Palestinian Authority renews request for UN membership
From CNN's Richard Roth
The Palestinian Authority sent the UN secretary-general a letter renewing its request for UN membership, according to a post on social media from the Palestinian permanent observer mission to the UN on Tuesday.
"Today, the State of Palestine, and upon instructions of the Palestinian leadership, sent a letter the Secretary General requesting renewed consideration to Membership application," the post on X read.
The post included a letter, signed by UN Ambassador of the Palestinian Territories Riyad Mansour, which referenced the initial September 2011 application for membership status and requested renewed consideration this month.
Remember: In September 2011, the Palestinian Authority failed to win UN recognition as an independent member state. A year later, the UN decided that the Palestinian Authority's "non-member observer entity" status would be changed to "non-member observer state," similar to the Vatican.
5:16 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
"She met them with humanity." Friend remembers aid worker killed in Israeli strike
From CNN's Hira Humayun
Zomi Frankcom seen in a video shared by World Central Kitchen. World Central Kitchen
A friend of one of the aid workers with World Central Kitchen who was killed in Gaza on Monday was remembered Tuesday as someone who met people with a smile when they were experiencing the darkest time of their lives.
"She met them with a smile, she met them with humanity, and the world is a darker place without somebody like that today," Bryan Weaver, a friend of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, told CNN's Jake Tapper.
Weaver said Frankcom saw the children she fed as part of her family.
"The children that she fed in Palestine, the children she fed in in Haiti or the Ukraine, she viewed them as part of her larger extended family, and that's a unique characteristic in anyone," Weaver said. "Zomi really had this view of ... that the experience was going to be so life-changing for her and that she wanted to bring just a touch of humanity to folks that were going through the worst moment of their lives," he added.
5:02 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
White House changes iftar plans with Muslim community leaders after pushback over starving Gazans
From CNN's Alex Marquardt, Betsy Klein and Khalil Abdallah
The White House has shifted plans for President Joe Biden to host iftar — a dinner to break the Ramadan fast — Tuesday night after Muslim community leaders expressed frustration with the administration’s support of Israel amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Biden will still host a small dinner with senior Muslim administration officials, a White House official said. But outside attendees will instead go to a meeting "to discuss issues of importance to the community," the official said.
“There was a significant amount of pushback from attendees that it would be inappropriate to raise the humanitarian crisis in Gaza over dinner,” a person familiar with the meeting told CNN. “There’s a famine in Gaza, 23 children have died from starvation in Northern Gaza. I don’t think anybody would be comfortable sharing those stories and images over dinner.”
CNN previously reported that several people who were invited to attend declined, sources said.
“Basically the sentiment we heard over and over again was that anybody going to the iftar while Palestinians are being killed and starved should be ashamed of themselves,” another source told CNN.
Vice President Kamala Harris, senior Muslim administration officials, senior members of Biden’s national security team and fewer than a dozen invited guests are expected to attend the meeting, per a senior administration official.
6:01 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
Protesters confront Israeli police near Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem
From CNN's Ami Kaufman and Tim Lister
Police try to push back demonstrators protesting in Jerusalem, on Tuesday, April 2, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Some anti-government protesters Tuesday breached security barriers near the Jerusalem residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to social media videos.
Israeli police said most of the demonstrators behaved lawfully, but noted that some were "disorderly" as they tried to approach Netanyahu's residence. Israeli media reported several arrests.
“It is emphasized that at no point was there any threat to the Prime Minister's residence, nor did individuals physically reach it,” a statement from Israeli police read.
One video shows a confrontation between police and Ayala Metzger — the daughter-in-law of one of the hostages held in Gaza. Metzger can be seen being wrestled to the ground as police tried to confiscate a megaphone she was carrying.
Another video showed protesters and police struggling over steel barricades. One man crawled beneath a police water cannon vehicle to prevent it from moving.
National Security Minister Ben Gvir criticized the Israeli security services for allowing protesters to get so close to Netanyahus’ residence.
"Just last week I warned the head of the Shin Bet about the contempt for the Prime Minister's security and was rejected. I demand that the Shin Bet wake up immediately and take seriously the security of the Prime Minister of Israel and his family," Gvir said on X. "A situation where thousands of people break into the area of the Prime Minister's house and the Shin Bet turns a blind eye is unacceptable."
