Gaza martyrs toll tops 34,000

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has announced that the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip has increased to 34,012 since the start of the Israeli aggression in.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that in the past 24 hours, the Zionist regime has killed 42 Palestinian citizens and injured 63 others.

Accordingly, since October 7, 2023 and simultaneously with the start of Al-Aqsa storm operation, 34,012 Palestinians have been martyred in Gaza and 76,833 others have been injured.

The ministry also announced that a number of victims are still under the rubble and in the roads, and the relief and civil defence teams have not been able to reach them.

Following the retaliatory attack by Palestinian resistance groups, the Israeli regime started its genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The regime, supported by the United States, continued its atrocities against the oppressed nation and refused to allow the delivery of international aid into the besieged strip.

Haniyeh to hold Turkey talks

Hamas political leader Imsail Haniyeh will meet Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday with Middle East tensions at a high after Israel's reported attack on Iran and Gaza bracing for a new Israeli offensive.

Erdogan has sought but failed to establish a foothold as a mediator in the Palestinian conflict. And he has remained discreet about his meetings with the Hamas head.

"We will keep the agenda between us and Mr Haniyeh," Erdogan said when questioned by journalists on Friday.

But with Qatar saying it will reassess its role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, Erdogan sent his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to Doha on Wednesday in a new sign that he wants a role.

"Even if only I, Tayyip Erdogan, remain, I will continue as long as God gives me my life, to defend the Palestinian struggle and to be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people," the president said Wednesday when he announced Hamiyeh's looming visit.

Hamas has had an office in Turkey since 2011 when Turkey helped secure the agreement for the group to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Erdogan has maintained links with Haniyeh, who has been a frequent visitor.

Foreign Minister Fidan was a past head of Turkish intelligence and the country provided information and passports to Hamas officials, including Haniyeh, according to Sinan Ciddi, a Turkey specialist at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. This has never been confirmed by Turkish authorities, however.

- Erdogan slams Israel -

If Qatar withdraws from mediation efforts, Turkey could seek to increase its mediation profile, based on its Hamas links, and Fidan will on Saturday hold talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Israel has said it is preparing an offensive against the Gaza city of Rafah and the reported Israeli attack on the Iranian province of Isfahan has only clouded hopes of a peace breakthrough.

But Erdogan can only expect a "very limited" role because of his outspoken condemnation of Israel and its actions in Gaza, according to Ciddi.

Last year, the Turkish leader likened the tactics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and called Israel a "terrorist state" because of its offensive against Hamas after the militant group's October 7 attacks on Israel.

Ciddi said Erdogan would not be welcome in Israel and at most might be able to pass messages between Palestinian and Israel negotiators.

The expert said that Turkey would not have a major influence either over Hamas in deciding the fate of hostages it has held since October 7.

The Hamas attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

According to press reports, that have never been denied, Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders were in Istanbul when the attacks were launched. They were requested to quietly leave after a photo showed them celebrating the deadly assault, the report said.

Haniyeh returned to Turkey in January and met Fidan.

The Hamas chief has not met Erdogan since he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas held talks with the Turkish president in July 2023.

Two killed in West Bank Israeli raid

Palestinian officials said Friday Israeli troops killed a teenager and an adult in the occupied West Bank, while the Israeli army said it killed a "number of terrorists" in a raid.

Since early last year violence has flared across the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. It has further escalated since Israel's war with Hamas broke out on October 7.

Qais Fathi Nasrallah, 16, was killed by Israeli troops in Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he died after being "shot in the head by Israeli live gunfire." It was unclear when he actually died.

Salim Faisal Ghanem, 30, was "killed by Israeli troops" on Friday in the nearby Nur Shams camp, Wafa said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the death of one but did not identify who it was, adding that two others were also wounded by gunshots.

Israeli forces were still present in Nur Shams camp on Friday afternoon and an AFP journalist saw armoured vehicles driving through the streets.

The army said Israeli troops killed "a number of terrorists" after they launched a raid in Nur Shams camp late Thursday.

Soldiers, police and security agents searched buildings, made arrests and "uncovered explosives", the army said.

It said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the operation.

At least 469 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since the Hamas assault on Israel triggered the Gaza war, according to Palestinian official sources.

Israeli forces say their frequent raids target Palestinian militants, but civilians are often among the dead.

