April 16, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry accused Israel of actively obstructing its efforts to collect evidence from victims and first-hand witnesses of Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

The UN Commission of Inquiry has been collecting evidence of war crimes committed by all sides in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since October 7, 2023.

The commissioner appealed to the Israeli government to cooperate and urged victims and witnesses to the events in southern Israel to contact the commission. “We have contact with many, but we would like to have contact with more,” Sidoti said.

CNN has reached out to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

The United States will be going to Israel with new information from a Washington Post report that contradicts the results of an Israeli investigation into the death of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was found dead in Gaza in February.

"What we're going to do is take the information that is contained in that Washington Post story, we're going to go back to the government of Israel and ask them for further information,” Matthew Miller, State Department spokesperson, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

Miller said the report contradicts what Israel told the US, that “there were no IDF units in the area at the time of her death.”

The US called on Israel to investigate Rajab’s death in February, and Miller now says the US “would still welcome a full investigation into this matter, and how it occurred in the first place.”

More: Rajab was found dead after being trapped in a car with members of her family who were reportedly shot to death by Israeli forces weeks prior. Rescue workers dispatched to find her were also reportedly shot and killed.

The United States is continuing to review the findings of the Israeli investigation into the deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. 

The United States is “not at this time” calling for an independent investigation, Miller said. He said he did not have a timetable for when its assessment will be completed.

The US will restrict the movements of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his delegation while they are in New York this week, a source familiar told CNN.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had earlier indicated that the US would place additional travel restrictions on the minister, who will be in New York for a meeting at the United Nations.

According to the source familiar, Amir-Abdollahian and the Iranian delegation’s travel is restricted to the seven blocks north-south and one block west surrounding the UN headquarters in Manhattan, the Iranian Mission to the UN, the residence of their permanent representative to the UN, the six blocks surrounding Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City, and access to John F. Kennedy International Airport using a specific driving route.

Iran's response: Iran has not been notified of any additional restrictions on the movements of Amir-Abdollahian and the country's delegation while they are in New York, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN told CNN.

The spokesperson explained that the movements of Amir-Abdollahian and the delegation, including diplomats from the Iranian Mission to the UN, have always been restricted to a 25-mile radius surrounding UN headquarters in Manhattan.

The post was updated with a response from the Iranian mission.

After Iran closed its nuclear facilities on Sunday for "security considerations," Rafael Grossi, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, told CNN that its inspectors are back in the facilities and the "situation seems to be business as usual."

He also noted that the situation was "extremely tense" over the weekend.

Israel’s war cabinet met again on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s response to Iran’s drone and missile attack.

Grossi said the IAEA believes that in times of conflict, the targeting of nuclear facilities "could be perhaps tempting for a military decision-maker — It will be a terrible mistake with potentially very serious consequences."

He added that he does not have "any information or any indication that there is planning on the part of Israel or any other state to be targeting nuclear facilities." Grossi said the agency is still on alert and that "there should be extreme restraint on everybody's side." 

Iran has long held that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes, despite skepticism from the international community.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Treasury would use its sanctions authority and work with allies to "continue disrupting the Iranian regime's malign and destabilizing activity."

 Speaking in a news conference in Washington, DC, Yellen said:

Her comments Tuesday come as global finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Washington for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.

Sources in Washington told CNN they expect Israel's response to Iran's retaliatory strikes on Sunday to be limited in scope, as US officials seek to minimize the threat of a wider regional war.

In Gaza, Israeli attacks have killed at least 46 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health there reported on Tuesday, raising the total death toll to 33,843 people.

Here are the latest developments:

The US Navy has spent nearly $1 billion on munitions to thwart “over 130 direct attacks” on US military and merchant ships in the Middle East over the past six months, the US Navy Secretary said Tuesday.

US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro urged lawmakers on Tuesday to pass the supplemental national security package to replenish munitions.

“The munitions that are critical to these counterstrikes are extremely important to the Department of the Navy," Del Toro said.

"We currently have approaching $1 billion in munitions that we need to replenish at some point in time. So therefore, the over $2 billion that’s provided for in the supplemental is direly critical to our Navy and Marine Corps to be able to replenish those munitions and continue to provide the types of defensive measures that we have this past six and a half months now.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken with his Iranian counterpart President Ebrahim Raisi about regional tensions in the Middle East, after Tehran launched retaliatory strikes from its soil directly on Israel for the first time.

The Kremlin described an “aggravated situation," after Israel and its allies intercepted missiles released by Iran over the weekend. Tehran said the attack was in response to a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, Syria, earlier this month.

Putin “expressed the hope that all parties will show reasonable restraint and will not allow a new round of confrontation, fraught with catastrophic consequences for the entire region.”

“In turn, Ebrahim Raisi noted that Iran’s actions were forced and limited in nature. At the same time, he emphasized Tehran’s disinterest in further escalation of tensions,” the Kremlin added.