Other protesters marched toward Israeli President Isaac Herzog's residence.
This post was updated with a response from the Israeli police.
4:04 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
US assessment is that Israel carried out strike in Damascus on Monday, Pentagon says
From CNN's Haley Britzky and Natasha Bertrand
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh speaks during a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday, April 2. Pool
"That’s our assessment, and it’s also our assessment that there were a handful of IRGC top leaders there. I can’t confirm those identities, but that’s our initial assessment right now," Singh said, referencing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Israeli government has not acknowledged carrying out the strike.
Singh said the Pentagon was "not notified by the Israelis about their strike, or the intended target of their strike, in Damascus." Israel denied the claim that the building hit was a consulate, saying Monday that it was a "military building of Quds forces," which is a unit of the IRGC.
Singh said that she couldn’t confirm what type of building was hit in the strike. "Again this was not a US strike so I don’t have a lot of details on what type of building that was. But no, we don’t support attacks on diplomatic facilities," she said.
3:51 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
"Situation is increasingly intolerable" in Gaza, UK prime minister tells Netanyahu after strike on aid workers
From CNN's Amy Casssidy
During a phone call with Israel's prime minister, Britain’s Rishi Sunak “demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation" into an Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza.
Sunak told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was appalled by the attack, which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals," according to an official Downing Street readout.
“The Prime Minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable,” the statement said. “The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks," it added.
3:37 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
Blinken marks National Arab American Heritage Month "at a time of immense pain" in Gaza
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
The top US diplomat marked the start of National Arab American Heritage Month in a statement Tuesday by noting that it comes “at a time of immense pain.”
“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, many of them civilians, including thousands of children. Friends and family members of Arab Americans of Palestinian descent, including our colleagues at the Department of State, are grieving lost loved ones,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The Biden administration has come under immense scrutiny domestically, and from members of the US government workforce, for its policy on Israel and the Gaza war.
Blinken said the US is committed to pursuing a deal that would secure the release of hostages still being held in Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid to enter the enclave.
“I value the conversations I have participated in with my Arab American colleagues and with members of the larger Arab American community on US policy in the region. I will continue to seek their counsel as we pursue lasting peace and security in the Middle East,” he said.
3:36 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
White House reiterates no US involvement in Damascus strike that Iran blamed on Israel
From CNN's Donald Judd
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby takes questions during a news briefing at the White House on Tuesday, April 2. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
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.
“I can't predict what the Supreme Leader and what the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp] IRGC will decide to do or not,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN’s Kayla Tausche at Tuesday’s press briefing. “Let me make it clear — we had nothing to do with what the strike in Damascus. We weren't involved in any way whatsoever.”
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.
3:17 p.m. ET, April 2, 2024
British nationals and dual US citizen among aid workers killed by Israeli strike in Gaza. Catch up on the latest
From CNN staff
Palestinians are standing next to a vehicle in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza , on Tuesday, April 2, where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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:
Al-Shifa Hospital raid aftermath: Israel's two-week military operation at Al-Shifa Hospital left the medical center indefinitely out of service, with hundreds dead, survivors malnourished, and ambulances unable to reach it, according to reports from the complex.
Damascus strikes: Iran has vowed to retaliate after a strike it blamed on Israel killed two of its top commanders and five others at its consulate in Syria on Monday.An Israeli military spokesperson told CNN that intelligence indicates it was a "military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building." Meanwhile, the United States told Iran it was not involved and had no advance knowledge of Monday’s strike, according to a US official.
Israeli opposition leader to visit Washington: Yair Lapid will visit Washington, DC, next week, a spokesperson for Lapid told CNN. The spokesperson did not have details about whom Lapid will meet with, but said that the focus of the visit is “strengthening the Israel-US strategic relationship, bringing the hostages back home, the situation in the north, and Israel’s role in the region.”
Ceasefire negotiations: An Israeli delegation left Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday, having formulated an "updated proposal" for Hamas, Israel’s prime minister’s office said in a statement on behalf of the Israeli intelligence agency. The delegation consisted of representatives of Israel’s military as well as Mossad and the ISA intelligence services.
Protests in Israel: 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.
