Israel-Iran latest: Supreme leader Ayatollah stops short of demanding revenge for Israeli strikes

Israeli military strikes killed at least 45 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday as efforts to secure a ceasefire in the more than year-long war resumed in Qatar.

The directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency will meet with Qatar’s prime minister on Sunday in Doha, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters.

The negotiations will seek a short-term ceasefire and the release of some hostages being held by Hamas in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners, the official said.

The talks aim to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a halt in fighting for less than a month in the hope it would lead to a more permanent ceasefire.

Protesters disrupted a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony Sunday remembering the victims of Hamas’ attack on southern Israel last year.

People shouted “Shame on you” and made a commotion, forcing Netanyahu to stop his speech shortly after it began. The major commemorative event is being broadcast live around the country.

Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the failures that led to Hamas’ October 7, attack and hold him responsible for not yet bringing home the remaining hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.

Israeli military strikes have killed at least 36 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian health officials said.

Twenty people were killed following an airstrike on houses in Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, medics and the Palestinian official news agency WAFA said.

An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in Shati camp in Gaza City also killed four people and wounded 20 others, many in critical condition, medics said.

At least two people have been killed by an Israeli strike on Sidon in southern Lebanon, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.

A further 11 people were been wounded in the attack.

Israel’s defence minister and the US defence secretary have spoken about Israel’s recent strikes on Iran.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant’s office said he had briefed Lloyd Austin on the strikes and discussed “strategic opportunities”.

“Gallant discussed initial assessments regarding the success of the strikes against missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile arrays and Iranian aerial capabilities,” it said.

“Minister Gallant also discussed the strategic opportunities that have risen as a result of operational achievements, in both the northern and southern arenas,” the statement said, referring to fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.

Dozens of people have been injured after a truck struck a bus stop at a major intersection in central Israel, with the circumstances around the incident on Sunday being investigated.

Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was treating dozens of people at the site, at least four of them with serious injuries.

The Israeli military has told residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon on Sunday to evacuate immediately and move north of the Awali river.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has Iran’s defence and ability to produce missiles has been hit hard following airstrikes on Saturday.

“The air force attacked throughout Iran. We hit hard Iran’s defence capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us,” Netanyahu said in a speech.

“The attack in Iran was precise and powerful, and it achieved all its objectives,” he said.

Tehran said its air defence intercepted most of the incoming drones and missiles and that the attack caused “limited damage”, although four of its soldiers were killed.

An Israeli airstrike has hit a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program, researchers have said.

The assessments based on commercial satellite imagery were reached separately by David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at a Washington think tank.

They told Reuters that Israel struck buildings in Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles.”