April 2, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

President Joe Biden's administration reiterated Tuesday that it was not involved in an airstrike Monday on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that left at least 13 people dead.

Iran and Syria accused Israel of authoring the attack, with Tehran warning of a “serious response,” and the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah saying the strike will be met with “punishment and revenge.” Iran also said it would hold the United States “answerable” due to its support of Israel.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani responded to the strike, which claimed the life of a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Mohammed Reza Zahedi.

"Iran preserves the right to take reciprocal measures and will decide the type of response and punishment against the aggressor," Kanaani said, according to IRGC-affiliated Fars News. 

Some context: The US has accused Iran of supporting proxy attacks on US and Western targets since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. In January, a drone attack killed three American soldiers at a US outpost in Jordan, which the US attributed to the Iran-backed umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq, though the incident caught Tehran by surprise and worried political leadership there, officials told CNN at the time, citing US intelligence.

Seven aid workers from the non-profit World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli military strike Monday night as they were delivering food to starving civilians in Gaza.

World Central Kitchen said its workers were traveling in a “deconflicted zone” in two armored cars branded with the charity’s logo and “a soft skin vehicle.”

Three British nationals, a dual US-Canadian citizen, along with people from Australia and Poland as well as a Palestinian were killed in the strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military "unintentionally struck innocent people" as the Israel Defense Forces pledged to investigate the strike "at the highest levels." World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres slammed the Israeli government, saying it "needs to stop this indiscriminate killing."

Here are the latest headlines from the region:

More anti-government protests were held Tuesday in Israel where demonstrators called for the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza.

Israeli media reported several thousand people gathered in front of the parliament building in Jerusalem, marking the third of a four-day wave of protests. They are the largest anti-government protests since Israel’s war with Hamas began on October 7.

Einav Zangauker, mother of a hostage being held in Gaza, criticized Netanyahu, saying:

Images from Jerusalem showed people holding signs accusing the Israeli government of “abandoning” hostages as well as “inciting and instigating” the war.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he apologized to founder Jose Andres of World Central Kitchen after Israeli drone strikes killed seven of its aid workers Monday.

Herzog “expressed his deep sorrow and sincere apologies over the tragic loss of life of WCK staff in the Gaza Strip last night, and sent his condolences to their families and loved ones,” according to a post on X from the presidency.

The Biden administration is outraged by an Israeli airstrike that killed several aid workers in Gaza, the White House said Tuesday, adding US President Joe Biden also spoke with the organization’s founder, José Andrés, to express his condolences. 

Kirby said the White House had seen comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces that they would investigate and said the administration expected the investigation to be conducted “in a swift and comprehensive manner.” 

“We hope that those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability held,” Kirby said. He said a preliminary investigation had already been completed. 

Kirby said one of the victims was a dual-national United States citizen. 

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has become the deadliest for aid workers in more than two decades, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

In fewer than six months, the number of aid workers killed in Gaza has reached nearly 200 — a higher number of casualties than seen over a year in any other conflict since at least 1997.

Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan had been the deadliest countries for humanitarian workers in the past 20 years, but annual fatalities during the worst years of conflict there were lower than during the current Israeli offensive in Gaza, data shows.

The Aid Worker Security data includes workers from the United Nations and other nonprofit humanitarian aid agencies. The UN has separately reported more than 170 of its staff members killed since October 7, which is also the highest number of casualties among UN personnel in the agency’s history. Fifteen Palestine Red Crescent Society workers and volunteers have also been killed, according to a UN report on March 29.

The US has a “longstanding commitment” to Israel’s security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued Tuesday as the administration’s arms transfers to the Israel government come under growing scrutiny.

The top US diplomat stressed that commitment has been consistent across Democratic and Republican administrations. “That policy developed over many years, developed into successive agreements between the United States and Israel, long duration, 10 years in this case, to provide military assistance over that timeframe to about $3 billion a year,” Blinken said at a press conference in Paris.

CNN reported Monday the US is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The weapons go toward Israel's self-defense, replenishment of stocks and supplies, and deterrence from more conflicts, he argued. He also noted that many of the sales were approved years before the war in Gaza, saying “these complex systems can take years.”

He said “every single” arms transfer happens within policy requirements, adding that President Joe Biden's administration is “going above and beyond the law” to keep Congress apprised.

$18 billion sale of jets: CNN reported Monday the US is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The Al-Shifa medical complex in northern Gaza is “permanently out of service” due to extensive destruction caused by the 14-day Israeli siege, the hospital's acting director said Monday, calling for the deployment of a field hospital urgently.

Before Al-Shifa siege: The hospital — the largest in Gaza — used to have 750 beds, 26 operation rooms and served 250,000 patients annually, he said.

“We urgently need a field hospital to treat our injured with a minimum capacity of 180 beds,” he said.

Dire need for medical workers: The director of the nursing department at the complex, Jadallah Al-Shafie, told CNN on Monday that such a field hospital would require returning the medical staff that were forcibly displaced to the south, in addition to other Arab and international professionals.

Abu Saada said numerous doctors and surgeons were killed or arrested by Israeli forces during the first siege in November, as well as in the second siege that ended early Monday. He said he was appointed in his current position as director following the arrest and imprisonment of his predecessor by Israeli forces.

“We don’t have the staff to even go treat the wounded in other places,” Abu Saada said.

Video and images of the deadly airstrike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen appear to show that the strike was carried out by targeted drone missiles, an explosive weapons expert said.

Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British Army artillery officer and munitions expert, told CNN the heavy damage to three vehicles seen in video and images from the scene was consistent with the use of “highly accurate drone-fired missiles,” adding it was “hard to believe” the tragic incident was accidental.   

The drone that fired the missiles would have been operated in conjunction with a surveillance drone, Cobb-Smith said, meaning the Israeli military would have had total visibility of the cars. At least two of the vehicles were branded with the WCK logo on their roofs, the group has said.

The “limited blast” and “considerable localized destruction” seen in photos and videos of the aftermath are also consistent with an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle strike, he added.

Cobb-Smith told CNN missile fragments would be needed to definitively identify the exact munition used in the strike.  

Patrick Senft, a research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES), echoed the opinion of Cobb-Smith, saying that the aftermath of the strike “seems consistent with munitions deployed by UAVs.”