Huge crowd at Nakba Day rally in London

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran conflict with his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.

“Both sides stressed the importance of continuing the political and diplomatic process aimed at achieving a compromise-based peace settlement,” it said.

The UAE was the main target of Iranian missile and drone attacks during the regional war that began with US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic in late February.

The conflict has rocked the wealthy United Arab Emirates, halting most oil exports and damaging its image as a safe haven that has helped it become the region’s financial hub.

Pakistan’s interior minister arrived in Tehran on Saturday to revive stalled peace talks between Iran and the United States, Iranian media reported.

“Mohsin Naqvi arrived in the Islamic Republic of Iran today on an official two-day visit as part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to facilitate dialogue and promote regional peace,” Tasnim news agency reported.

Islamabad has been actively mediating peace talks between Iran and the US. It hosted a high-level meeting between the two sides last month, which ended without any breakthrough.

The fragile ceasefire has largely halted the fighting that began after US-Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had received messages from Washington indicating President Donald Trump’s administration was willing to continue talks.

Meanwhile, Iran’s chief negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Tuesday that Washington should accept Tehran’s offer for peace after Trump rejected an Iranian counter-offer.

“There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as outlined in the 14-point resolution. Any other approach would be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another,” Qalibaf said in a social media post.

Israeli air strikes Gaza has killed Hamas According to local officials, commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad started the fire and killed seven people. The attack occurred despite a ceasefire, which residents say exists “only on paper”.

Al-Haddad, whom Israel has linked to planning the October 7 attacks, was buried after Israel and Hamas accused him of violating ceasefire terms. More than 72,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then Was began.

Israel’s military said it had killed the head of Hamas’ military wing in an airstrike on Gaza the previous day.

Israel’s military said Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed on Friday, describing him as one of Hamas’s senior military commanders who directed the planning and implementation of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 hostage.

Israel begins its two-year war in Gaza, killing 72,700 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Hamas confirmed al-Haddad’s death. A source within the militant group, which Israel, Germany and other countries list as a terrorist organization, told the AFP news agency that he was killed along with his wife and daughter.

During his funeral in Gaza City on Saturday, mourners carried his body wrapped in Hamas and Palestinian flags.

Israel launched new airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, a day after the US announced a 45-day extension of the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese government following talks in Washington.

Israel says it is targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has begun attacking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in several areas of southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported attacks on at least five villages in the south, prompting an exodus of residents towards the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut.

The ceasefire announced by the US on Friday did not include the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

“The United States is aware of the challenges posed by Hezbollah’s continued attacks on Israel, without the consent or approval of the Lebanese government, that could derail this process.” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

Israeli forces say they are targeting Hezbollah operations in southern Lebanon to protect Israeli civilians.

More than 2,900 people have been killed in Lebanon since it was dragged into the wider Middle East conflict on March 2, according to Lebanese officials, including more than 400 since a ceasefire took effect in mid-April.

Iranian state television said on Saturday that European countries were in talks with Tehran regarding the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has blocked traffic through the vital waterway since the US and Israel attacked it in late February. Tehran has refused to open the waterway until the US lifts the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports.

“Following the passage of ships from East Asian countries, especially China, Japan and Pakistan, we have received information today that the Europeans have also started negotiations with the Revolutionary Guards Navy for permission to pass,” state television reported.

Thousands of people have turned out in central London for two separate rallies amid a heavy security presence.

One of the demonstrations is the Nakba Day Rally, an annual protest organized by a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups.

“Nakba” means “catastrophe” in Arabic and symbolizes the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians during the Arab–Israeli War in 1948 that led to the establishment of the State of Israel. The war destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages and forcibly displaced Palestinian communities.

The day continues to shape Palestinian identity and draws renewed urgency against the backdrop of the two-year Gaza war.

London’s Metropolitan Police said in an afternoon update that it had so far arrested 11 people for “a variety of offences”, but did not say how many of the arrests were linked to the pro-Palestine march.

A parallel rally is also taking place in London with a different objective. A “Unite the Kingdom” march organized by far-right leader Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon, has also attracted thousands of people.

Robinson founded the nationalist and anti-Islamic English Defense League and is one of the most influential far-right figures in Britain.

Good afternoon and thanks for joining.

We are monitoring developments related to the Nakba Day protests in London, as several police officers have been deployed to monitor the rally.

The British capital is on high alert as the demonstration is also being held as another far-right rally called by anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.

Meanwhile in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed the leader of Hamas’s military wing, described by Israel as one of the last surviving architects of the October 7, 2023 attacks that triggered a two-year war in the enclave.