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Gunmen killed five civilians during “terrorist attack” in southeast Iran
Gunmen killed five civilians during a “terrorist attack” on a judiciary building in southeast Iran on Saturday before being killed themselves, state media reported.
“Unknown gunmen attacked the judiciary centre in Zahedan,” the capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, the judiciary’s Mizan Online said.
“Five people have been killed and 13 injured in this terrorist attack,” the report said while adding that the counts are “preliminary” and the toll may rise.
Separately, the official IRNA news agency reported that three of the attackers were killed during the assault, citing the regional headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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Three diplomats told Reuters president Emmanuel Macron had to go it alone to recognise a Palestinian state as London did not want to face the wrath of the United States, and Ottawa took a similar stance.
“It became increasingly apparent that we could not wait to get partners on board,” said a French diplomat, adding France will work to get more states on board ahead of conference on a two-state solution in September.
A senior French official said: “If there is a moment in history to recognise a Palestinian state, even if it’s just symbolic, then I would say that moment has probably come.”
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 24, 2025. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersShare
Eleni Courea
Keir Starmer is under intense pressure from his most senior cabinet ministers and more than a third of MPs to move faster on recognising a Palestinian state in response to Israel withholding aid to starving civilians in Gaza.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, are understood to be among ministers who believe the government should take the lead on Palestinian statehood alongside France.
The prime minister is facing a growing clamour to take action amid the international outcry over Israel’s actions, with charities saying that cases of severe malnutrition among children under five in Gaza City have tripled in the last two weeks.
Read our exclusive story on how Rayner and Cooper are understood to back action as 221 MPs sign a letter calling for UK recognition of statehood:
ShareJulian Borger
France’s decision to recognise Palestine at the next UN general assembly is an attempt to build momentum for change and make a break from the major western powers’ impassivity in the face of Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Emmanuel Macron’s declaration, announced in typically dramatic fashion on social media late on Thursday night, draws a line between the paths followed by the US and France over the Gaza war, and significantly raises the pressure on the UK, Germany and other G7 powers to pick a side.
Macron, Keir Starmer and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, held what the UK prime minister described as an “emergency call” on Friday, to coordinate positions. It led to a joint call for Israel to lift its food blockade immediately, an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. But there was no apparent shift in Merz’s or Starmer’s position on recognition.
The British prime minister risks either provoking mutiny in his cabinet and party over Gaza or alienating White House. Read our analysis here:
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Rates of severe malnutrition among children aged under five at Médecins Sans Frontières’ Gaza City clinic have tripled in the last two weeks, the charity has said, as starvation in the Israeli-besieged strip worsens.
The global aid community has sounded the alarm as Gaza descends deeper into mass starvation, with resulting deaths being reported daily as Israel allows only a trickle of aid into the territory.
MSF said a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women it screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, with the number of people needing care for malnutrition at its Gaza City location quadrupling since May.
MSF is one of the largest medical providers in Gaza, with more than 1,000 staff in the strip providing medical services ranging from maternity care to emergency surgery.
The charity blamed what it called an Israeli “policy of starvation” for the hunger crisis, as global condemnation grows over what more than 100 aid groups say is Israel’s blockade of most aid into Gaza. Read our full report here:
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Which countries have recognised a Palestinian state?
This graphic shows which countries internationally have recognised a Palestinian state.
81 countries recognised Palestinian statehood in 1988, the year it declared independence, with South Africa recognising it in 1995, Brazil in 2010, Chile in 2011 and Thailand in 2012.
But more have recently followed suit in response to the plight of the people in Gaza. Spain and Ireland recognised a Palestinian state last year and Mexico made the recognition this year, while France has recently announced it is due to do so.
International recognition of the Palestinian stateInternational recognition of the Palestinian stateShare
Updated at 09.10 BST
Annie Kelly
Twenty-eight doctors from Gaza are being held inside Israeli prisons, eight of whom are senior consultants in surgery, orthopaedics, intensive care, cardiology and paediatrics, according to data from Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical organisation.
Twenty-one of those detained have been held for more than 400 days. HWW said none had been charged with any crimes by the Israeli authorities. Three healthcare workers have been detained since the start of July.
On Monday, the Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli undercover force detained Dr Marwan al-Hams, head of Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, outside the field hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip. His whereabouts are unknown, and the Israeli authorities have yet to publish a statement on his detention. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that two of its workers were taken into detention from a facility sheltering staff and their families in Dier al-Balah; one remains in Israeli custody.
A rising number of doctors are among hundreds of medical staff detained in Gaza, rights groups say. Read our full story here:
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Updated at 08.59 BST
European nations debate Palestinian state recognition
European nations are becoming split on the question of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, as the desperate situation in Gaza continues.
Britain’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, after some 221 MPs signed a letter urging the British Government to recognise the state of Palestine at a meeting of the UN next week. While the PM said he was “unequivocal” about wanting to see a Palestinian state, he insisted this needed to be part of a “wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis”.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday that recognising the State of Palestine before it is established could be counterproductive. “I am very much in favour of the State of Palestine but I am not in favour of recognising it prior to establishing it,” Meloni told Italian daily La Repubblica. “If something that doesn’t exist is recognised on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn’t,” Meloni added.
A German government spokesperson said on Friday that Berlin was not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make “long-overdue progress” towards a two-state solution.
It comes after French President Emmanuel Macron drew angry rebukes from Israel and the United States when he announced France intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly. Macron, who unveiled the decision on X, published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas confirming France’s intention to press ahead with Palestinian recognition and work to convincing other partners to follow suit.
According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states – including France – now recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
Meanwhile today:
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The Israeli military said a “projectile” was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday. “A projectile was identified crossing the Gaza Strip from the south and most likely falling in an open area,” the military said in a statement, adding that there were no injuries reported.
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Four Palestinian-Americans have been killed in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began and their families are losing hope for justice. They told AP Israel and its law enforcement have made them feel like culprits – by imposing travel bans and, in some cases, detaining and interrogating them.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with Hamas after Israel and the US recalled their negotiating teams, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty. Netanyahu’s statement came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic.
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