The tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran came close to collapsing overnight after the Islamic Republic fired 15 missiles and four drones at the United Arab Emirates. The question now is whether hostilities will resume in the coming days — just before next week’s major summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, slated to take place in Beijing.

Monday’s Iranian missile fire came amid ramped-up rhetoric from both Tehran and Washington over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and as the U.S. launched “Project Freedom” to assist vessels attempting to transit through the waterway. One of the drones fired yesterday by Iran hit the UAE’s Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, sparking a fire that injured three Indian workers. 

Iran’s attack on the UAE was widely condemned, with Saudi, Qatari, British and Indian officials denouncing the renewed strikes.

CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper touted the initial success of the Project Freedom naval effort, which on its first day protected two U.S.-flagged ships traveling through the strait. It’s unclear the degree to which the endeavor will help with the resumption of normal activities in the waterway, which normally sees some 120 vessels passing through each day.

Later Monday, two U.S. naval ships came under heavy fire from Iran as they navigated through the passage. Iran claimed to have hit a warship, which CENTCOM denied. Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst that Iran would be “wipe[d] off the face of the earth” if it targeted ships being escorted through the strait. The Wall Street Journal reported that the president “for days has toggled between two competing impulses: severely punishing Iran for failing to abandon its nuclear work, and avoiding a significant escalation that could draw the U.S. deeper into a Middle East conflict.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, for his part, criticized Project Freedom — which he referred to as “Project Deadlock” — claiming that Pakistan-brokered talks between Washington and Tehran “are making progress” and warning that the U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishers.”


Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the strikes on the UAE — albeit without mentioning Iran. “It is absolutely essential that the ceasefire be upheld and respected,” Sharif posted on X, “to allow necessary diplomatic space for dialogue leading to enduring peace and stability in the region.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to address the situation with Iran when he speaks to reporters from the White House briefing room at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the first press briefing since White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt went on maternity leave.

Later this week, Rubio is set to head to the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV amid tensions between the Holy See and the Trump administration over the pontiff’s comments on the war in Iran. It’s unclear if the trip will still happen if the situation in the Gulf further devolves.

The bigger question is what will happen next week, when Trump is slated to meet with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing — a summit already delayed once due to the war. Over the weekend, Beijing told Chinese firms to ignore U.S. sanctions on five Iran-linked oil refiners in the country.Beijing has attempted to play both sides of the conflict, encouraging Iran to pursue diplomacy while also providing the Islamic Republic with commercial support for use in the event of a resumption of hostilities. Should the summit take place, all eyes will be on Xi to see if he attempts to play Trump, as well.

Missile strikes from Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon resulted in over 100 casualties between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

One person was killed and another injured after two cars caught fire in the Upper Galilee from errant IDF shells that fell inside Israel, rather than Lebanon, an investigation by the military found on Monday.

MDA reported 15 wounded from missile fragments landing in numerous sites in Tel Aviv and central Israel on Sunday.

EMTs from the Magen David Adom emergency services, Taysir Subah and Safa Abu Rafea, said they “arrived at the scene and saw two vehicles on fire. During the firefighters’ extinguishing operations, we identified a man in the driver’s seat. We conducted medical assessments, he had no signs of life, and we had to pronounce him dead.”

On Saturday night, an Iranian missile struck the city of Dimona, about eight miles from Israel’s Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center. The direct hit caused extensive damage to several buildings in the city, injuring 31 people, including one who is in serious condition, according to MDA.

MDA EMTs Shai Binyamin and Gadot Vaknin said they were alerted by civilians on the street to elderly residents trapped in a safe room, whom they helped treat.

Three hours later, an Iranian missile struck Arad, a city near the Dead Sea. Emergency services in the area, which has seen fewer alerts than the rest of the country, evacuated 84 patients to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, including 10 in serious condition, among them children as young as four years old.

Yakir Talker, an MDA EMT, described “extensive destruction and chaos” at the scene. Another EMT, Riyad Abu Ajaj, said that “together with security forces, we conducted searches to locate additional patients. We provided medical treatment to many patients, including children.” 

At both scenes in southern Israel, the IDF Home Front Command led efforts to free people trapped in the rubble.

