Iran staged military parades on Friday to mark its annual Army Day celebrations, showcasing a wide array of its latest domestically built drones, missiles, tanks, and other hardware.The events coincided with the eve of the second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, which will be held in Rome on Saturday.Domestically developed drones, including the jet-powered Karrar, Arash, and Mohajer models, were shown in the parade in Tehran, state television reported.In addition to the capital, military parades were also staged in other major cities.The Tehran event also featured Russian-made S-300 air defence systems.It was attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian, who praised the army as the nation’s “strong fortress” and credited it with asserting the country’s regional influence.The military display came a day before delegations from Iran and the United States were set to meet in the Italian capital for a second round of indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman.The first round, held in Muscat last Saturday, was described by both sides as “constructive”.In March, US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme and warning of military action if diplomacy fails.On Thursday, Trump said he is “not in a rush” to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, adding: “I think Iran wants to talk.”Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who represents Tehran in the talks, said on Thursday “we are fully serious in these talks”, and “based on the other side’s approach, will assess how to proceed”.US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff represents Washington in the talks.A  New York Times report on Wednesday said Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, deciding instead to prioritise diplomatic outreach.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, even as the Iran-US talks continue.

The new US ambassador to Israel prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, delivering a handwritten message from President Donald Trump calling for peace in Israel.Mike Huckabee, a former Republican governor, has long been an outspoken supporter of Israel, backing calls to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before such talk became increasingly mainstream.He presented his diplomatic credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday, as Israel’s 18-month war against Hamas Palestinian militants continues in the Gaza Strip.Located in east Jerusalem -— a sector of the holy city that is occupied and annexed by Israel —- the Western Wall is the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and is the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray.”It was such an honour, an incredible privilege, to place on behalf of the president of the United States President Donald J Trump, a prayer that he wrote in his own hand, and initialled,” Huckabee, wearing a traditional Jewish kippa cap, told reporters at the site.He said Trump handed him the message at the White House with an instruction that the first thing he should do as an ambassador to Israel would be to deliver his message.Trump gave the note “with the hope that I would bring it and place it in the wall, with the best wishes and the prayers of the American people for the peace of Jerusalem,” Huckabee said, showing the small, handwritten note.It read: “For Peace in Israel”. The note had Trump’s initials “D.T”.Huckabee said that he too offered his own prayer at the holy site, calling for the return of all hostages still held in Gaza.”We will bring them home, and that is the prayer of the president as well,” he said.On October 7, 2023, the Hamas Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, triggering the ongoing Gaza war. During the assault, militants captured 251 individuals, 58 of whom remain hostage in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.On Friday, Hamas rejected the latest Israeli proposal for a ceasefire deal.According to a senior Hamas official, it called for a 45-day truce in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages, the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and authorisation for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.However, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said the group would not agree to a “partial deal”.He said Hamas “seeks a comprehensive deal involving a single-package prisoner exchange in return for halting the war, a withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the commencement of reconstruction” in the territory.

By seizing large swathes of the Gaza Strip, Israel is redrawing the map of the Palestinian territory, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, making it increasingly “unlivable”.On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military has transformed vast areas representing 30 percent of Gaza into buffer zones and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.Agnes Levallois, lecturer at the Foundation for Strategic Research, said that leaving the buffer zones cleared and empty could be an end in itself.”Israel’s strategy in the Gaza Strip is to make the territory unlivable,” she said, with some analysts saying that Israel now controls even more than 30 percent of the territory.An AFP calculation based on maps issued by the military found that the total area under Israeli control was more than 185 square kilometres (about 70 square miles), or around 50 percent of the territory.On the ground, the Israeli army has created a wide security zone that follows Gaza’s perimeter along its borders with both Israel and Egypt, particularly to reduce the risk of cross-border smuggling with the latter.Troops have also established three militarised corridors — Philadelphi, Morag, and Netzarim — cutting across the Gaza’s width and dividing it into sections.- ‘Field of ruins’ -With 2.4 million people packed into 365 square kilometres, Gaza was already one of the world’s most densely populated places before the war started on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel.”The Israeli army is increasingly resorting to so-called ‘evacuation orders’ which are, in fact, orders of forced displacement,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.”This has led to the forced transfer of Palestinians in Gaza into increasingly confined areas, where they have little or no access to vital services.”The remaining space is covered in ruins, with 80 percent of civilian infrastructure totally or partly destroyed, according to the UN.Nearly all Gazans have been displaced at least once, and many now live in schools turned shelters, under tents and in other makeshift shelters.”We don’t know what this government’s strategy is, maybe we’ll end up controlling all of Gaza, which means we’ll have to set up a civil administration or a military regime,” Michael Milshtein, Palestinian affairs expert at Tel Aviv University, told AFP.”I’m not sure the Israeli public is aware of the costs of this scenario.”Seizing certain parts of Gaza was “quite easy” for the army, Milshtein said.Many of the areas taken are “empty territories, you know, (the army) doesn’t directly control any Palestinians”, he said, estimating that Israel currently controls “about half” of Gaza.Levallois, a Middle East expert, believes Israel might not expand its hold any further and “leave the rest (of the territory) essentially abandoned, allowing in only the bare minimum of humanitarian aid”.”This could lead to a Somalia scenario, a state of anarchy with no authority able to emerge from this field of ruins.”In the buffer zone it now controls, the army has systematically destroyed civilian buildings, according to testimonies from anonymous soldiers collected by the anti-occupation Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence and international media.- ‘Riviera’ of the Middle East -In November, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested encouraging “half” of Gaza’s population to leave the territory through “voluntary emigration”.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history, has been supported in this idea by US President Donald Trump.In February, the Republican president suggested turning Gaza into a “Middle East Riviera” and relocating Gazans to Jordan and Egypt.Some Israeli figures who advocate for the return of settlements in the Gaza Strip — which were evacuated in 2005 — claim to have concrete plans and make regular visits to the edge of Gaza.Netanyahu has not clearly signalled any inclinations for such plans.But with no clear post-war roadmap, Gaza’s future remains uncertain.”There is no strategy,” said Milshtein.”The only strategy is to encourage or adopt Trump’s vision to encourage the Palestinians to leave Gaza. And it’s nonsense.”Most people in Israel know it’s a fantasy or an illusion,” he said.”Even Trump doesn’t seem all that interested in the idea any more.”