveillance' and also watched Cyprus's own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in Paphos. Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar yesterday also claimed Iran tried to carry out an attack on Israeli citizens in Cyprus. Extra £3k in Persian MI5 jobs By Dominik Lemanski SPYMASTERS are offering £3,000 bonuses to recruit Persian speakers to tackle Iranian terror. Persian Language Specialists at MI5 and MI6 will support investigations to block Tehran-backed assassins and kidnappers. Recruits will be paid up to £44,818 with £3,000 a year extra on qualification. An advert, which is also hiring for GCHQ, reads: 'We're looking for Persian linguists for a role that goes well beyond translation and transcription. 'You will be a significant asset in helping to safeguard the UK.' In April last year, Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, 37, was stabbed in South West London, in an attack believed to have been ordered by Tehran. It was not known if it was linked to the Brit's arrest. Cyprus has become a transit point for stranded travellers since Israeli airspace was shut at the start of Operation Rising Lion nine days ago. Britain has upped the number of RAF Typhoons at Akrotiri and sent extra Voyager air-to-air refuellers. British and US warjets have previously helped shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel. But Sir Keir Starmer's government has so far kept the RAF out of the war amid fears of further escalation. Meanwhile, — as well as top brass and nuclear scientists. Israel Defence Forces' biggest scalp yesterday was terror kingpin Saeed Izadi — the financial mastermind of the October 7 attacks which detonated the Middle East crisis. Izadi, head of the Palestinian Division of Iran's Quds Force, was killed in a strike on a 'safe house' in the Iranian city of Qom. The Israeli military's Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir said: 'Izadi was one of the key figures involved in planning and executing the October 7 massacre. The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands.' The Israeli military later said it killed another commander of the Guards' overseas arm, Benham Shariyari, in western Tehran. He was said to be 'responsible for weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East'. An 11th nuclear scientist was also assassinated at a safe house located by Israeli intelligence. Iran's foreign minister said he will not negotiate while attacks continued. But Trump hit back: 'It's very hard to make that request right now. Israel is doing well, in terms of war, and…Iran is doing less well.' But he added: 'We're ready, willing and able and we've been speaking to Iran.' Iran fired more missiles at Israel overnight which were intercepted amid reports of minimal damage. Palestine marcher in 'bottle hurl' bust By Eleanor Gunn PRO-Palestine protester was arrested after a bottle was thrown at marchers supporting Israel in London yesterday. His missile fell short but the suspect was chased down The Strand and detained, police said. Thousands of pro- Palestine demonstrators chanted 'Shame on you' as they passed a pro-Israel counter-protest on Waterloo Bridge. Later, footage emerged seeming to show a protester in a keffiyeh scarf performing a Nazi salute. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed crowds. He said politicians were seeking to 'turn people who protest against the invasion of Iran or the occupation of Palestine into terrorists'. Yesterday's protests came as ministers draw up plans to ban group Palestine Action under anti-terror laws. It came after two yobs from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton Oxfordshire on Friday and doused jets in paint

The Guardian

4 hours ago

• The Guardian

Sydney sisters return to Iran homeland after 38 years – only for history to repeat itself