Schools in much of the Negev, which had been hit by fewer missiles than Israel’s center and north, were meant to reopen on Sunday. The IDF Home Front Command revised its guidelines to keep schools closed after Saturday night’s strikes. Schools have been closed since the start of the war with Iran late last month, and gatherings have been limited to 50 people near a shelter or safe room.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir met with the mayors of Metula and Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanon border, saying that the IDF is “prepared for the enhancement of the forward defensive posture in the north.” In a later statement on Saturday, he added: “There is no more containment; there is initiative; there is preemptive action.” Last week, the IDF said it would increase ground operations in Lebanon.

“The more we strike and weaken Iran, the more we weaken Hezbollah,” Zamir added.

He also praised the “steadfastness and the resilience” of Israelis in the north, saying that they “enable us to continue striking and degrading the enemy.”

“We will not stop until the threat is pushed away from our border and long-term security is ensured for our residents,” he said.

This story was updated on March 23, 2026, to add the IDF investigation findings.

Some of the first repatriation flights carrying Israelis who had been stranded abroad were briefly held mid-flight on Thursday morning as Iranian missiles were fired at central Israel.

El Al, Arkia, Israir and Air Haifa repatriation flights began taking off for Israel on Wednesday evening from dozens of destinations in Europe, the U.S. and Thailand, and began landing Thursday morning. 

Several flights needed to briefly detour while en route to Ben Gurion Airport after Iran shot missiles toward central Israel. The flights are expected to continue through the weekend.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said that no casualties from the missile barrage had thus far been reported. Social media footage showed a crater in the ground, believed to be from falling missile fragments, in an open field near houses in central Israel. 

As Iran launched missiles at Israel on Thursday morning, it also attacked Azerbaijan for the first time, launching drones that injured two at Nakhchivan International Airport. 

Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands said they would send naval vessels to Cyprus, after an Iranian UAV struck a British base on the island state. 

The IDF has been preparing for the possibility that the Houthis will begin striking Israel as they have done sporadically since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Israeli media reported. The Houthis have threatened to fire at Gulf States if they attack Iran, and Saudi Arabia increased security for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in case of a Houthi attack, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN. 

Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, the IDF struck an underground site in Iran used to store missiles. Amid the strike, an IAF jet detected Iranians loading a missile into a launcher and struck it.

The IDF completed a wide-scale attack on an Iranian military compound that featured the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij paramilitary force, Quds Force, cyber warfare, and internal security, including the unit for suppressing protests, the military said on Wednesday.

According to the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv University, over 1,000 people have been killed in Iran. Israel has struck over 600 targets and the U.S. has struck over 2,000, in addition to over 300 air-defense systems and ballistic-missile assets. The U.S. additionally destroyed 20 Iranian vessels and submarines.

There have been over 120 waves of Iranian attacks on Israel, including 200 missiles and over 120 UAVs, with 10 significant impacts. There have been 941 UAV attacks, 189 ballistic missiles and eight cruise missiles targeting the UAE, 92 UAVs and 74 missiles aimed at Bahrain, 41 UAVs and 112 missiles targeting Qatar, among other attacks, according to the INSS. 

In addition, the INSS found that there have been 62 attacks launched from Lebanon toward Israel and six from Lebanon to Cyprus. Israel has struck over 250 targets in Lebanon since Hezbollah joined the war over the weekend.

Israel has eliminated more than 40 senior figures in Iran, 14 of whom the INSS characterizes as very senior, and 16 in Lebanon.

MDA reported 44 people injured as a result of missile strikes on Israel on Wednesday. Most were injured making their way to shelter. Since the start of Operation Lion’s Roar, MDA has treated 458 casualties; there have been 12 fatalities.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, thanking the U.S. for its support for Israel and saying the countries’ leaders are “changing regional and global history.” 

Hegseth praised the cooperation between the militariess and said “keep going to the end; we are with you,” according to Katz’s office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s diplomatic advisor, Ophir Falk, pushed back against the claim that the U.S. or Israel attacked a girls’ school in Iran on Saturday, killing at least 168, according to Iranian reports. Falk said the claim was being investigated, but that it appears that a misfired Iranian missile struck the school.

“From what I understand, that was clearly an Iranian strike; it’s a misfire from the Iranians,” Falk told CNN. “Those are Iranian missiles that misfired. Some 30% of their missiles are misfiring.”

Falk noted that similar incidents took place during the war in Gaza, adding: “For us, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. We do everything to prevent civilian casualties. … For [Iran], it’s a strategy. … I am 100% sure the American military did not intentionally kill civilians.”

