Our live coverage of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza has moved here.
April 23, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war
By Sana Noor Haq, Christian Edwards, Tori B. Powell and Aditi Sangal, CNN
Updated 2:14 a.m. ET, April 24, 2024
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US Senate passes $95 billion package that includes aid for Israel and other countries after months of delay
From CNN's Kristin Wilson and Sam Fossum
The US Senate passed, with wide bipartisan support, a $95 billion foreign aid package Tuesday night which includes aid for countries including Israel.
The legislation ties together four bills that the House voted on separately in a rare Saturday session, providing over $26 billion for Israel, nearly $61 billion in aid for Ukraine and more than $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific.
The final vote was 79-18. Fifteen Republicans voted with three Democrats against the bill, while 48 Democrats and 31 Republicans voted for the bill.
It will now be sent to be signed by President Joe Biden, who applauded the package's passage on Tuesday and said that he will sign the legislation on Wednesday.
“This critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin,” Biden said in a written statement.
The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. Here's what you should know
From CNN staff
Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed at least 34,183 people after 200 days of war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Government Media Office in Gaza said that, over the past 200 days, 14,778 children had been killed – as had 9,752 women. The Media Office also said that 17,000 children in Gaza had lost one or both parents.
Here are other headlines you should know:
- Developments on the ground: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a warning to people in parts of the area of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to evacuate and relocate to shelters in other parts of the enclave. The Israeli military and journalists in Gaza reported extensive strikes overnight in several parts of the territory. Also, Israeli air strikes demolished the top three floors of the Al-Sahaba building in Gaza City, in the northern part of the enclave, Monday. The IDF also said it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.” Elsewhere, Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of the Hamas military wing Al Qassam Brigades, urged continued attacks on Israel in his first video message in more than six weeks on Tuesday, marking 200 days of the Israel-Hamas war.
- More bodies found at Khan Younis hospital: Emergency workers on Tuesday recovered at least 35 more bodies from a mass grave within the Nasser medical complex, in southern Gaza, after Israeli forces withdrew from the neighborhood earlier this month. The total number of bodies found increased to 310, Col. Yamen Abu Suleiman, the director of Civil Defense in Khan Younis, told CNN, adding that operations are ongoing.
- Latest out of Lebanon: The Israeli military says it killed two members of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon. In the the southern village of Hanine in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike targeted a house that killed at least two people and injuring six others, according to state-run media NNA.
- Iranian threats: An Israeli attack on Iranian territory would have serious consequences and result in there being "nothing left" of Israel, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday, according to reporting from Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. The warning came after Israel on Friday carried out a military strike inside Iran, a US official told CNN, although Israel has not officially claimed the attack.
- Humanitarian crisis: More than 270,000 tons of solid waste across the entire Gaza Strip remain uncollected, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Tuesday, as Israel's military campaign has disrupted essential services in the enclave. The agency also reported that more than 75% of the entire population across Gaza has been displaced as of April 21, that relief operations there have been “severely restricted” by Israeli authorities and that the health system in the enclave has been crushed.
- Humanitarian aid: Jordan has conducted an airdrop of humanitarian and relief aid into Gaza on Tuesday, according to Jordanian state news agency Petra. Also, US military vessels are in the Mediterranean region and “standing by” and prepared to begin construction on the temporary pier off the coast of Gaza when given the order to do so, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.
"200 days of war, it feels like 200 years." Palestinian children mourn lost dreams
From CNN’s Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Abeer Salman and Sana Noor Haq
Young children wearing sandals pucker their faces under the Gazan sun. Others drift barefoot across the courtyard of a sprawling school in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
CNN footage shows clothes on washing lines and dusty plastic tents fluttering in the wind.
“Our lives are full of suffering, no drinking water, no livable place to stay,” says Mohammad Shabat, a displaced Palestinian.
“There is no health, no education. How will these children live? How will they study? We had COVID, now we have war. We are mentally exhausted.
“I am 60 years old, I lived through wars before, but we never lived through this oppression.”
Palestinians described months of forced displacement as they waited anxiously for news from relatives separated across the enclave, with no relief from Israeli strikes.
Rahaf Shabbat, a young student who was forced to flee from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, told CNN she was heartbroken when the war disrupted her school year. “Today marks 200 days of war, it feels like 200 years... of fear and horror, rockets, martyrs, and deaths,” she said.
Another Palestinian child, Rama Shabat, says she has not seen her loved ones for seven months. “We lost our dreams and our childhood. We miss our loved ones in the north,” Rama told CNN, as she broke down into tears.