The Iran that Melika and Betissa rediscovered after 38 years was a 'wondrous' land until, once more, the bombs began to fall. The Sydney sisters had fled their birthplace Iran as children in 1987, amid the violence and the tumult of the Iran-Iraq war. With memories coloured by the uncertainty of their sudden departure nearly four decades earlier, they found a homeland wildly different from their expectations. 'We've traveled extensively … we've been to lots and lots of third world countries. And so that was our impression of Iran,' Betissa told the Guardian. 'But what we experienced was the complete opposite: we experienced a very well developed, very modern country. 'On top of that, you had this incredibly rich cultural overlay where it almost felt like you were drunk from the richness of the sights and the sounds and the smells – the beauty of the culture and the history, but also the people. 'I've never experienced anything like this level of hospitality, where everyone you meet is invested in you having a good time.' But conflict has come again to stalk Iran. The day before the sisters and their parents, who had also travelled from Australia, were due to fly to Istanbul to reunite with extended family members from all over the world, they were woken before dawn by frantic calls from friends and family back home desperate to know they were OK. 'In 1987 we fled to Australia from Tehran because of a war. It was so strange for history to be repeating itself 38 years later,' Melika said. The Middle East descended into further turmoil on 13 June, when Israel launched a series of airstrikes on what it said were nuclear facilities and military targets inside Iran. Israel has maintained its ongoing bombardments were 'pre-emptive and precise strikes' that are lawful and necessary to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and using them in the future. Iran has responded with barrages of missiles fired into Israeli territory, and said Israel's offensive was illegal under international law. It said it sought an end to hostilities, but would not negotiate while the conflict continued. According to local reporting, at least 639 people have been killed in Iran, while at least 25 have died in Israel. On the morning of Friday 13 June, Betissa and Melika woke to discover a city in chaos, with airstrikes hitting a hotel less than a kilometre from where they were staying. Their flight, due to leave the next morning, could not fly out of Tehran, so the sisters hastily called the van driver booked to take them to the airport, asking if he could instead drive them to the Turkish border, nearly 900km away, immediately. He agreed and soon arrived to drive them 12 hours to Bazargan border crossing, a gateway into the relative peace of eastern Turkey. They stopped only three times: twice for fuel, bypassing the hours-long lines at most petrol stations for quieter stops. The family's third stop was a military checkpoint, where they were flagged stopped. 'First they took Dad and all our passports for half an hour,' Betissa said. 'They just took him inside a building and told us to stay out. 'After half an hour, they came and took Mum … the driver was like, 'Oh, this has never happened to me before'. But after an hour, luckily, they both came back with all our passports and we were on our way again.' There were further anxieties. As the family drove, they were being given conflicting information about whether the Turkish border was still open, or whether the Iranian regime had sealed the country shut. The sisters were told by phone they should turn around and drive through the night back to the capital. 'But from my perspective, I was like, 'I'd rather sleep in a barn on the border',' Betissa said. As Turkish territory approached, the military and police checkpoints became more frequent, those manning them more interrogative. But as night fell the border remained open, and the family members each paid an exit fee to escape the country. They were then stuck for two hours in 'no man's land' – the patch of barren territory between two countries, but belonging to neither – where people were lined up sitting on suitcases in the dust. Once again, the sisters' father was taken away to be interrogated and again he was returned. Finally, more than 15 hours after they'd fled Tehran, the sisters and their parents crossed into Turkish territory. In the calmer days that followed, they drove and flew across the country to reach Istanbul. 'We had a reunion with our husbands, our children, and the rest of the family in Istanbul airport, which was very emotional,' Betissa said. The escalating conflict remains intensely personal for Betissa and Melika. They had been in touch by phone with their driver in the days after their escape, but since a nationwide internet blackout have not heard whether he is safe, whether he is alive. Their homeland now holds a reawakened affection. 'The country we had just rediscovered and fallen in love with was getting destroyed, nearly all the beautiful cities we had visited attacked,' Melika said. 'It was surreal as just the night before the attacks we were reliving some of our experiences from the Iraq war. 'I was remembering how we all had to hide underground during the raids and how terrified I was as a child. These conflicts have lasting impacts on the civilian population.' Betissa said friends in Tehran were describing on WhatsApp messages the chaos the continues to roil the country. 'How there's no fuel … bakeries have massive lines, supermarket shelves are starting to be empty,' she said. 'People are trying to leave Tehran, but all the roads are completely choked up because there is no fuel - people are basically … abandoning their cars in the middle of the road.' Betissa said while airstrikes might be targeting particular sites in Iran, 'that doesn't mean that the areas around those sites are not getting hit'. 'They may be targeting a general who lives in an apartment building, but everyone else in that building is dying.'

ITV News

4 hours ago

• ITV News

US student Mahmoud Khalil detained for pro-Palestinian protests released from immigration detention

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention after 104 days by a judge's ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday where he travelled to New York to meet his wife and son who was born while Mr Khalil was detained. Speaking to reporters at Newark International Airport, New Jersey he said: 'The US government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide." 'This is why I will continue to protest with everyone of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.' 'Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone in this land, you're not illegal. That doesn't make you less of a human,' he said. Mr Khalil wasn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. However, the government has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the US for expressing views the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Mr Khalil, was released after US District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be 'highly, highly unusual' for the government to continue detaining a legal US resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence. The government filed notice Friday evening that it is appealing Mr Khalil's release. Federal immigration agents detained Mr Khalil on March 8, the first arrest under Trump's crackdown on students participating in the protests on university campuses. Mr Khalil was then taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, a remote part of Louisiana thousands of miles from his attorneys and his wife. The 30-year-old international affairs student had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn to protest the war. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, arguing that the Trump administration was trying to deport him for an activity protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified Khalil's deportation by citing a rarely used statute that gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Joining Mr Khalil at the airport, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said his detention violated the First Amendment and was 'an affront to every American.' 'He has been accused, baselessly, of horrific allegations simply because the Trump administration and our overall establishment disagrees with his political speech,' she said. 'The Trump administration knows that they are waging a losing legal battle," Ocasio-Cortez added. "They are violating the law, and they know that they are violating the law.'