Israel’s Iron Beam system, which intercepts missiles with lasers, will be delivered to the IDF for initial operational use at the end of the month, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Daniel Gold, head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Research and Development Directorate, said at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University on Monday. 

“With development complete and a comprehensive testing program that has validated the system’s capabilities, we are prepared to deliver initial operational capability to the IDF on Dec. 30, 2025. Simultaneously, we are already advancing the next-generation systems,” Gold said.

According to Gold, “the Iron Beam laser system is expected to fundamentally change the rules of engagement on the battlefield.”

Former Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which developed and produced the Iron Beam system, told the Misgav Mideast Horizons Podcast in an episode to be released Wednesday that the new missile defense system represents a “laser revolution.” (Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov co-hosts the podcast.)

“For the first time in human history, we are able to shoot down missiles, rockets, even artillery shells, mortar shells, cruise missiles, airplanes as well — not with projectiles, not with missiles or artillery shells, but with light,” Steinitz said. 

According to Steinitz, American, Chinese, British, German and Russian companies have tried to develop effective laser weapons for decades. 

“We managed to do it and we already intercepted [projectiles] in tests,” he said, noting that Lite Beam, a smaller version of the Iron Beam system, was successfully used in October 2024 to intercept roughly 50 UAVs shot at Israel by Hezbollah from Lebanon. 

“This is revolutionary, and I am confident that this is just the beginning,” he added.

Iron Beam will initially be used to shoot down short and long-range missiles from Lebanon and Gaza, and the combined use of Iron Beam and the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems, also produced by Rafael, will bring Israel close to 100% interception, Steinitz said. 

He does not expect Iron Beam to fully replace Iron Dome nor David’s Sling in the coming years, because factors such as poor weather conditions and very large barrages could make the laser systems less effective.

The use of the laser system will also drastically lower the costs of missile defense, Steinitz said, because each use of the Iron Beam system costs around $3, as opposed to about $50,000 per Iron Dome interceptor. As such, it will cost less for Israel to intercept a rocket than it costs for its enemies to produce them, at $5,000-10,000.

In addition, Steinitz said that the Iron Beam system works faster than the Iron Dome.

“Once the [rocket] is rising over Gaza, interception will start immediately, because the laser can reach the incoming rocket at the speed of light,” he said. “With the Iron Dome, it’s two missiles flying, one from Gaza and one from Tel Aviv to meet each other midway.” 

Shooting down rockets over Gaza will also mitigate the need for Israelis to run to shelters and safe rooms due to falling missile and interceptor fragments.

“We won’t sound the alarm in Tel Aviv, because we should be able to see [an interception] immediately if we succeed to intercept, and if we fail to intercept, we will have another opportunity, and then we shall put on the alarm,” Steinitz explained.

Steinitz also said that in the coming years, Rafael is likely to develop laser-based systems to intercept longer range missiles, such as those shot at Israel by the Houthis from Yemen and by Iran in the last two years.

China showcased its growing aggressiveness on the world stage in a major military parade on Wednesday, showing off missiles and fighter jets to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in attendance.

The parade was an example of how Beijing has used WWII not only to encourage nationalism, but to project power internationally, from Jerusalem to Taipei and beyond.

President Donald Trump pushed back against the spectacle in Beijing, writing on Truth Social that Chinese leader Xi Jinping ought to “mention the massive amount of support and ‘blood’ that the United States of America gave to China in order to help it secure its FREEDOM from a very unfriendly foreign invader. Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope that they are rightfully Honored and Remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice! …Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against The United States of America.” 

The parade came shortly after China hosted a summit with Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Eurasian leaders, deepening ties among major powers not aligned with the West. The attendees issued a communique last week strongly condemning “the military aggression launched by Israel and the United States against Iran” in June.

China has also used World War II and Holocaust terminology in recent weeks as it continues its hostility against Israel, calling Israel’s war a “genocide,” even as the Chinese Embassy in Israel held an event highlighting Beijing’s positioning with the Allies in World War II. 

The recent statements reflect a broader double game China has played in its relations toward Israel, consistently showing hostility to Israel on the international stage since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks, while within Israel, the Chinese ambassador has pursued a friendlier posture. 

