By Middle East Correspondent
London, (The Muslim News): Eighteen civilians were killed and 142 injured in US airstrikes across Iran late Tuesday, Iranian Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi said Wednesday, as Tehran retaliated against US regional bases while Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and demolished an entire village south of Hebron.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced late Tuesday that it had targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facilities across Iran. Iranian media reported subsequent explosions on Qeshm Island, as well as in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Chabahar, and Konarak.
According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, quoted by official news agency IRNA, US forces hit civilian areas and service infrastructure—including communications towers—across Khuzestan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, and Kerman provinces. In one attack, a US strike on a wedding ceremony in Kohestak, in Sirik county of Hormozgan province, left more than 70 people killed and wounded, mostly women and children.
Denouncing the strikes as “war crimes” and violations of international law, Tehran called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the Security Council to intervene.
The IRGC said it responded in “self-defence” by attacking US military installations in Kuwait, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, and Iraq, describing them as “the source and support for the attacks against Iran.”
The Foreign Ministry urged regional governments to prevent Washington from using their territory to launch attacks, warning against efforts to impose “permanent insecurity” on the region.
The military exchange follows a memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran on June 18, 2026, intended to halt hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to navigation. That deal later stalled over implementation and security terms, leading to a resumption of clashes in July.
Israeli attacks continue in Gaza
In Gaza, Israeli military operations continued on Wednesday despite a standing ceasefire.
An Israeli strike on a tent sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, critically wounded a 39-year-old Palestinian man who died shortly after arriving at Nasser Hospital, official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Gaza’s Health Ministry stated in its daily report on Wednesday that hospitals received eight dead and 31 injured over the preceding 24 hours, noting that further victims remain unrecovered under rubble and on roads due to access restrictions.
The daily report noted that Israeli violations of the truce—which it dated to October 10, 2025—have killed 1,334 Palestinians and injured 4,429.
Separate local reports dating the ceasefire onset to October 11, 2025, put post-truce casualties at 1,320 killed, 4,385 injured, and 815 bodies recovered. An estimated 10,000 people remain missing beneath destroyed buildings.
Overall casualties from Israel’s military campaign since October 8, 2023, have reached 73,470 killed and 174,540 injured, predominantly women and children. Israeli attacks have destroyed approximately 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure, with UN estimates placing reconstruction costs at $70 billion.
West Bank fatalities and village demolition
Military actions also intensified across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
In Al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah, two 19-year-old Palestinians—Omar Mohammed Naassan and Khalil Abu Alia—were killed during an evening raid by Israeli forces and settlers.
Amin Abu Alia, head of the Al-Mughayyir village council, told WAFA that troops and settlers entered the village center near the Grand Mosque, raided two homes belonging to Saleh Suleiman and Shehadeh Kaabneh, and stole sheep. Israeli military snipers positioned on rooftops opened fire on residents who attempted to confront them.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society treated both men for live-bullet wounds to the neck and back, but both died en route to the hospital. Israeli forces subsequently sealed the main entrance to the village. The Israeli army did not issue an immediate comment.
In the southern West Bank, Israeli forces demolished the entire village of Khirbet al-Taban, south of Hebron, on Wednesday morning. Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that military units leveled all homes within hours, alongside sheep pens, water tanks, storage units, and local caves.
The demolition forcibly displaced 12 families totaling approximately 70 people, including 28 children. B’Tselem identified Khirbet al-Taban as the 66th Palestinian village completely emptied by Israeli forces since October 2023, with residents in 18 additional villages partially displaced. Displacements across the West Bank have removed 4,931 Palestinians from their homes, including 2,339 children and teenagers.
“Israel is continuing to erase Palestinian communities at an accelerating pace as part of the ethnic cleansing it is carrying out in the West Bank,” said B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak, stating that the international community is standing “idly by while Palestinian lives are left exposed to Israeli violence.”
The destruction comes amid increased land appropriations. According to The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli authorities issued 31 orders in July to seize roughly 831,000 square meters of West Bank land. The commission recorded 2,256 attacks against Palestinians and their property during July, including 1,458 by the military and 798 by settlers.
[Photo: The devastating effects of US attacks are seen in eastern Tehran, Iran, amid the ongoing war that began with US and Israeli operations against Iran, on September 03, 2026. Photojournalist: Fatemeh Bahrami/AA]
