At least 38,098 Palestinians have been killed and 87,705 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since October 7th, according to the health ministry in Gaza. Meanwhile, reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has won Iran’s presidential election runoff, defeating hardliner Saeed Jalili.
Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, won with 16.3 million votes to Jalili’s 13.5 million, promising to reach out to the west and ease enforcement on the country’s mandatory headscarf law. However, he has pledged no radical changes to Iran’s Shia theocracy.
Efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalation on the Israeli-Lebanon boundary are underway, with Israel’s intelligence chief visiting Qatar to resume negotiations with Hamas. Hamas has reportedly accepted a ceasefire proposal, which may lead to a ceasefire in Lebanon as well. The US has described the latest Hamas proposal as a “breakthrough”.
Hamas has accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, dropping a demand for a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement. Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya have discussed the negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire.
Turkey’s president hopes for a “final ceasefire” and urged Western countries to pressure Israel. Seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military offensive in the West Bank, while ICC prosecutor Karim Khan canceled a sensitive mission to collect evidence in the Gaza conflict. Hamas has rejected any foreign forces entering Gaza, asserting that it is a purely Palestinian matter.
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