Last month, Beijing, in a statement from the Chinese Communist Party’s Information Office, accused the U.S. of “serving as an accomplice to the genocide in Gaza.” The statement, Tuvia Gering, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said, marked the first time an official Chinese document accused Israel of genocide. 

Gering told Jewish Insider that “you see the word [genocide] being used more and more by Chinese academics, and they are the ones who help formulate China’s Middle East policy … In recent months, I have been seeing it used much more frequently, as well as other accusations against Israel and Jewish people.”

“From the beginning of the war, there have been comparisons between the Jewish state and Japanese imperialists,” Gering said. “From the Chinese perspective, [Japan] did some of the most terrible things, like what the Nazis did to us. That vile, inhumane violence is ingrained in every child in China’s psyche from a young age.” 

The Chinese consul-general in Osaka, Japan, has published posts on X over the course of the Gaza war comparing Israel to Nazis and “a demon … that will even devour a baby,” and saying “we must get rid of it once and for all.” Beijing has not apologized for the diplomat’s statements.

That being said, Gering posited that the use of the word “genocide” was unlikely to reflect a policy shift by Beijing “because of the sensitivity to how the word is being used against China” in relation to its Uyghur minority.

The genocide accusation came in response to the State Department’s report on human rights practices in China in 2024, which opened by stating that “Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred … in China against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs.” 

As such, Gering said the use of “genocide” in an official document is primarily meant to target the U.S.

Similarly, Carice Witte, founder of SIGNAL Group, a think tank focused on China-Israel relations, told JI that the statement is an example of Beijing “using Israel as a tool.”

To China, she said, “the Middle East and Israel are much more about great power competition than the local issues.” 

“Israel is a very small country that is no longer of great interest to China, and its positions on Israel are not about Israel as much as they are about China’s global interests,” Witte said. “By saying the U.S. supports genocide in Gaza, that is not about Israel, but about the U.S. and the global south. Because so many countries hate Israel, [China] believes that if they criticize Israel, more countries will support them.”

A source involved in China-Israel relations who spoke on condition of anonymity told JI they heard a Chinese diplomat say that “they use the Palestinians to make trouble for the U.S. the way the U.S. uses Taiwan to make trouble for them.”

Ten days after Beijing accused Israel of genocide, the Chinese Embassy in Israel held a ceremony marking 80 years since the end of World War II in the Pacific arena, and honoring “Jakob Rosenfeld, a Jewish doctor whose heroic contribution to the Chinese people’s fight against fascism is a lasting symbol of international solidarity,” the invitation read. 

Gering also noted that China has made diplomatic use of the fact that over 20,000 Jews escaped the Holocaust to Shanghai, including, famously, the entire Mir Yeshiva from Lithuania. They fled to an enclave in Japanese-occupied Shanghai that did not require a visa for entry, until 1941, when Japan forced the Jewish refugees into a ghetto and banned Jewish immigration to the city. The only Chinese diplomat known to have played a role in helping Jewish refugees was a representative of the Republic of China, which the Chinese Communist Party that currently rules China later defeated in a civil war.

Like many other countries, including China’s ally Russia, which also holds WWII victory parades, Beijing “employs selective historical memory,” Gering said. “There is a very obvious, explicit utilization of memory … Undermining or silencing the voices of victims of the Holocaust and refugees in Shanghai … When you listen to Chinese ambassadors, you think that there was a unique civilizational benevolence by the Chinese people, who opened their arms when the rest of the world rejected Jews … It’s a complete distortion of the story of the Jewish refugees who lived in squalid conditions.” 

Israel generally does not push back against that narrative for “political expedience,” Gering said, explaining that “it is good for soft power to say we share their sentiment of anti-fascism.” 

Witte said that China’s politicization of World War II and the Holocaust reflects a broader “two-pronged path. On the one hand, China has a big-picture policy and the Beijing stage is for the track that is harsh on Israel. Local policy, where the embassy is the stage, is the pro-Israel track.”

“Obviously, Beijing is exponentially louder, more recognized and more heard than the embassy,” she added.

Gering pointed out that Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng, who arrived at his post in December, “emphasizes friendship between Jews and Chinese people, while Chinese propaganda says Israel is committing genocide and compares Jews to Nazis.”

