BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) \u2014 A tentative truce proposed by President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0hung 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called the missiles a violation of the ceasefire and instructed Israel’s military to resume \u201cthe intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shaky agreement was announced early Tuesday morning after Tehran launched a retaliatory limited missile attack on a U.S. military base\u00a0in Qatar on Monday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Israel said it had intercepted the midmorning barrage of missiles that came hours into the truce.<\/p>\n
\u201cTehran will tremble\u201d Israel’s Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich wrote on X after the missiles were launched.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu accepts ceasefire as Iranian state TV says fighting has stopped<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said that he had reported to Israel\u2019s 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\u2019s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Israel also damaged Iran\u2019s military leadership and several government sites and achieved control over Tehran\u2019s skies, Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Writing over an hour after a deadline passed for Iran to halt its attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social: \u201cTHE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian state television reported that the ceasefire went into effect at 7:30 a.m., but Iranian officials have not commented since Trump\u2019s announcement. Hours earlier Iran’s top diplomat said the country was prepared to halt airstrikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of now, there is NO \u2018agreement\u2019 on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,\u201d Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X. \u201cHowever, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Araghchi added: \u201cThe final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iranian missiles kill 4 in Israel<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
At least 20 people were injured.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Trump says ceasefire is in effect<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s announcement that Israel and Iran had agreed to a \u201ccomplete and total ceasefire\u201d came soon after Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military base\u00a0in Qatar, retaliating for the\u00a0American bombing of its nuclear sites. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s announcement on Truth Social said the ceasefire beginning about midnight Washington time would bring an \u201cOfficial END\u201d to the war.<\/p>\n
Trump describes conflict as \u201912 Day War\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump gave the conflict between Israel and Iran a name: the \u201c12 Day War.\u201d That recalls the 1967 Mideast war, known by some as the \u201cSix Day War,\u201d in which Israel fought a group of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Syria.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s 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\u00a0Golan Heights\u00a0from Syria. Though Israel later gave the Sinai back to Egypt, it still holds the other territories.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran\u2019s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.<\/p>\n
Attacks force temporary closure of Israel’s skies<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Airports Authority said Iran’s barrage forced them to close the country’s airspace to emergency flights for several hours.<\/p>\n
Some flights were forced to circle over the Mediterranean Sea, according to Israeli media.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Conflict has killed hundreds<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding\u00a0the death of Mahsa Amini\u00a0in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Elise Morton in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Ella Joyner in Brussels, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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