Beersheba (Israel), Jun 24: A tentative truce proposed by President Donald Trump hung in the balance as Israel said Iran had launched missiles into its airspace less than three hours after a ceasefire went into effect and vowed to retaliate.
Explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning on Tuesday, after both Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted the ceasefire plan to end the 12-day war roiling the Middle East.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called the missiles a violation of the ceasefire and instructed Israel’s military to resume “the intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure.”
The shaky agreement was announced early Tuesday morning after Tehran launched a retaliatory limited missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday.
Between Trump’s post and the start of the ceasefire, Israel launched a blitz of airstrikes targeting sites across Iran before dawn and Iran replied with an onslaught of missiles that killed at least four people in Israel early Tuesday morning.
Israel said it had intercepted the midmorning barrage of missiles that came hours into the truce.
“Tehran will tremble” Israel’s Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich wrote on X after the missiles were launched.
Netanyahu accepts ceasefire as Iranian state TV says fighting has stopped
The midmorning barrage of missiles came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump.
Netanyahu said that he had reported to Israel’s security cabinet Monday night that Israel had achieved all of its war goals in the 12-day operation against Iran, including removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Israel also damaged Iran’s military leadership and several government sites and achieved control over Tehran’s skies, Netanyahu said.
“Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire,” Netanyahu said.
Heavy Israeli strikes continued in Iranian cities until shortly before 4 a.m., followed by Iranian barrages that sent Israelis hurrying into bomb shelters as the sun rose.
Writing over an hour after a deadline passed for Iran to halt its attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!”
Iranian state television reported that the ceasefire went into effect at 7:30 a.m., but Iranian officials have not commented since Trump’s announcement. Hours earlier Iran’s top diplomat said the country was prepared to halt airstrikes.
“As of now, there is NO agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X. “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.”
Araghchi added: “The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”
Iranian missiles kill 4 in Israel
Israel’s military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel before the ceasefire began. Police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba.
First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, the Fire and Rescue service said five were bodies were found before revising the number downward.
At least 20 people were injured.
Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. Hundreds of emergency workers gathered to search for anyone else trapped in the buildings.
Police said some people were injured even while inside their apartments’ reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets and shrapnel but not direct hits from ballistic missiles.
Trump says ceasefire is in effect
Trump’s announcement that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” came soon after Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a US military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites. The US was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties.
Trump’s announcement on Truth Social said the ceasefire beginning about midnight Washington time would bring an “Official END” to the war.
Trump gave the conflict between Israel and Iran a name: the “12 Day War.” That recalls the 1967 Mideast war, known by some as the “Six Day War,” in which Israel fought a group of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Trump’s reference carries emotional weight for the Arab world, particularly Palestinians. In the 1967 war, Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Though Israel later gave the Sinai back to Egypt, it still holds the other territories.
Trump communicated directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the ceasefire, according to a senior White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels.
The White House has maintained that the Saturday bombing helped get the Israelis to agree to the ceasefire and that the Qatari government helped to broker the deal.
It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.
Attacks force temporary closure of Israel’s skies
Israel’s Airports Authority said Iran’s barrage forced them to close the country’s airspace to emergency flights for several hours.
Some flights were forced to circle over the Mediterranean Sea, according to Israeli media.
Israel’s airports have been closed since the war with Iran began, but a handful of emergency flights started arriving and departing over the past few days.
By early Tuesday, Qatar Airways resumed its flights after Qatar shut down its airspace over the Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base. Flight-tracking data showed commercial aircraft again flying in Qatari airspace, signaling Doha believed the threat on the energy-rich nation had passed.
Conflict has killed hundreds
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel.
The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said.
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel. (AP)