Xiao “has been given a mandate to act like nothing [bad] happened,” Gering added. “He even wrote an article saying not to let the war define the relationship. Even though … [the CCP] legal advisor said the Hamas attack [on Oct. 7, 2023] was A-OK, don’t split hairs, let’s talk about Chinese cars and how many Jews we saved. They’re kind of forgetting about Jews living today.” 

**

Gering also expressed concerns about Beijing’s recent use of Nazi terminology to describe the government in Taiwan.

The CCP newspaper, People’s Daily, published an article that compared Taiwan’s President William Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to the Nazis. The article also described civil society groups seeking to educate Taiwanese citizens to be prepared for possible missile attacks from China and to recognize Chinese propaganda in the media as “Nazi-like.”

The article “even feigns concern for their democracy, which is ironic in a CCP mouthpiece,” Gering said.

Gering expressed concern that the language is similar to that used by Russia in the years before its invasion of Ukraine.

“The denazification card is what Putin’s Kremlin used as a pretext for its invasion and its ongoing war in Ukraine,” Gering noted. “This prompts us to ask if this is a precursor to a People’s Liberation Army [Chinese military] denazification campaign in Taiwan.”

Still, Gering said, Taiwanese politics are very divisive, and opposition politicians have also called the current government Nazis, leading to condemnation by Israeli and German diplomats in Taipei. “That gave a hechsher [kosher certification] for the CCP to use this kind of pernicious rhetoric, as well,” he said.

“In the more immediate term, it’s probably just a tactical way for the CCP to sow division and weaken the Taiwanese leadership and democratic institutions,” he added.

President Donald Trump blasted Israel on Tuesday morning after it said it would respond to Iranian violations of the ceasefire, telling reporters, “I’m not happy with Iran, but I’m really not happy with Israel.”

“We have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing,” he continued, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before taking off to attend the NATO summit at The Hague, Netherlands. 

The IDF intercepted two missiles from Iran at about 10:30 a.m. Israel time, just hours after the ceasefire announced by Trump on Monday night came into effect. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he “instructed the IDF to respond forcefully to the violation of the ceasefire by Iran with powerful strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.”

Asked about Iran’s violation of the ceasefire, Trump said, “They violated it but Israel violated it, too. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before. … I’m not happy with Iran, either, but I’m really not happy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn’t land, that was shot perhaps by mistake, that didn’t land. I’m not happy about that.”

“These guys gotta calm down, it’s ridiculous,” he added later.

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday, “The ceasefire was set for 7 a.m. At 3 a.m., Israel forcefully struck at the heart of Tehran, damaging regime targets and eliminating hundreds of Basij militants and Iranian security forces. Shortly before the ceasefire went into effect, Iran sent a barrage of missiles, one of which took the lives of four of our civilians in Beersheba. At 7:00 the ceasefire went into effect. At 7:06 Iran sent one missile to Israeli territory and at 10:25, two additional missiles. The missiles were intercepted or fell in open areas with none injured and no damage.”

Shortly after he made his comments, Trump posted to Truth Social, “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”

Jerusalem sought clarifications from the Trump administration after his Truth Social post, an Israeli official told Jewish Insider, as the president had previously reassured Israel it could respond to Iranian violations of the ceasefire.

A senior Israeli official told Axios’ Barak Ravid that Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday and told him not to respond to Iran. Netanyahu reportedly told the president he could not cancel the strike and needed to give some kind of response to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire, and it was ultimately decided Israel would significantly scale back its attack and strike only one target. 

The PMO confirmed the Israeli Air Force destroyed a radar system near Tehran as its response.

“Following a conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the PMO continued, “Israel avoided conducting further strikes. In their conversation, President Trump expressed his great appreciation for Israel, which reached all of its goals in the war. The president also expressed his confidence in the stability of the ceasefire.”

After the conversation, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!” and then wrote, “IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!”

Jewish Insider’s senior political correspondent Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

Iran violated a ceasefire with Israel hours after it began on Tuesday, with Israel vowing “powerful strikes” in response.

The IDF intercepted two missiles from Iran at about 10:30 a.m. No injuries were reported. Despite residents of northern Israel reporting interceptions, Iran denied firing the missiles.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he “instructed the IDF to respond forcefully to the violation of the ceasefire by Iran with powerful strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.” IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said that “in light of the severe violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will respond with force.” A senior Israeli diplomatic source said that “Iran violated the ceasefire — and it will pay.” 

