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Israel and Iran seemed to honor the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace, Associated Press reported.

Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he was not particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack.

“We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump said. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.”

Israel on Wednesday reported one of its deadliest days in Gaza in months as its military said seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle, while health officials in the battered enclave said Israeli attacks killed 79 people over the past day, Associated Press reported.

The attack on the Israeli troops, which occurred on Tuesday, quickly drew the nation’s attention back to the grinding conflict with the Hamas militant group after nearly two weeks of war between Israel and Iran.

Among the 79 reported killed in Gaza were 33 people who died while trying to access aid. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has determined that U.S. strikes over the weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities have set back Tehran's program by only a matter of months, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's main intelligence arm and one of 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss classified matters.

The classified assessment is at odds with the statements of President Donald Trump and high-ranking U.S. officials - including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. They have said the weekend strikes, which used a combination of bunker-busting bombs and more conventional weapons, essentially eliminated Iran's nuclear program, according to Reuters.

Trump's administration on Tuesday told the U.N Security Council that its weekend strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities had "degraded" Iran's nuclear program, short of Trump's earlier assertion that the facilities had been "obliterated."

The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump between Israel and Iran has offered some respite to the Nepal government, which had been scrambling to rescue its citizens from the two countries. As tensions escalated, nearly 1,000 Nepalis in Israel had expressed desire to return home. 

Had there been no ceasefire, the fallout would likely have extended beyond Israel and Iran, affecting Nepali workers across the entire Middle East (West Asia for Nepal).

Iran’s strike on the American military base in Qatar had already sparked panic among the Nepali workers. Qatar hosts around 365,000 Nepali migrant workers.  Whenever a conflict erupts in the Middle East, Nepal bears the brunt. Hundreds of thousands Nepalis are working in the region, and the remittances they send home are a backbone of Nepli economy. If these workers were to return from the labor destination countries in droves, remittances would dry up. Soon, there would be an unemployment crisis. Prolonged conflict in the Middle East could also cause shortages or price hikes of petroleum products.

At the time of writing, Iran and Israel—despite agreeing to the truce—continue to exchange fire. At this uncertain time, the safety and security of Nepali workers in the Middle East must be the government’s prime concern. It should face the reality of the situation and come up with a proper strategy to evacuate its citizens in the event of an emergency. It should start by strengthening the presence of Nepali embassies. For long, Nepali embassies not just in the Middle East but around the world have been grappling with insufficient resources. Many embassies are short-staffed and are thus unable to coordinate an emergency mission. Worse, they do not have information about the number of its citizens.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the top nine destinations for Nepali migrant workers are Malaysia (700,000), Saudi Arabia (400,000), Qatar (365,000), the UAE (250,000), Kuwait (70,000), South Korea (40,000), Bahrain (25,000), Oman (20,000) and Israel (3,000).

Foreign relations experts suggest it is high time Nepal increased its reach and presence in those countries with a high number of Nepali migrant workers. A long-term peace in the Middle East is still a shaky prospect, so the government should explore alternative job destinations as well as prioritize domestic job creation.   

US President Donald Trump has accused the two countries of violating a ceasefire hours after he announced it, expressing particular frustration with Israel, which had announced plans for major new strikes on Tehran.

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” he said as he departed Washington for a NATO summit in the Netherlands. “The biggest load that we’ve seen.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that two of the 16 Nepalis in Iran were evacuated from Mashhad to New Delhi. We express our sincere gratitude to the Government of India for facilitating the evacuation process, said the ministry.  Efforts are underway to evacuate the remaining 14 Nepalis, according to the ministry.  Over 950 Nepali nationals in Israel have registered expressing their interests to return to Nepal but the ministry is yet to initiate the process of evacuation from there.

Iranian state television reported Tuesday that a ceasefire had begun in its war with Israel, even as Israel warned the public of a new missile barrage launched from Iran, The Washington Post reported.

The launches came after 4 a.m. local time in Tehran, the time Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would stop its attacks if Israel ended their airstrikes.

At least four people were killed in the early morning barrages, but there was no immediate word of further attacks. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said at least eight more people were injured in the early morning barrage, according to The Washington Post.

Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages which had been held in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian militant group Hamas' 2023 attack, the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

The hostages were identified as civilians Ofra Keidar and Yonatan Samerano, and soldier Shay Levinson. All were killed on the day of the attack, on October 7, 2023, the military said.

With their retrieval, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

The abduction of Samerano, 21 at the time of his death, by a man later identified by Israeli officials as a worker at the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, was caught on CCTV.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities, according to Reuters.

