Israel to call up 60,000 reservists as it launches ‘first stages’ of attack on Gaza City – Middle East crisis live

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Iran publicly hanged a convicted murderer at the scene of his alleged crime on Thursday, the judiciary said, just two days after another public execution.

Most executions in Iran are carried out inside prisons. Public executions are generally reserved for offences that caused particular outrage.

The latest hanging was carried out at dawn in the city of Kordkuy “at the scene of the crime and in public”, provincial judiciary chief Heidar Asiabi told the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website.

The condemned man had been convicted of killing “a couple and a young woman with a hunting rifle” late last year, Mizan reported.

Nine students in Gaza with full scholarships to study at British universities have been told the UK government is working to facilitate their evacuation.

The students – who have all been awarded Chevening scholarships, funded by the Foreign Office in recognition of their potential as future leaders – welcomed the development on Wednesday, but dozens more Palestinians in Gaza with university places are still awaiting news.

The breakthrough follows months of advocacy and campaigning by more than 100 MPs, university leaders and other civil society organisations. More than 80 Palestinian students in total have offers at UK universities, including 40 who have secured full scholarships.

Dr Nora Parr, a researcher at the University of Birmingham who has been coordinating efforts to support the students, said: “We received news of the government plans with mixed emotions. On the one hand, relief that indeed there is a shared sense of the importance and urgency of the students’ situation – and on the other our hearts sank. What about the rest? We must believe that this is only a start.”

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Iran launched its first military exercise since the end of its 12-day war with Israel, state television reported on Thursday, with navy vessels launching missiles at targets at sea in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.

While such drills are routine in the Islamic Republic, the “Sustainable Power 1404” exercise comes as authorities in Iran are trying to project strength in the wake of a war that saw Israel destroy air defence systems and bomb nuclear facilities and other sites.

The state TV report said naval vessels would fire cruise missiles at targets and use drones over the open water. It did not immediately air any footage from the exercise.

Iranian Navy soldiers at an armed speed boat in Persian Gulf near the strait of Hormuz about 1320km (820 miles) south of Tehran, April 30, 2019. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Iran’s navy, estimated to have 18,000 personnel, apparently avoided any major attack during the June war.

The navy, based out of the port city of Bandar Abbas, patrols the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea, and broadly leaves the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the strait of Hormuz, to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Here are some of the latest images from Gaza:

Smoke rises over residential buildings following the Israeli attack on ez-Zeytun and Shuja'iyya neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza on August 21,2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A Palestinian child displaced by the Israeli military offensive looks on from a shelter at an UNRWA school in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, August 20, 2025. Photograph: Ramadan Abed/Reuters

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, August 21, 2025. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

Smoke rises after an Israeli attack on Jabalia camp, north of Gaza on August 20, 2025. Photograph: Habboub Ramez/ABACA/Shutterstock

A group of 17 US Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday calling for the United States to press Israel to grant access and protection to journalists in Gaza.

The letter comes one week after an Israeli strike killed a group of Palestinian journalists in the besieged territory.

“The United States must make it clear to Israel that banning and censoring media organizations and targeting or threatening members of the press is unacceptable and must stop,” the Democratic senators said in a statement.

The letter to Rubio, a staunch supporter of Israel, said: “We urge you to press the Israeli government to protect journalists in Gaza and allow international media to access the territory.”

Last week, an Israeli strike killed four journalists for Al Jazeera, including Qatari television correspondent Anas al-Sharif, as well as two freelance journalists.

A protester holds a portrait of journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was recently killed in Gaza, during a rally in solidarity with the Palestinian people, in Sana'a, Yemen, 20 August 2025. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

Israel to call up 60,000 reservists as it launches ‘first stages’ of attack on Gaza City

Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis.

The Israeli military has announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City and said it was calling up an extra 60,000 reservists for the offensive.

It came as the government considered a new ceasefire proposal that Hamas has agreed on to pause the war and, separately, Israel approved a huge new illegal settlement in the West Bank.

Military spokesperson Effie Defrin said on Wednesday the Israel Defense Forces had “begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City”.

Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters in Gaza on Wednesday and Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said later that the prime minister had sped up the timeline for taking control of Hamas strongholds and defeating the militant group.

UN secretary general António Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying it was necessary “to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause”.

In other key developments:

• Israeli defence minister Israel Katz’s order to send more troops into Gaza City came despite international criticism of the offensive, with fears of significant casualties and more mass displacement amid widening conditions of starvation in the territory.

• The situation in Gaza City was “catastrophic” and “large numbers” were fleeing eastern neighbourhoods, according to the Gaza municipality’s emergency committee chief, Mustafa Qazzaat. Resident Anis Daloul, 64, told the AFP news agency the Israeli military had “destroyed most of the buildings in Zeitoun and displaced thousands of people”.

• The additional Israeli reserve soldiers would not report for duty until September, a military official said on Wednesday, giving mediators time to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel over the terms of any ceasefire and hostage deal.

• Hamas said Israel’s plans to conquer Gaza City showed its “blatant disregard” for efforts to broker a truce. The Israeli talk of a large-scale operation could primarily be intended to put pressure on the militant group in ceasefire talks, reports Peter Beaumont.

• More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli war in Gaza since Hamas’s deadly attacks in October 2023, according to Gaza health officials.

• British UK foreign secretary David Lammy condemned Israel’s approval of the new settlement block in the West Bank as a “flagrant breach of international law”. The plan would split the West Bank into two with the intention – Israeli far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich has said – of ending any prospect of a Palestinian state.

• The Israeli military said on Thursday it has received a report about a security incident near the settlement of Malachei HaShalom in the West Bank, adding that details were under review.