In the hours before the ceasefire was meant to go into effect at 7 a.m., Iran launched 20 missiles in a series of barrages at Israel, killing four in a direct hit on a building in Beersheba. 

Ahead of the deadly strike, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent mixed messages, first posting on X that “there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire … However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.” Less than 20 minutes later, Araghchi implied on X that a ceasefire had gone into effect: “The military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am.” 

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly struck Beersheba since the war began 12 days ago, damaging buildings in the Soroka Medical Center, Microsoft offices and residences in the southern Israel city. The regime said it was aiming at an IDF research center in the city’s HiTech Park. 

President Donald Trump announced a “Complete and Total CEASEFIRE” on Truth Social on Monday evening, saying that each “side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL … This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!” 

According to the president, Iran was supposed to have stopped firing at Israel at 7 a.m. local time, and Israel would stop 12 hours later. 

At about 8 a.m. Israel time, Trump added: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” 

Netanyahu and Trump spoke about the ceasefire overnight, while an American team that included Vice President JD Vance talked to Tehran, Reuters reported. Israel’s condition for the ceasefire was that Iran stop launching attacks, which they reportedly agreed to at the time. Qatar also took part in the negotiations. 

The Israeli government released a statement on Tuesday morning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported to the Security Cabinet that “Israel has achieved all of the objectives of Operation Rising Lion, and much more. Israel has removed a double existential threat — on both the nuclear issue and regarding ballistic missiles. The IDF also achieved complete air superiority in the skies over Tehran, struck a severe blow to the military leadership and destroyed dozens of Iran’s main regime targets.”

“In Operation Rising Lion, the State of Israel made great historic achievements and placed itself in the first rank of the world’s major powers,” the government stated. “This is a great success for the people of Israel and its fighters, who removed two existential threats to our country, and ensured the eternity of Israel.”

Israel also “thank[ed] President Trump and the U.S. for their defensive support and for their participation in removing the Iranian nuclear threat.”

The ceasefire was reached “in full coordination with President Trump,” the statement reads, but “Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire.”

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin also said in a briefing on Tuesday morning that “the IDF has fully met all the objectives defined in Operation Rising Lion.”

“The Chief of the General Staff instructed the IDF to maintain a high level of alert and readiness to deliver a powerful response to any violation of the ceasefire,” he added.

In addition, Israel’s Home Front Command maintained its restrictions on Israelis, including the continued closure of schools and non-essential businesses.

The Israeli government statement also said that the IDF killed hundreds of militants from the Basij, “the terrorist regime’s instrument of repression,” and killed a senior nuclear scientist, named Mohammad Reza Sadighi, according to Iranian reports.

Defrin said that on Monday night and early Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force “struck dozens of military targets in Tehran … deploying more than one hundred munitions.” The targets included the headquarters of SPND, where weapons systems and nuclear technology were developed, as well as military manufacturing infrastructure. The IAF also eliminated eight missile launchers that were ready to fire at Israel.

Iran launched several missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday. Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for the ministry, affirmed that “Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles.” 

Qatar “consider[s] this a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, its airspace, international law, and the United Nations Charter. We affirm that Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent with the nature and scale of this brazen aggression, in line with international law,” Al Ansari said.

The Ain al-Assad base housing U.S. troops in Iraq was also targeted, an Iraqi security official told the Associated Press.

Three Iranian officials familiar with the plans told The New York Times that Iran gave advance notice to Qatar that attacks were coming.

Qatari authorities had previously grounded all air traffic and the U.S. Embassy in Doha had issued a warning to Americans in the country to shelter in place in anticipation of an Iranian retaliation to U.S. strikes on its nuclear program.

“As part of the State of Qatar’s commitment to the safety of its citizens, residents, and visitors, the competent authorities announce the temporary suspension of air traffic in the country’s airspace,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written statement. “This is part of a set of precautionary measures taken based on developments in the region.”

Al Udeid Air Base, one of the targets of Iran’s strike, serves as U.S. Central Command’s forward headquarters and hosts over 10,000 American personnel. The U.S. evacuated its aircraft from the base in the week prior to the strikes on Iran.

A Reuters report on Sunday quoted a senior U.S. official saying that Iran would likely attempt to strike U.S. assets in the region within one or two days.

According to a White House official, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were monitoring developments from the Situation Room. President Donald Trump was scheduled to receive a briefing at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Iranian ballistic missiles struck Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel and sites in the Tel Aviv area on Thursday morning, wounding 89, including three seriously.