Calls for calm after reported Israeli strike on Iran

World leaders appealed for calm Friday after reported Israeli retaliation against Iran added to months of tense spillover from the war in Gaza, with Iranian state media reporting explosions in a central province.

Israeli officials made no public comment on the attack and Iranian officials played down its significance.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Israeli micro-drones used in the operation had caused no deaths or damage, dismissing it as a "desperate attempt to make a victory out of their repeated defeats".

But the spectre of direct hostilities between the Middle East arch-foes rattled world markets with prices of oil, gold and equities seesawing.

Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones almost a week ago in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike -- widely blamed on Israel -- that levelled the Iranian consulate in Damascus and killed seven Revolutionary Guards.

A senior US Congressional source told AFP there had been retaliatory Israeli strikes but declined to provide any details, saying they were classified.

After state television said explosions were heard near the city of Isfahan, Iran activated its air defence systems over several cities, official media reported.

An unidentified Israeli official told The Washington Post the "strike" was retaliation for Iran's drone and missile barrage and was intended to signal that Israel was able to hit inside Iran.

Iran's Tasnim news agency, citing "informed sources", denied that Iran had been attacked from outside.

"Contrary to the rumours and claims" made in foreign media, "there are no reports of an attack from abroad", Tasnim said.

Three Iranian officials told The New York Times that small drones carried out the "attack", possibly launched from inside Iran, and that radar had not detected unidentified aircraft entering Iranian airspace.

Fars news agency reported "three explosions" close to Qahjavarestan, near Isfahan airport and the 8th Shekari army airbase.

Iran's space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said there was "a failed and humiliating attempt to fly quadcopters, which were shot down".

There were "no reports of a missile attack", Dalirian said on social media platform X.

"Reports indicate there was no major damage or large explosions caused by the impact of any air threat," the official IRNA news agency said.

- Nuclear sites undamaged -

Iran's army commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi attributed Friday's explosions to "the firing of anti-aircraft defence systems on a suspicious object".

Nuclear facilities in Isfahan were reported to be "completely secure", Tasnim said, and the UN's atomic watchdog confirmed "no damage" to Iran's nuclear sites.

Washington received advance notice of Israel's reported strike, but did not endorse it or play any part in its execution, US media quoted officials as saying.

President Joe Biden had promised "ironclad" support for Israel, but also urged it to "think carefully and strategically" before launching a response against Iran that could trigger a wider war.

An Israeli strike on Syrian army position was also reported on Friday, while an "explosion" hit an Iraqi base overnight.

Outside of Baghdad, several people were wounded in a blast at a military base housing an Iran-backed coalition, security sources said early Saturday.

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashed al-Shaabi, said the "explosion" had inflicted material losses and injuries, without specifying how many.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the US military denied reports it had any involvement.

- 'Dangerous cycle of retaliation' -

Last weekend, Iran launched its first-ever attack directly targeting Israel.

With the help of the United States and other allies, Israel intercepted most of the more than 300 missiles and drones it said Iran had launched. Minor damage and no deaths resulted.

Iran said its attack was in retaliation for the April 1 strike on its Damascus consulate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under international pressure over the civilian toll in Gaza's war, and an analyst said the consulate strike allowed Israel to take the focus off Gaza.

However, foreign ministers of the G7 group of developed economies, meeting in Italy on Friday, kept up that pressure.

The group said they opposed a "full-scale military operation in Rafah", where most of Gaza's population is sheltering, because it would have "catastrophic consequences" for civilians.

Mediators have acknowledged that negotiations for a truce in Gaza were stalling, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be trying his luck and will meet Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday to discuss the conflict.

- 'Space to climb down' -

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an end to "the dangerous cycle of retaliation" in the Middle East, his spokesman said.

Analysts said further tit-for-tat violence could be avoided.

Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Britain's Chatham House think tank, said the reported Israeli strike had been "calibrated to avoid damage and further Iranian aggression".

"As long as Iran continues to deny the attack and deflect attention from it and no further hits are seen, there is space for both sides to climb down the escalation ladder for now," he said.

Nomi Bar Yaacov, associate fellow of the think tank's international security programme, said the attack had been "carried out in a manner that will allow Iran to deny the attack and draw a line under it".

On Tehran's streets, some called for peace.

"We are against war," said Behrouz, 71, a retired firefighter who did not give his surname. "We are not happy with the killing of people, whether they are Iranians, Israelis or Gazans."–AFP