US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned yesterday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging Israel and Hamas towards an elusive agreement.

Israeli strikes killed 25 people in Gaza yesterday, including six children, Palestinian health authorities said, ahead of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to push forward ceasefire talks.

A senior Hamas official yesterday dismissed optimistic talk by US President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is nearer after negotiations in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.

Undertakers are working like bricklayers in a Gaza cemetery, piling cinder blocks into tight rectangles, side by side, for freshly dug graves.

Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 40,005 Palestinians since October 7, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday, as there was no let-up in Israeli strikes across the enclave.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps yesterday said one of its colonels has died of wounds suffered in an air strike it blamed on the US-led coalition in Syria.

The Palestinian group Hamas said yesterday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for today in Qatar, dimming hopes for a negotiated truce that Iranian sources say could hold back an Iranian attack on Israel.`

Iran yesterday rejected Western calls to stand down its threat to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month.

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain said yesterday that “there can be no further delay” in negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza, warning Iran and its allies against any “further escalation” of the conflict.

Israel yesterday faced international condemnation for its strikes on a school in Gaza used for internally displaced people.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards are holding military drills in the western parts of the country that will continue until Tuesday, Iran’s official news agency announced on Sunday.

Iran is set to carry out an order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to “harshly punish” Israel over the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran, a Revolutionary Guards deputy commander was quoted as saying on Friday by local news agencies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a phone call on Friday that the escalation of tensions in the Middle East was “in no party’s interest” while also stressing the need for a Gaza ceasefire, the State Department said.

Deadly Israeli strike on Gaza school

Israeli troops yesterday launched a new assault into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators renewed their push for Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal.

A series of attempted attacks using missiles and a sea drone targeted a merchant vessel off areas of Yemen held by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a British maritime security agency said yesterday.

Israel said yesterday it was revoking the diplomatic status of Norway’s envoys to the Palestinian Authority accusing Oslo of “anti-Israel behaviour” during the Gaza war and drawing a formal protest.

Afghan government employees must attend mosque five times a day or face punishment, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said yesterday in his latest edict.

Turkey yesterday joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel ordered residents and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya areas of Gaza City yesterday, as reports said a “large scale” Israeli army operation is expected to begin there soon.