Israel-Iran war: Emmanuel Macron issues desperate plea after urgent call

The man believed to be the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre of Israeli citizens which claimed the lives of more than 1100 people, has been named as the new leader of Hamas. Yahya Sinwar, 61, was named as the group's political leader, while believed to be living in tunnels underneath Gaza.

His appointment as the head of the terror organisation follows the shock assassination of the previous Hamas Leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last week. The attack, which took place inside an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) compound, is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

Sinwar has long been a key decision maker in Gaza, leading Hamas in the strip since 2017 - six years after getting out of prison for orchestrating the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian collaborators in 1989. He is linked to the Al Qassam brigades that poured over the Gaza security fence in October, wiping out kibbutz and taking 250 people hostage.

Read more here.

Pentagon officials have confirmed that five US soldiers were wounded in the Monday attack on an airbase in western Iraq.

The US is now blaming Iran-backed groups for the rocket attack on Al Asad airbase, as tensions continue to mount over an Iranian retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

In a call with his Israil counterpart Yoav Gallant, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called the attack a "dangerous escalation."

He confirmed that the US would be altering its military positioning in response to the "escalating" situation.

With US carrier groups and personnel moving into a defensive position in the middle east ahead of an expected escalation in conflict, President Biden has shared a picture from inside the Situation Room, where he received updates on "threats posed by Iran and its proxies.

US media have cited multiple sources claiming a retaliatory attack could take place within the next two days. A Department of Defense Official has reportedly told CNN that a large-scale Iranian attack could take place within the next 24 hours.President Biden said in a statement on X: "Earlier, [Kamala Harris] and I were briefed in the Situation Room on developments in the Middle East.

"We received updates on threats posed by Iran and its proxies, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, and preparations to support Israel should it be attacked again.

"We also discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing."

A suspected rocket attack on an Iraqi airbase has wounded several US soldiers, officials have confirmed.

The attack took place on Monday at Al Asad air base in the west of the country and follows a spate of attacks on American personnel in both Iraq and Syria in recent months.Authorities are yet to identify the group involved, but the base is reported to have come under rocket fire from Iran-backed groups several times since the outbreak of the Israel-gaza war in October.

In a statement, a US Defence official said: "We can confirm that there was a suspected rocket attack today against U.S. and Coalition forces at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq. Initial indications are that several U.S. personnel were injured. "Base personnel are conducting a post-attack damage assessment. We will provide updates as more information becomes available."

The G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US - and the EU High Representative issued a statement on Monday in which they expressed their "deep concern at the heightened level of tension in the Middle East which threatens to ignite a broader conflict in the region".

"We urge all involved parties once again to refrain from perpetuating the current destructive cycle of retaliatory violence, to lower tensions and engage constructively toward de-escalation.

"No country or nation stands to gain from a futher escalation in the Middle East," the statement added.

The IDF has said it has killed a commander in Hezbollah's Radwan Force during an airstrike in southern Lebanon.

The assassination of Ali Jamal al-Din Jawad is "a significant blow to Hezbollah's ability to carry out terrorist attacks from southern Lebanon against Israel," according to the military.

In a separate attack, the Israeli air force targetted a Hezbollah military building and terrorist infrastructure in the area of Kila village, the military said in a statement.

Former President Donald Trump told online internet personality Adin Ross that "there's going to be an attack tonight by Iran on Israel" during a livestream on the Kick platform.

He said he had "no top secret" information, but he had heard "it through the same waves".

"If I were president, no one would even be talking about it because that wouldn't happen, 100 percent,” Trump continued.

The Biden administration said that Iran's retaliatory strikes may happen as early as Monday or Tuesday, reported the Washington Post.

Lufthansa Group announced on Monday that it has cancelled all its flights to Israel until Monday, August 12 due to security concerns.

The group includes Germany’s Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings.

The airline had previously announced last week that it would be halting flights to Israel until August 8 and Beirut until August 12.

According to the Israeli army, an aerial target was intercepted off the coast of Nahariya on Monday, with no sirens activated beforehand, in accordance with policy.

Another suspicious aerial object that crossed into Israel from Lebanon was intercepted over the Metula area, with several launches from Lebanon detected earlier on Monday also intercepted.

The army also confirmed that an Air Force aircraft attacked and killed a terrorist squad that operated a drone in Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon.

According to Gaza’s civil defence director Yamen Abu Suleiman, in conversation with AFP, they received over 80 bodies “inside 15 bags, with more than four martyrs in each bag, each wrapped in a single shroud”.

“We do not know if they are martyrs [killed in Gaza] or prisoners from [Israel’s] jails,” he added, saying that no information was provided with the bodies.

Gazans whose relatives are missing arrived at the Kerem Shalom border crossing to see if they can identify any of the bodies. They were to be screened and examined in an attempt to determine the causes of death.

The bodies were later buried in a mass grave at the Turkish cemetery, near Khan Yunis, the main city in the southern part of Gaza, according to AFP journalists.

According to analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project (CTP), the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and CNN show that despite the heavy bombardment of the Strip at least eight battalions remain combat effective.

