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Tehran, June 28: Iran is holding a grand funeral service for those martyred in the 12-day aggression by Israel and the US against the Islamic Republic.

The funeral in capital Tehran for 60 nuclear scientists, military commanders and civilians martyred in Israeli strikes began at 8:00 am (0430 GMT) in Enqelab Square on Saturday, proceeding to Azadi Square, about 11 kilometers across the sprawling metropolis.

A huge crowd of mourners is participating in the procession, accompanying coffins with chants of "death to Israel" and "death to America" and carrying placards.

"Boom boom Tel Aviv," read one banner, referring to Iranian missiles fired at Israel during the conflict in retaliation for its attacks on Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other senior government officials and military commanders including head of the Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qa’ani are also attending the event.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who attended the procession, paid flowing tributes to the martyrs in a message on X.

“Today, the zealous people of Iran carry on their shoulders, with heavy sorrow but standing steadfast and powerful, some of their purest and most patriotic sons and daughters - commanders, elites, athletes, women and children of this land - who were martyred during the war imposed by the aggressor Zionist regime, and with indescribable respect, they lay them to rest on the soil of their homeland like mythical heroes; so that each one may become a seed for the growth of other heroes," he wrote.

Images showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the martyred commanders in uniform near in the iconic Enqelab Square in central Tehran.

Mohsen Mahmoudi, head of Tehran's Islamic Development Coordination Council, called it a "historic day for Islamic Iran and the revolution".

Among the martyrs is Mohammad Bagheri, a major general and the second-in-command of the armed forces after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

He will be buried alongside his wife and daughter, a journalist for a local media outlet, all martyred in an Israeli attack in Tehran.

Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also martyred in the savage aggression, will be buried with his wife.

Chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, who was martyred on the first day of the unprovoked aggression, will also be laid to rest after Saturday's ceremony — which will also honor at least 30 other top commanders.

Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children.

Iranian officials say more than 600 people, mostly civilians, were martyred in Israeli and US aggression against Iran.

The ceremony coincides with the second day of the Islamic month of Muharram, which commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam, and his 72 companions.

In 680 AD, Imam Hussein (AS) and his followers fought bravely for justice against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid I, in the Battle of Karbala, in southern Iraq.

“Iranians have proven that they are the nation of Imam Hussein; a nation that, in the battle of truth against falsehood, relying on faith, steadfastness, and national solidarity, has the ability to overcome any evil," Baghaei wrote.

Gaza, July 4: As the humanitarian crisis deepens in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed nearly 50 Palestinians—including civilians seeking food at aid distribution centers—according to medical sources.

In one of the most lethal events of the day, 15 individuals lost their lives and 90 others sustained injuries while waiting for humanitarian aid near the al-Tahlia roundabout in eastern Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Eight Palestinians, including women and children, were killed when Israeli forces targeted a tent housing displaced individuals near Tiba Towers in al-Mawasi, located to the west of Khan Yunis.

The majority of the victims were individuals from the same family whose residence was directly struck near the Tiba Towers, as reported by eyewitnesses. Additionally, several others were injured during the attack.

In a separate nearby attack, three more individuals, among them two children, lost their lives close to the British field hospital.

Airstrikes also targeted two tents on the Khan Yunis beachfront, resulting in the deaths of four civilians, primarily women and children.

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that Israeli artillery targeted tents accommodating displaced civilians in al-Mawasi, Rafah, in southern Gaza, causing further casualties.

In the central region of Gaza, four individuals lost their lives in the al-Bureij refugee camp as a family's residence was struck during a nighttime offensive.

In the meantime, three more people lost their lives in southern Gaza City as a result of a strike on a family residence located in the al-Sabra neighborhood.

Israeli forces also targeted a school that was providing shelter for displaced individuals; though, there were no immediate reports about the number of possible casualties.

Separately, eyewitnesses stated that Israeli forces razed multiple residential buildings in the northern flank of Khan Younis.

The latest attacks come as the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory said on Thursday that Israel is “responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.”

Francesca Albanese made the remarks at the UN Human Rights Council as he presented her latest report, condemning the Tel Aviv regime over weaponizing Gaza as a testing ground and calling for sweeping international action.

“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is apocalyptic,” she said. “In Gaza, Palestinians continue to endure suffering beyond imagination. Israel is responsible for one of the cruelest genocides in modern history.”

Albanese stated that official statistics indicate more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured; however, prominent health experts believe that “the true toll is far higher.” 

She criticized the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – Israel's newly established aid system in Gaza, which has been linked to hundreds of deaths thus far – labeling it as “a death trap – engineered to kill or force the flight of a starved, bombarded, emaciated population marked for.”

Albanese noted that arms manufacturers have garnered substantial profits by providing Israel with munitions used in the bombardment of Gaza.

“Arms companies have turned near-record profits by equipping Israel with cutting-edge weaponry to unleash 85,000 tons of explosives – six times the power of Hiroshima – to destroy Gaza,” she said.

The senior UN official denounced Israel over using the Gaza war to “test new weapons, customized surveillance, lethal drones, (and) radar systems,” warning that Palestine’s defenselessness had made it “an ideal laboratory for the Israeli military-industrial complex.”

She also called on businesses to act, stressing, “Corporate entities must urgently cease all business activities and terminate relationships directly linked with, contributing to, and causing human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people.”

Albanese said she no longer believed ignorance or ideology were sufficient explanations for global inaction. “In the face of genocide – so visible, so livestreamed – these explanations fall short.”

She concluded with a call for civil society to play its part, saying, “Trade unions, lawyers, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens should encourage such behavioral change from the side of businesses and governments by pressing for boycotts, divestments, sanctions, and accountability. What comes next depends on all of us.”
 

Gaza City, July 5: Israeli strikes have killed around 50 Palestinians across Gaza since the early hours of Saturday, with dozens of the fatalities identified as aid seekers, according to reports from the besieged territory’s hospitals.

These attacks have taken place across the Gaza Strip from Gaza City in the north to the area around Rafah in the south.

Medical sources at Nasser Hospital have told the media that nine Palestinians, including three children, have been killed by Israeli forces near an aid center north of Rafah.

A medical source at al-Ahli Hospital says one Palestinian was killed and others injured in an Israeli attack on Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

At least six people were killed and more than 10 injured in an Israeli shelling of displaced tents in the al-Mawasi area west of the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Nasser Medical Complex.

Al-Mawasi was designated as a “humanitarian zone” by Israel.

Israeli forces bombarded the al-Shafi School, killing at least five people and injuring others in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

Two people were killed after Israeli military jets targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, also in central Gaza, says four people were killed after the Israeli army targeted an aid distribution point on Salah al-Din Street, south of Wadi Gaza.

The Gaza Civil Defense says it rescued 11 injured individuals, including children, after an air strike targeted a house belonging to the al-Zinati family near the Gifted School in Sheikh Radwan, northwest Gaza City.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 57,268 people and wounded 135,625 since the start of the onslaught on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations human rights office has said it recorded at least 613 killings of Palestinians, both at controversial aid points run by the Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys, as of June 27.

The OHCHR said 509 of the 613 people were killed near GHF distribution points. The Gaza Health Ministry has put the number of deaths at more than 650 and those wounded as exceeding 4,000.

The GHF began distributing limited food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of deliveries that the UN says is neither impartial nor neutral, as killings continue around the organization’s sites, which rights groups have slammed as “human slaughterhouses.”