Hala Abdan, a lawyer, said her 20-year-old son’s left foot was amputated after he was injured by a drone strike in December. “I struggle to provide him anything, just like all the Palestinian people,” she said. “It has been 200 days full of suffering that one can barely bear... 200 days of catastrophe.”
2 people killed in Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, state media says
From CNN’s Ruba Alhenawi
An Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Hanine in Lebanon targeted a house, killing at least two people and injuring six others, according to state-run media NNA.
A woman and her 11-year-old niece were killed and at least six others were wounded, NNA reported.
The incident happened on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. local time when the two-story house of Ahmad Ali Khashakesh in Hanine was struck with two rockets, according to NNA.
CNN reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the incident.
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF announced that fighter jets struck Hezbollah military positions in the area of Markaba in southern Lebanon. Also on Tuesday, the IDF said it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.”
"They erased our memories": Palestinians on 200 days of Israel's war on Hamas
From CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Sana Noor Haq
Nirmine Moussa said her children will never get used to the sound of Israeli strikes raining down on Gaza. The Palestinian mother was left homeless after her house in the north was destroyed in the early days of the war.
“They erased our memories,” said Moussa, who is displaced in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. “My children are not used to the sound of bombardment every second of the day. They live in a nightmare forever, after the IDF destroyed their dreams and their future, by destroying their schools and killing their friends.”
After 200 days since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, Palestinians who spoke to CNN by phone say they feel exhausted by a war that has wiped out families and turned once-lively neighborhoods into rubble-filled wastelands.
“Have I even survived without my father, without my house, without everything?” said Maram Faraj, 26, a writer displaced in the coastal town of Al-Mawasi. “Will I be the next genocide victim? If so, will my family be able to identify my body?”
Raed Redwan, who is in the southern city of Rafah, said he is homeless and afraid. The teacher and academic said he has been living on the streets for more than six months, with no access to electricity or running water.
“After 200 days of genocide in Gaza, I still ask why this happened? Who is responsible for continuous war in Gaza? Why did they leave us alone in this war?... There is no one able to help me, my baby, or my family,” Redwan said. “l’ve lost everything... But I still hold hope.”
Construction on temporary pier for Gaza will begin very soon, Pentagon says
From CNN's Haley Britzky
US military vessels are in the Mediterranean region and “standing by” and prepared to begin construction on the temporary pier off the coast of Gaza when given the order to do so, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.
He also said the United States was “positioned to begin construction very soon, in the near future.”
Currently, officials are working through a checklist of processes and procedures, including security on the ground, coordination with partners supporting this effort and drawing up a timeline for implementation, Ryder said.
Ryder has said the expectation is for the temporary pier to be operational by the end of April or early May, and said Tuesday the military is on track to meet that timeline.
The World Food Programme (WFP) will support the distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the organization said Saturday.
The temporary pier, which will be several miles off the coast of Gaza, will receive both military and civilian vessels, Ryder added. The aid brought by those vessels will then be transported from the pier by US military vessels to the causeway, where non-military trucks — driven by non-profit organization personnel — will take the aid and then distribute it into Gaza.
Hamas military spokesperson urges continued attacks on Israel in first video message in almost 2 months
From CNN's Ruba Alhenawi
Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of Hamas’ military wing Al Qassam Brigades, urged continued attacks on Israel in his first video message in more than six weeks on Tuesday, marking 200 days of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We will keep attacking the enemy with different techniques as long as the aggression continues on our land," Abu Obaida said. Hamas fighters would "keep coming out to fight the enemy," he added.
He also praised Iran's unprecedented strikes on Israel earlier this month, saying the attack's "size and nature, established new rules and confused the enemy's calculations." Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile attack at Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria. The Israeli military said 99% of the more than 300 projectiles fired were intercepted.
Abu Obaida also slammed Israel's role in the hostage release and ceasefire negotiations, saying Israel is "trying to renounce all his promises" and wants to "gain more time." Israel and the US have blamed Hamas for holding up negotiations by making unreasonable demands.
Jordan conducts aid airdrop into Gaza
From CNN's Ibrahim Dahman
Jordan has conducted an airdrop of humanitarian and relief aid into Gaza on Tuesday, according to Jordanian state news agency Petra.
The Jordanian Armed Forces conducted seven airdrops to multiple sites in northern Gaza, and said they would continue sending humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza through airdrops, ground convoys and through the Marka airport in Amman to Egypt's Al-Arish International Airport.
Jordan has conducted 87 airdrops into Gaza and took part in 209 international airdrops since October 7, according to Petra.
Petra reported that Tuesday's aid drop was conducted along with the US, Egypt and Germany.
"Focus on Gaza:" As tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran appear to have concluded, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN, "The focus should remain on Gaza," as the strip edges towards famine.