This brings into question Netanyahu’s claims that Israeli forces are near their intended goal of eliminating Hamas. On July 24, Netanyahu had claimed that “Victory is in sight”.

“The Israelis would say that they cleared a place, but they haven’t fully cleared these areas, they haven’t defeated these fighters at all,” said Brian Carter, Middle East portfolio manager for CTP, who led the joint research with the ISW into patterns of Hamas and Israeli military activity.

“[Hamas] are ready to fight and want to fight.”

Sergei Shoigu arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Masoud Pezeshkian, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Shoigu will also meet Iran’s national security chief and the head of general staff.

In February, Reuters reported that Iran had provided Russia with a significant number of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.

On Friday, Russia joined Iran in condemning the assassination of the Hamas leader Haniyeh, highlighting the “extremely dangerous consequences of such actions”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has taken to X to issue a desperate plea for all actors to "show responsibility and restraint" to avoid regional escalation.

He said he had spoken with President Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also prime minister of Saudi Arabia about the Middle East situation.

At a meeting of the centrist party, the Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said there was no deterrence and “no government”.

“I would like to ask the Israeli government, is what we are seeing in recent days the new standard?” said Lapid. “Is it acceptable to you that for five days, an entire country has been sitting and waiting to be bombed?

“Is this the new standard that the residents of the north will not receive even a hint from the government as to when they can go home?”

“This government will fall when the Knesset returns from the most unnecessary and wretched recess in the country’s history,” Lapid warned.

In a statement, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged all parties and influential states to “act urgently” to de-escalate the now “very precarious situation” in the Middle East.

“Human rights – first and foremost the protection of civilians – must be the top priority,” Türk said. “Already, over the past 10 months, civilians – mostly women and children – have endured unbearable pain and suffering as a result of the bombs and guns.

“Everything, and I mean everything, must be done to avoid this situation spiralling further into an abyss that will only have even more terrible consequences for civilians.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have delivered 32 tons of supplies and medicines to various hospitals and the Lebanese health sector, especially those areas most exposed to hostilities, in anticipation of a full-scale Middle Eastern conflict.

The Lebanese health minister, Firas Abiad, said the supplies were necessary so that “we can be ready to deal with any emergency”.

Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, speaking in a press conference, said it is “justified and moral” to let Gaza’s population of two million die of hunger unless Israeli hostages were returned.

Smotrich added that international pressure meant the government had “no choice” but to bring in aid. He criticised the defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and the military for allowing supplies into the besieged territory and implied that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should intervene and introduce a policy change.

He said: “Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned.

“Humanitarian in exchange for humanitarian is morally justified, but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war.”

Ireland's foreign minister, Micheál Martin, posted on X urging citizens to avoid travel to both Israel and Lebanon.

One of those killed in the Israeli strike on Sunday was a paramedic, who had been sent in to inspect the site on an earlier strike for casualties, according to Ali Abbas, a rescue worker, who spoke to AFP.

He had gone “to see if there were civilians or people [in the area]... and the second strike happened immediately,” Abbas said.

The strike was just two miles from Lebanon’s border with Israel. Most villagers have been evacuated to avoid the trading of fire between Hezbollah and Israel, which has been an almost daily occurrence since the start of the Gaza War in October.

Turkey has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon if they do not have a reason to say, due to concerns that the security situation may deteriorate rapidly, its foreign ministry said on Sunday night.

"Those who do not need to stay in Lebanon should leave Lebanon while commercial flights are still operating, if possible," the ministry said in a statement.

The country also issued an advisory warning against travelling to the country unless essential.

Earlier today, Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, launched a drone attack on northern Israel in retaliation for what it called Israel's "attacks and assassinations" on several villages in south Lebanon.

According to the Israeli military, two soldiers were injured and a fire broke out.

Several border skirmishes have occured over recent days.

The US said it would defend Israel in the event of an attack, and moved warships and fighter jets to the region.

It has also begun another round of diplomacy talks aimed at reducing tensions. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke with the Iraqi prime minister, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani and emphasised the importance of "all parties taking steps to calm regional tensions" and avoid any further escalation, according to the state department.

Al-Sudani, however, told Blinken that stopping any escalation went hand-in-hand with stopping Israeli "aggression" in the Gaza Strip, Iraqi state media said.

On Sunday, at least 30 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on two schools and a hospital complex. 25 people were sheltering in the two schools in Gaza City, with another five killed in the courtyard of al-Aqsa hospital, with the tents of displaced people set on fire.

This brings the total number of deaths from the war in Gaza to 39,580, the territory's health authorities said, with civilians making up the majority.

In a rare trip to Iran over the weekend, Jordan's foriegn minister, Ayman Safadi, met with the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pezeshkian said the assassination of Haniyeh was a "major mistake" by Israel, one that "will not go unanswered", according to Iranian state TV.

President Joe Biden is said to be meeting his national security team to discuss the Middle East situation on Monday, the White House said.

This was due to growing fears that Iran retaliate and strike Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran.

The White House also said that Biden would speak to King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Welcome to the live blog. I'm Emily Wright and I will be bringing you regular updates on the Israel-Iran War.