A missile struck the hospital’s old surgical building, severely damaging it and causing what a Soroka spokesperson described as “extensive damage in various areas” of the hospital complex. The surgical building had been recently evacuated in light of the war, and patients and staff had been moved to areas with reinforced walls. Injuries from the strike were light, hospital representatives said.

Soroka is the largest hospital in the Negev, such that the strike left a large swath of Israel without a functioning major medical center. Other hospitals in the area, including Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod, prepared to take in patients from buildings that were damaged. Magen David Adom provided four intensive care buses, able to transport a total of 23 ICU patients and 50 lightly injured casualties.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote that “The Iranian regime fired a ballistic missile at a hospital. The Iranian Regime deliberately targets civilians. The Iranian regime is committing war crimes. The Iranian regime has no red lines.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X that “Iran’s terrorist dictators shot missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and the civilian population in the center of the country. We will make the dictators in Tehran pay the full price.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the price would be to destabilize the Islamic Republic’s regime.

“The prime minister and I instructed the IDF to increase the force of the attacks against strategic targets in Iran and against governmental targets in Tehran to remove the threats to the State of Israel and undermine the Ayatollahs’ regime,” he stated.

Iranian news agency IRNA claimed that the target of the strike was an IDF intelligence outpost in Beersheba’s HiTech Park, which is over a mile away from the hospital. A television channel tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the missile was aimed at a “military hospital” in response to strikes on “civilian hospitals” in Gaza.

In the same 30-missile barrage, Iranian missiles struck a school in Holon. No children were present, because schools have been closed across Israel since Friday, but three elderly residents of adjacent buildings were wounded in serious condition, in addition to 62 others with minor to moderate injuries.

Another missile struck near the Ramat Gan Diamond Exchange, abutting Tel Aviv, causing minor injuries to 21 people and damage to 20 buildings in the neighborhood, which includes some of Israel’s tallest buildings.

Shrapnel struck Sheba Medical Center, Israel’s biggest hospital, also in Ramat Gan.

Overnight, the IDF intercepted several drones launched by Iran at Israel towards central and northern Israel. 

Jordanian authorities reported that an Iranian drone fell in a shopping center north of Amman, damaging a car and a bus station. Syrian media reported that an Iranian drone was shot down over the country.

The IDF struck an inactive nuclear reactor near Arak in Iran early Thursday after sending warnings to civilians in the area. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said the strike included “the structure of the reactor’s core seal, which is a key component in plutonium production.”

“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said.

The IDF also gave details of strikes on the active nuclear site in Natanz, which “contained components and specialized equipment used to advance nuclear weapons development and projects designed to accelerate the regime’s nuclear program.” 

In addition, 40 IAF fighter jets struck dozens of military targets in Tehran and other parts of the country, including factories manufacturing ballistic missile and air-defense components, as well as air-defense batteries, surface-to-surface missile storage sites, radar systems and other targets.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir sent a letter of encouragement to IDF soldiers and commanders on Thursday, saying that they are “writing a new chapter in history for the State of Israel and the entire Middle East.”

”Thanks to a decisive and impressive surprise opening strike, we have achieved tremendous goals: We eliminated the regime’s command echelons, delivered a deep blow to the capabilities used for the Iranian nuclear program, identified and struck missile launchers, and we are continuing and increasing the strength of our operations as necessary,” Zamir wrote.

Iranian news reported that the country’s military shot down a second Israeli Hermes Drome. The IDF confirmed that Iran downed the first UAV a day earlier.

Israel’s Home Front Command loosened restrictions on Israelis on Wednesdays, allowing people to return to workplaces with safe rooms and for up to 30 people to attend synagogue at a time. Schools and kindergartens remained closed.

A poll published by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 70% of Israelis support the campaign launched against Iran last week, while 10% support the campaign but think the timing is wrong and 13.5% oppose it. Among Israeli Jews, 82% support the strikes, whereas only 11% of Israeli Arabs do, according to the poll. Jewish Israelis across the political spectrum support the operation: 57% of those who self-identify as left-wing, 75% of centrists and 90% on the right.

Though in past polls, most Jewish Israelis did not think Israel should strike Iran without help from the U.S., this week 69% thought it was the right decision. In addition, 68% of Jewish Israelis thought that Netanyahu’s motivation behind launching the operation against Iran was security-related, while 68% of Arab Israelis thought it was political.

