Iran hits ship the Strait of Hormuz for using Omani route backed by US, ‘ignoring warnings’ | LIVE BLOG

According to officials speaking to the WSJ, Iran’s IRGC fired at two ships, one of them being a Qatari tanker. The tanker, owned and managed by Nakilat, the shipping army of Qatar’s LNG industry, was hit on its port side, at the top of the engine room. This strike comes as negotiations between the US and Iran have halted amid the ongoing funeral ceremony of the former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Meanwhile, Hamas is officially dissolving its governing body. Their de facto government in the Strip, the Committee for Follow-up on Government Work, will be replaced with the technocratic Gaza Management Committee. According to Hamas’s media office, the head of the government emergency committee has already resigned ahead of transferring control of Gaza to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). Employees are expected to continue in their roles, but current heads of government institutions will be treated as a temporary body during the transition phase.

The head of the Gaza Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, who has been leading negotiations with Hamas, says reaching an agreement would allow the NCAG to decommission weapons, remove Israeli forces, and pave the way for large-scale reconstruction to begin. However, many are questioning Hamas’s reasons for cooperation. According to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Hamas's willingness to 'make room' for a technocratic government is ‘a maneuver to prevent themselves from being dismantled.’ Still no word on whether Hamas’s decision would actually include its military disarmament. READ MORE FROM MONDAY