Middle East latest: Two Iranian soldiers 'killed in Israeli attack'; Starmer warns Tehran not to respond (2025)

A number of people have been detained by Israeli troops at Kamal Adwan Hospital hospital in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

It claimed medical staff and patients were among those being held and that women were being held separately "with no water or food".

The IDF has not responded.

Israel's military began raiding the hospital in Gaza's far north Beit Lahiya area yesterday as part of an intense ground offensive which began several weeks ago, forcing the displacement of thousands of Palestinans.

Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in northern Gaza left largely inaccessible by fighting.

We brought you a report earlier from the Iranian military which said two soldiers were killed in Israel's strikes (see 9.12 post).

The military had little detail earlier, but has since named the soldiers in a statement as Major Jahandideh and Lieutenant Shahrokhifar, without mentioning their first names.

Israel has not commented on the reports of two Iranian soldiers being killed in its airstrikes.

Videos have emerged online showing damage to a factory in the Shamsabad industrial area south of Tehran.

The factory looks visibly damaged in two separate videos verified by our data and forensics team.

According to its website, theTaksaz factory was set up in 1991 to employ "engineering services and manufacturing of equipments".

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged Iran to end "massive reactions of escalation" and work towards peace in the Middle East.

In a post to X, Mr Scholz said Israel's attempts to "keep personal injuries to a minimum" in its strikes offered "the opportunity to avoid further escalation".

"My message to Iran is clear: We cannot continue withmassive reactions of escalation. This must end now. This willprovide an opportunity for peaceful development in the MiddleEast," he said.

The UK and US have also warned Iran not to respond to what Israel called "precise and targeted strikes" on Iranian military sites.

No Iraqi military, economic or civilian facilities were affected by Israel's strikes on neighbouring Iran, a security source has been cited by the Iraqi state news agency as saying.

Airspace over Iraq was closed and some flights halted shortly after the attack early this morning, but it reopened hours later.

An official in Saudi Arabia said earlier that its airspace was not used during Israel's strikes, while nearby Jordan also said no military planes were allowed to cross its airspace by conflicting regional parties.

If you're just tuning into the blog, here's a roundup of what we know after Israel launched a wave of strikes at Iran overnight.

• Israel attacked military targets across Iran in pre-dawn airstrikes, in retaliation for a barrage of ballistic missiles fired by Tehran at Israel earlier this month;
• The IDF said military jets targeted several sites including missile production facilities and surface-to-air missile arrays. US officials said the attacks were not aimed at energy or nuclear facilities;
• Iran insists the strikes caused "limited damage". Iranian media cited the country's military as saying two soldiers died in the Israeli attacks;
• Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had the right to self-defence and "considers itself entitled and obligated to defend" against "aggression";
• Sir Keir Starmer said the UK was monitoring the situation and warned Iran not to respond;
• Several Arab nations including Egypt and Qatar have condemned the Israeli attacks and called for restraint to avoid escalation in the region;
• A senior US administration official said last night's strikes "should be the end of the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran";
• Officials also said Washington was given prior notice of the attacks but was not directly involved.

You can watch our video here on how the Israeli strikes unfolded last night:

While the Middle East reacts to Israeli strikes on Iran overnight, Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues.

The Hamas-run health ministry says 42,924 people have been killed and 100,833 injured in Israel's attacks on the region since 7 October 2023.

The ministry's figures do not differentiate between Hamas fighters and civilians.

For context:While Israeli officials have cast doubt on the numbers killed in Gaza, several independent groups say the ministry's figures have proved to be largely reliable and broadly in line with those later produced by the UN and Israel itself.

Examination of data from previous Gaza conflicts, comparing the ministry's counts with post-war United Nations analysis, shows the initial data is largely accurate with, at most, a 10-12% discrepancy.

The Israeli military told Sky News earlier this month that 20,000 Hamas militants had been killed, but this remains unverified.

By Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor

Israel's unprecedented night of airstrikes across Iran may be just what was needed to pull the Middle East back from all-out war.

That might sound odd because for hours, it seems, Israeli jets ranged freely across Iranian airspace apparently attacking targets and air defences at will.

It was, you might have thought, just the sort of escalation to lead to Iran upping the ante and launch thousands of ballistic missiles to rain down on Israel's towns and cities.

But that is not likely to happen.

Why? Because neither side wants all-out war. For months now, Israel and Iran have been trying to act tough while trying desperately to avoid one. Last night's operation is no different.

The reasons are clear. Iran cannot afford to take on Israel and possibly America in a fight it could never win. Its economy is in pieces, its proxies and allies being hammered and its legitimacy utterly shredded after brutally crushing internal unrest.

Israel might have been tempted to pick a bigger fight with the ayatollahs in order to destroy their nuclear weapons programme. Without American military support that would be impossible and that was ruled out by President Biden early on.

But the risk of a much bigger Iran-Israel war have been very real and very dangerous.

That is because the rules of the Middle Eastern jungle still apply: when you are whacked, whack back harder. Failure to do so looks weak and is dangerous.

So when Israel killed Iran's most important allies, one of them in their own capital, the Iranians looked weak and had to respond. In vengeance for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, they launched a couple of hundred ballistic missiles at Israel.

Israel's turn to look weak. It too had to strike back.

But in mulling its options it had to choose the Goldilocks option. Hot enough to teach the Iranians a lesson, not so hot they were made to look even weaker and had to do it all again.

Ahead of last night's attacks the Iranians telegraphed their preference. Through channels like the New York Times, a number of Iranian officials made it clear an Israeli attack on either oil or atomic facilities would be likely to provoke another ballistic missile attack big enough to make first one look like a game of darts.

But strike our military bases, weapons warehouses etc, and we might just not do anything in return, the officials were reported to have said.

Music to the ears of Israel's American allies who have been piling the pressure on Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu not to listen to the hawks in his government advocating the nuclear option.

Israel appears to have listened and so far the signs from Iran are encouraging too.

The prospect of regional war sucking in outside powers and engulfing the Middle East feels more distant this morning, whatever the fireworks over Tehran.

Israel's retaliation for Iran's ballistic missile attack three weeks ago sits at "the lower end of the escalation ladder", says former British diplomat Lord Peter Ricketts.

Lord Ricketts told Sky News it was likely "the least that [Benjamin] Netanyahu felt he could do" to display Israel's strength after its territory was targeted.

"In April, when Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israel, the Israelis waited and responded quite surgically to a number of sites, and the Iranians left it at that. I think that's what Israel will be hoping happens this time," he said.

Whether Iran will respond is "the $64,000 question", Lord Ricketts said.

"That's the problem with these tit for tat escalatory strikes. You never know what the opponent will say," he said.

Lebanon has joined a chorus of Arab nations coming out to condemn Israel's overnight attack on multiple sites in Iran.

Its foreign ministry described the strikes as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and called them a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.

Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also condemned the attacks and called for restraint to prevent escalation in the Middle East.

The UK and US, meanwhile, have shown support for the Israeli strikes and warned Iran not to respond.