The poll was conducted this Sunday-Tuesday among 594 Israelis, with a 3.61% margin of error.

Israel struck a centrifuge production site in Tehran early Wednesday, after successfully intercepting more than two dozen missiles launched by Iran toward Israel in the preceding hours.

Over 50 Israeli Air Force jets flew to Iran, where they struck a facility in which centrifuges were manufactured to expand and accelerate uranium enrichment for Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said.

”The Iranian regime is enriching uranium for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons. Nuclear power for civilian use does not require enrichment at these levels,” the IDF said.

The IDF also said it struck several weapons manufacturing facilities, including one used “to produce raw materials and components for the assembly of surface-to-surface missiles, which the Iranian regime has fired and continues to fire toward the State of Israel.” Another facility that the IDF struck manufactured components for anti-aircraft missiles.

IDF Spokesperson Effie Defrin said on Wednesday that the IDF “attacked five Iranian combat helicopters that tried to harm our aircraft.” 

“There is Iranian resistance, but we control the air [over Iran] and will continue to control it. We are deepening our damage to surface missiles and acting in every place from which the Iranians shoot missiles at Israel,” Defrin added.

Defrin said on Tuesday evening that, as a result of Israel’s air superiority in western Iran and the Tehran area, the Islamic Republic’s military efforts “have been pushed back into central Iran. They are now focusing their efforts on conducting missile fire from the area of Isfahan.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said that “a tornado is passing over Tehran. Symbols of the regime are exploding and collapsing, from the broadcast authority and soon other targets, and masses of residents are fleeing. This is how dictatorships collapse.” 

Most of the projectiles fired from Iran toward northern and central Israel overnight were intercepted, and no injuries or fatalities were reported. 

In addition, Iran launched over 10 drones at the Galilee and the Golan on Wednesday morning, all of which the IDF intercepted.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Israel is running low on Arrow interceptors used to shoot down long-range ballistic missiles from Iran. Israel also uses the David’s Sling system against Iranian missiles. The Arrow is manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. The U.S. has augmented Israel’s air defenses with its THAAD system, but is concerned about its own stock of interceptors. The IDF told the Journal that “it is prepared and ready to handle any scenario.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on X that Iran “must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.” On his Persian X account, Khamenei evoked Khaybar, the site of a massacre of Jews by Muslims in the 7th century, along with an image of a man with a sword entering a burning castle. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that it shot Fatah-1 hypersonic missiles at Israel, which move faster than the speed of sound and cannot be detected by missile defense systems. However, there is no evidence on the ground in Israel of that being the case. 

Iranian state media reported on Wednesday the interception of an Israeli drone near Isfahan, with footage of an aircraft that looks like an IAF Hermes 900. The IDF declined to comment. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote a letter updating the U.N. Security Council on Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against Iran. The operation is “aimed to neutralize the existential and imminent threat from Iran’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs” and “specifically targets military facilities and critical components of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, as well as key individuals involved in Iran’s efforts to achieve nuclear weapons.” 

Sa’ar noted the Islamic Republic’s “public threats to eliminate the State of Israel, in stark violation of the UN charter, and its continued attempts to achieve the means to accomplish this by rapidly developing military nuclear capabilities, as well as its ballistic missile program.” He pointed out that the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran in a recent Board of Governors decision for its non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Sa’ar’s letter came after two missives from Iran to the UNSC about Israel’s strikes on the country.

Also Wednesday, the first Israeli rescue flights arrived from Cyprus, meant to help some of the over 100,000 Israelis stuck abroad while Israel’s airspace is closed. Israel Airports Authority said that 2,800 Israelis were expected to return on Wednesday. Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia, Israir and Air Haifa will be making further emergency flights to repatriate Israelis.

China’s foreign ministry said that it was telling citizens to leave Israel and Iran, and Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, said that the families of Russian diplomats left Israel via Egypt on Tuesday. 

Iran has launched about 400 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, hitting 40 impact sites since the beginning of the operation on Friday, according to the Israeli Government Press Office. There have been 24 fatalities and over 804 injured, eight of whom are in serious condition. About 3,800 people have been evacuated from their homes and 18,766 damage claims were submitted to the Israel Tax Authority.