Israel says it has killed a senior Iranian commander who helped plan the Hamas 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in a strike on Saturday on the city of Qom.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the killing of Saeed Izadi marked a key point in the conflict. He was "one of the orchestrators" of the attack, which killed about 1,200 people and saw many others taken to Gaza as hostages, said IDF chief Eyal Zamir.

"The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands," he said on Saturday, calling it a "tremendous intelligence and operational achievement."

Iran did not report Mr Izadi's killing and has previously denied involvement in Hamas's attack.

A U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday could lead to a knee-jerk reaction in global markets when they reopen, sending oil prices higher and triggering a rush to safety, investors said, as they assessed how the latest escalation of tensions would ripple through the global economy, Reuters reported.

The attack, which was announced by President Donald Trump on social media site Truth Social, deepens U.S. involvement in the Middle East conflict. That was the question going into the weekend, when investors were mulling a host of different market scenarios.

In the immediate aftermath of the announcement, they expected the U.S. involvement was likely to cause a selloff in equities and a possible bid for the dollar and other safe-haven assets when trading begins, but also said much uncertainty about the course of the conflict remained.

While Trump called the attack "successful", few details were known. He was expected to address the nation later on Saturday, according to Reuters.

Israeli officials have told the Trump administration they do not want to wait two weeks for Iran to reach a deal to dismantle key parts of its nuclear program and Israel could act alone before the deadline is up, two sources said, amid a continuing debate on Trump's team about whether the U.S. should get involved, Reuters reported.

The two sources familiar with the matter said Israel had communicated their concerns to Trump administration officials on Thursday in what they described as a tense phone call.

The Israeli officials said they do not want to wait the two weeks that U.S. President Donald Trumppresented on Thursday as a deadline for deciding whether the U.S. will get in the Israel-Iran war, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli participants on the call included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and military chief Eyal Zamir, according to a security source, according to Reuters.

Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba has said the government would adopt all possible measures for the security and rescue of the Nepalis living in Israel and Iran in view of the present developing scenario there.

The government is all prepared to rescue those Nepalis willing to return home from these countries, she added.  

Minister Rana shared this in a joint meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Home Affairs at Foreign Ministry today. 

During the meeting, she shared about the situation developed due to tension between Israel and Iran.

The Foreign Affairs Minister argued that the Nepali Embassy in Israel is actively working at coordination of the Foreign Ministry, and registration has been opened for those Nepalis willing to return home. 

"It is also the responsibility of Israel to facilitate the Nepalis, who are in Israel under G2G process, to return them home safely and to send them to a safer place if they want to. The Israeli government has already been requested to help the Nepalis there to go to other countries from border areas for the same," mentioned Foreign Minister Rana. 

The government is in a ready position to rescue the Nepalis if they want to return home, she opined.

On the occasion, Labour Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari shared that his ministry is also in constant contact with Nepalis there and the government should be involved in preparation to rescue the Nepalis willing to return home. 

He added that work permits have not been issued for those who are about to leave for Israel.  

On June 13, the day the war between Israel and Iran broke out, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement appealing to both parties to exercise maximum restraint and resolve the issue through dialogue, while requesting Nepalis in those countries to stay in contact with the Nepali embassy concerned.

Subsequently, on June 15, a travel advisory with contact details was issued, urging Nepalis to adopt maximum vigilance from a security perspective.

With the current closure of air routes in those countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directed all Nepali embassies in the Gulf  to facilitate processes such as providing 'online visas' for Nepalis wishing to go to safe locations or neighbouring countries.

The Ministry has also started to collect information from Nepalis by opening an online portal, and so far more than 600 people have registered their details on that portal. This process is still going on.

Likewise, the Ministry issued a travel advisory for the second time last Wednesday, requesting Nepali citizens currently in Israel and Iran to exercise maximum caution for security, and advising not to travel to Israel or other Middle Eastern countries from Nepal.

This week, Foreign Minister Rana met with the Israeli Ambassador to Nepal, Shmulik Arie Bass, requesting the Israeli government to make proper arrangements for the safety of Nepali citizens.

Similarly, the Nepali Embassy in Israel and the Nepali Embassy in Qatar overseeing Iran have been directed to establish close contact with relevant government officials, organizations working in the region, and the Nepali community, and to provide 'real-time reporting' to the ministry regarding the matter. 

Currently, there are between 5,500 to 7,000 Nepalis in Israel, and most of them are in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa. Similarly, there are 18 Nepalis in Iran.

Apparently, most of the emergencies do not come with sirens blaring in a world in a state of perpetual flux, not even in a vital part of the rules-based international order protected by near-impregnable defenses. Even if they did, it is highly likely that our capable governments would appear ill-prepared when it comes to dealing with such contingencies. 

