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Key Events

June 24, 2026

  • RECAP: Israeli contractor dies in Gaza accident; IDF kills four in Lebanon, one in West Bank
  • Netanyahu: Israel won't withdraw from Lebanon 'as long as I am prime minister'
  • IDF says it killed West Bank Palestinian 'evading arrest' who had access to arms
  • Trump: Iran is agreeing to everything I want, and they have to

Updates

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IRGC: New Hormuz route announced without Iran coordination is unacceptable, dangerous

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps on Thursday said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is only possible through routes designated by Iran, and that a new route announced without coordination with Iran is unacceptable and a safety risk.

IRGC said it will take action against vessels that fail to comply with the requirements.

Trump says it may never be known who was at fault for strike on girls' school in Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was at fault for a deadly strike on a girls' school in Iran on February 28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children.

Reuters first ‌reported in March that an initial internal U.S. military investigation showed U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but it has not acknowledged any preliminary findings.

"I don't know that they are ever going to solve that problem," Trump told reporters.

"I don't know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it's horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place," he said.

"Somebody said it was our missile, maybe it wasn't our missile but I have seen nothing to lead me to believe it was," Trump remarked, adding: "I don't think it was us."

Trump: Unacceptable for any Iran deal to include shipping fees

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal with Iran that included fees in the Strait of Hormuz would be "unacceptable" and a "gamechanger."

Trump says asked Erdoğan to keep Turkey out of Iran war, signals possible F-35 sale

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Turkey stayed out of the recent U.S.-Iran war after he personally asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to intervene.

"I like him, he's a friend of mine. He stayed out of the war… I asked him to stay out and he stayed out," Trump said, adding that Erdoğan "was a prime candidate to go into the war – maybe on the Iran side because he's not a friend of Israel."

Trump praised Erdoğan as a "respected leader" and a "strong man," saying, "Everything I've ever asked from him he has done."

Trump also signaled he could move ahead with a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, a NATO member. "He's a member of NATO. I'm probably going to do something that's going to make him very happy… people don't know how big Turkey is in terms of the military," Trump said.

He added that he plans to travel to Turkey next month for a NATO summit following an invitation from Erdoğan. "He called me up and said please you've got to be there, so I'm going out of respect to President Erdoğan," Trump said.

RECAP: Israeli contractor dies in Gaza accident; IDF kills four in Lebanon, one in West Bank

Here are Wednesday's latest updates:

■ Raad Abu al-Kiyan, a Bedouin Israeli contractor who worked as a bulldozer operator in Gaza, was killed in an accident after a building collapsed on the vehicle.

■ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military will not withdraw from the IDF-occupied buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as he is in office.

■ Two people were killed in a drone strike on a vehicle in Kfar Roummane, southern Lebanon. The IDF said it killed two Hezbollah gunmen in the Ali al-Taher Ridge area, later saying it struck the area again.

■ Palestinian officials said special forces besieged a house in the northern West Bank, later fatally shooting a man and seizing his body.

■ U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel has consistently said it has no territorial claims in Lebanon, saying that withdrawal depends on the Lebanese army's ability to secure its territory.

■ U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to end the U.S. talks with Iran if Tehran charges vessels that pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

■ Vehicles across Israel slowly drove toward the Beit Lid military prison on Wednesday in a four-hour protest against the arrest of ultra-Orthodox men over IDF draft evasion.

Israeli civilian contractor killed in Gaza accident

An Israeli civilian contractor working with the the country's Defense Ministry was killed in an accident in Gaza earlier on Wednesday, the IDF said.

The man, identified as Raad Abu al-Kiyan, was killed in a building collapse in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, the man, a bulldozer operator, was "an employee working for a contractor company carrying out engineering projects."

Abu al-Kiyan is the first Israeli to be killed in Gaza since February 18.

Trump: Iran is agreeing to everything I want, and they have to

IDF says Israel struck vehicle in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said it struck a vehicle "posing a threat to IDF soldiers" in the area of southern Lebanon's Ali al-Taher Ridge that the IDF recently reached.

"Following the identification, the Israeli Air Force struck the suspects in order to remove the threat," the military said in its statement, adding that it will "continue to operate to remove immediate threats."

Rubio: Israel is 'very clear' it has no territorial claims in Lebanon

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel has consistently said it has no territorial claims in Lebanon, saying that withdrawal depends on the Lebanese army's ability to secure its territory.

"The Israelis have been clear they don't have any quarrels with the Lebanese people nor do they have any claims on the territory of Lebanon," Rubio said. "One of the issues that's been discussed in these negotiations is about the creation of pilot zones – specific, defined areas where the Lebanese Armed Forces can go in, take control and secure that territory, and then move on to the next pilot zone."

According to Rubio, "it'll be a process. This is not going to happen overnight." The secretary of state added, "The more of the area the Lebanese Army is able to secure, the less in Hezbollah's control and the less Israel will be in Lebanon."

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Source: Haaretz