DUBAI, July 2 (Reuters) - An Iranian military commander warned the United States and Israel on Thursday against any attack on Iran as it prepares for the state funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in airstrikes on the first day of the war.

Israelis called on Thursday for a state commission of inquiry into Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, as the country marked 1,000 days since the deadly assault that triggered the war in Gaza.

A series of sombre commemorations were held across the country, as well as protests against the government's handling of events during and after the attack.

The first began at 6:29 am (0329 GMT) -- the exact time at which the Palestinian Islamist movement launched its assault on Israel.

BEIJING, July 2 (Reuters) - Senior Chinese lawmaker He Wei will attend the funeral of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Thursday.

The event He is attending will be on July 3, a ministry spokesperson told a regular press briefing.

He is the vice chairman of China's top lawmaking body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Iran's disappointed World Cup squad returned to a much warmer welcome at Tehran airport on Wednesday than they experienced on arrival in the US for their three group games.

"Iran, Iran!" a crowd of several hundred children, their parents and devoted fans chanted in unison.

Some waved the Iranian national flag while others sported bracelets with the national colours or wore the jersey of "Team Melli" as they feted the squad who had gone so close to reaching the knockout stages for the first time.

July 1 (Reuters) - NATO is set to announce at next week's Ankara summit that its European members have filled almost all the gaps left by the United States in the alliance's defence plans, a NATO source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The main gap NATO is still struggling to plug is in strategic bombers, where the U.S. has said it will make only one aircraft available instead of two, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, editing by Bart Meijer)

Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli attacks in late February, is due to be buried on July 9 in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

During nearly 36 years as Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei oversaw some of the most significant moments in the history of the Islamic republic.

Here are key milestones in his life and leadership:

- Early life -

Khamenei was born on April 19, 1939, in the shrine city of Mashhad, where he later requested to be buried.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was thrilled to make his first flight aboard his new Air Force One plane, thanking Qatar for the controversial gift of the luxury jet.

Trump said the United States "couldn't build a plane like this" -- despite the fact that the heavily modified Boeing 747-8 aircraft was originally made there.

"To be honest with you, I'm excited about the first flight. Nobody's ever seen anything like it," Trump told journalists traveling with him, including an AFP photographer, ahead of a trip to North Dakota.

A group of military, theocratic and civilian figures, rather than a single individual, have led decision-making in Iran since the killing of longstanding supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli airstrike at the start of the war.

Khamenei's son Mojtaba was named supreme leader after his death but it is unclear what power he wields and he has yet to be seen in public.

US President Donald Trump said last month that the war had removed a "first set" and "second set" of leaders but maintained that the "third set" was "smart", "very rational" and "not radicalised".

Mojtaba Khamenei, who has spent his career behind the scenes and is yet to appear in public as Iran's new supreme leader, faces the formidable challenge of occupying the role held by his father for most of the Islamic republic's existence.

Iranians knew little about the younger Khamenei when he was named to the lifetime post shortly after a US-Israeli airstrike killed his father Ali Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, at the start of the Middle East war.

WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States was getting along very well with Iran and that recent meetings in Qatar went well.

"The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well," Trump told reporters. "They've had very good meetings, and we'll see."

The U.S. and Iran held technical talks in the Qatari capital of Doha on Wednesday as they seek to ‌agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks and an Iranian official said.