Barely two years after the 7 Oct 2023 attack on Israel that killed around 1200 people—including 10 Nepali students and saw the abduction of 250 others (including Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student)—this stark reality of our ill-preparedness in dealing with crisis situations, especially a swift rescue of Nepali nationals caught in adverse situations abroad, has come us a-haunting again. 

Escalating hostilities between arch-nemeses Iran and Israel have given rise to concerns over the safety and security of Nepali nationals in a restive Mideast—most of them migrant workers. According to some reports, Israel is home to 5000-7000 Nepali workers. Other than that, our government, in a typical fashion, does not have the exact number of Nepalis living in the restive region. 

Nothing out of the blue, right? 

In the wake of the renewed hostilities, the government is doing its bit to “ensure” the protection of Nepalis. Recently, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arzu Rana Deuba, held a meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Nepal, Shmulik Arie Bass, where she asked the government of Israel to ensure their safety. The ambassador’s reply—that Nepalis in Israel were so far safe—must have provided a much-needed immediate relief to the government. 

Other than that, the government has directed Nepali ambassadors to Israel and Qatar, which is playing the role of a facilitator to de-escalate the Iran-Israel conflict, to remain vigilant regarding the safety of Nepali citizens in their respective regions.  

The government has also approached a number of countries to help with the rescue of stranded Nepalis, if they are planning to rescue their nationals anytime seen. 

That the government is not twiddling its thumbs in a crisis situation like this provides some relief. But these random activities also lay bare the lack of a credible plan for a swift rescue of Nepali nationals caught in crisis situations like wars, conflicts, natural disasters and domestic unrest abroad.

The sooner the government comes up with such a plan by allocating necessary means and resources, the better. 

But such a plan—and its execution—should not mark the end of the government’s responsibilities toward outmigrating Nepali nationals. In the long run, the government should channelize its energies on bringing to an end the exodus of Nepalis and tapping their boundless potentials for national progress and prosperity.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed any notion that his supporters are cooling on him amid uncertainty over whether he will order a U.S. strike on Iran, addressing a rift between some of his most vocal MAGA backers and national security conservatives, Associated Press reported.

“My supporters are more in love with me today, and I’m more in love with them, more than they even were at election time where we had a total landslide,” Trump told reporters as a new flagpole was erected at the White House, with machinery whirring in the background.

“I may have some people that are a little bit unhappy now, but I have some people that are very happy, and I have people outside of the base that can’t believe that this is happening, they’re so happy,” he said.

Trump huddled Tuesday in the Situation Room with his national security team, and on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon was providing Trump with possible options on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes, according to Associated Press.

An Iranian missile slammed into the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, wounding people and causing “extensive damage,” according to the medical facility. Israeli media aired footage of blown-out windows and heavy black smoke, Associated Press reported.

Separate Iranian strikes hit a high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv and other sites in central Israel. At least 40 people were wounded, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.

Israel, meanwhile, carried out strikes on Iran’s Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, its latest attack on Iran’s sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel’s multi-tiered air defenses, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centers and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect, according to Associated Press.

Israeli warplanes pounded Iran’s capital overnight and into Wednesday as Iran launched a small barrage of missiles at Israel with no reports of casualties. An Iranian official warned Wednesday that that any U.S. intervention in the conflict would risk “all-out war," Associated Press.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei delivered the warning in an interview with Al Jazeera English, saying “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.” He did not elaborate, but thousands of American troops are based in nearby countries within range of Iran’s weapons. The U.S. has threatened a massive response to any attack.

The latest Israeli strikes hit a facility used to make uranium centrifuges and another that made missile components, the Israeli military said. It said it had intercepted 10 missiles overnight as Iran’s retaliatory barrages diminish, according to Associated Press.

The Group of Seven nations expressed support for Israel in a statement issued late on Monday and labeled its rival Iran as a source of instability in the Middle East, with the G7 leaders urging broader de-escalation of hostilities in the region, Reuters reported.

The air war between Iran and Israel - which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes - has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel’s military assault on Gaza in October 2023.

“We affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel,” G7 leaders said in the statement.

“Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror,” the statement added and said the G7 was “clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

Israel attacked Iran on Friday in what it called a preemptive strike to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Since then the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians killed, according to Reuters.

Oil prices resumed their upward climb and U.S. futures were lower early Tuesday after Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning to 330,000 people in Iran’s capital Tehran, Associated Press reported.

Asian shares were mixed. 

The evacuation warning was for a part of Tehran, a city of 9.5 million, that houses the country’s state TV and police headquarters and three large hospitals, including one owned by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was returning from the G7 summit in Canada a day early due to the intensifying conflict.

The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3%, according to Associated Press.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbing 0.6% to 38,547.56 as the Japanese central bank opted to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5%.