Investigation launched into cause of blast at Shahid Rajaee port as death toll rises to 28

Vladimir Putin was one of the first world leaders to offer help to Iran in the aftermath of a massive explosion at a container depot in a key port near the strait of Hormuz, dispatching several emergency planes to the area.

Fires still blazed nearly 24 hours after the explosion at the giant Shahid Rajaee port in southern Iran, the nation’s most strategically important port and chief artery for its world trade. The death toll had risen to at least 28 and the numbers injured had risen to more than 1,000.

Hearings over bar on cooperation with Palestinian aid agency are test of Israel’s defiance of international law

Israel will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN’s top court when lawyers from more than 40 states will claim the country’s ban on all cooperation with the UN’s Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter.

The five days of hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel’s decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel – as a signatory to the UN charter – acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body. Israel ended all contact and cooperation with Unrwa operations in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested.