22/06/2026

MONDAY | JUNE 22, 2026

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TEL AVIV: Israelis overwhelmingly believe that Iran emerged stronger from the Middle East war and its subsequent deal with the United States, a poll released yesterday found. The poll of 3,644 respondents, conducted between June 17 and 20 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in collaboration with the Agam Institute, paints a stark picture of public sentiment following the US-Iran deal. Of those surveyed, 92.1% said Iran had won or gained more from the conflict, while 82.9% felt that Israel’s long-term security had been weakened. The survey found that even among voters who support the right-wing bloc, the electoral base of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 93.1% believed Iran had won. Opposition to the US-Iran agreement was widespread, with 63.2% of respondents opposing it compared with just 12.1% expressing support. The findings pointed to a broader crisis of confidence in Israel’s leadership. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed, 72.5%, said they did not believe Netanyahu’s claims about the military campaign’s achievements, while 56.4% rated his management of the campaign as “failed” or “poor”. The poll also pointed to the political price paid by Netanyahu, with support for his premiership plummeting from 40.5% in early March to 29.4% in June. Despite this, the survey found support for military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Nearly half of respondents, 48.2%, backed renewed major military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even if it risked confrontation with Washington, while only 21% opposed such a move. – AFP LONDON: King Charles III will reveal his personal tax bill in a bid to improve transparency, Buckingham Palace told UK media on Saturday, as royal finances come under increasing public scrutiny. British monarchs are legally exempt from paying certain taxes, although they have paid some duties on a voluntary basis for decades. They also have no obligation to disclose their tax bills, but recent scandals surrounding the disgraced former prince Andrew have thrust the royal family’s finances into the spotlight. Charles will become the first monarch to share his personal tax information, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the Press Association. “The decision to do so as sovereign has come at the express wish of the King himself, as part of the adaptations carried across since accession,” the spokesperson said. Charles’s tax information will be shared on Thursday as part of the annual royal financial accounts, BBC reported. – AFP AMAZON DEFENDER UNDERGOES SURGERY SAO PAULO: Brazilian indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire, a celebrated defender of the Amazon rainforest, underwent surgery on Saturday for an intestinal obstruction and was recovering in intensive care, a Sao Paulo hospital said. Raoni, who is over 90 years old, was admitted to the University of Sao Paulo Hospital on Friday suffering from “intestinal obstruction, dehydration, and aspiration pneumonia”. He was admitted in “serious but stable condition”. The hospital said in a press release on Saturday that Raoni “underwent surgery to remove the obstruction using a minimally invasive technique to restore normal intestinal transit”. “The procedure was completed without complications,” the statement said. Doctors said Raoni was receiving antibiotics and further care for recovery. – AFP Israelis believe Iran won, survey finds KING CHARLES TO REVEAL PERSONAL TAX BILL

10 dead in Gaza attacks CAIRO: Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 10 people, including a child and a journalist from Al Jazeera, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. central Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera said Wishah, a cameraman, was killed in what the network called a “heinous crime”, about two months after his brother, Mohammed Wishah, also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by the Israeli military. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate condemned Wishah’s killing on Saturday and called for Israeli leaders to be held accountable for such attacks, which have killed nearly 300 Palestinian journalists since the war began in October 2023. Members of the Palestinian community in Chile, the largest outside the Arab world, protesting in Santiago on Saturday against Israeli attacks. – AFPPIC o Al Jazeera journalist killed

frozen or restricted assets, as well as the discussion related to issuing the necessary licences for the sale of Iranian oil, will also be on the agenda,” he said from Switzerland. Iran has not officially disclosed the value of its frozen assets, although media reports have estimated them at more than US$100 billion (RM413.8 billion) , largely frozen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed shah. According to Baqaei, the Iranian delegation will meet the US delegation in a “quadrilateral meeting” that will also include mediators Pakistan and Qatar. – AFP Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire. Gunmen killed four Israeli soldiers in Gaza over the same period. Talks held by mediators Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, over the implementation of the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, have not yet reached an agreement, sources close to the talks said. Israel says Hamas must cede power in Gaza, disarm, and play no role in the future governance of the enclave. Hamas links any full disarmament to launching a political track towards establishing a Palestinian state. – Reuters Channel’s cameraman Ahmed Wishah by Israeli occupation forces in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a house in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip,” Al Jazeera said in a statement. The latest killing raised the number of Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023 to 12, Al Jazeera said. An October ceasefire has halted major fighting between Hamas and Israel, but it has not ended Israeli attacks.

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An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians, including two women and a child, in an apartment building in Gaza City, health officials said. The attack on the building in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City destroyed the apartment and wounded several other people, medics said. The Israeli military said it struck a gunman, without elaborating. In another incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a woman in Beit Lahiya town further north, medics said. An Israeli airstrike killed at least one person and wounded eight others in Khan Younis, south of the enclave. Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed three people, medics said, including Ahmed Wishah, a journalist working for Al Jazeera, in the Bureij refugee camp in the

Israel has often claimed without evidence that the journalists it has targeted in Gaza were linked to armed groups. The Israeli military said in a statement it killed a Hamas gunman, who posed a threat and served as an Al Jazeera photojournalist. It did not provide evidence. It said Wishah served as a “sniper”, adding that he was killed along with two other Hamas gunmen. It had also accused the brother it killed in April of being a senior Hamas armed operative. Hamas and Al Jazeera denied that Wishah had any affiliation with the group. “Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the deliberate killing of its Al Jazeera Mubasher

Lebanon main topic in Swiss talks TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday that the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah will top the agenda in talks with the United States in Switzerland, as well as issues such as frozen Iranian funds and the sale of the country’s oil. “The Zionist regime continues to violate its commitment in Lebanon, this issue will be the main topic of discussion in today’s talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a video shared by IRNA news agency. Tehran said on Thursday it had signed a deal with Washington to end months of hostilities that began on Feb 28 following US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Under the agreement, the Israel Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon was also due to stop. Iran’s military announced on Saturday that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israeli attacks in Lebanon. But there were no reports of fresh strikes in Lebanon after Saturday evening and Baqaei said since Saturday “a fragile cessation (in Lebanon) has been established”. He said Tehran would also pursue the issue of its frozen and inaccessible funds during the talks. “The issue of making available Iran’s