Iran's death toll from Israeli attacks surpasses 600: Ministry

Tehran, June 24 (IANS) The death toll from Israeli strikes across Iran over the past 12 days has reached 606, with 5,332 others injured, Iran's Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi said on Tuesday.

Zafarghandi described the past 24 hours as witnessing the "most horrific attacks and aggressions" by Israel since the start of the aerial conflict on June 13, resulting in 104 deaths and 1,342 injuries.

Meanwhile, Israel's Health Ministry has reported 28 fatalities and 3,238 injuries on its side since the onset of the conflict.

US President Donald Trump announced late Monday night that a ceasefire between the two sides would begin around 0400 GMT Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although both Iran and Israel accepted the ceasefire, violations were reported by both sides hours into the ceasefire, and both sides vowed to retaliate.

Earlier, Trump issued a stern warning to both Israel and Iran, accusing them of actions which could shatter a hard-won truce.

"These guys gotta calm down. It's ridiculous. I didn't like plenty of things that I saw yesterday. I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal ... and I didn't like the fact that the retaliation was very strong," Trump told reporters in Washington before leaving for the NATO summit in The Hague.

Trump mentioned that both countries "violated" the ceasefire that was announced late Monday.

"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... The biggest load that we've seen, I'm not happy with Israel. When I say now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour, just drop everything you have on them. So, I'm not happy with him. I'm not happy with Iran either," said the US President.

"We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing. Do you understand that," he added.

Earlier, Trump sounded a warning to Israel against launching another attack on Iran.

"Israel Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Iran reportedly fired six missiles towards American military bases in Iraq and Qatar on Monday night, escalating the ongoing conflict in the region.

--IANS

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