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April 17, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

By Kathleen Magramo, Antoinette Radford and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, April 18, 2024
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2:43 a.m. ET, April 17, 2024

It's morning in the Middle East. Here's what you should know

From CNN staff

The United States will impose new sanctions targeting Tehran after Iran's large-scale attack on Israel over the weekend, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Most of the 300 projectiles, the majority of which are believed to have been launched from inside of Iran’s territory, were intercepted by Israel and its allies. Iran said it attacked Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its diplomatic compound in Syria.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

Here are the latest developments in the region:

  • Israel weighs response: Israel’s war cabinet ended their fifth meeting to discuss a response to Iran’s attack without a conclusion. They are reviewing military and diplomatic options. The US expects Israel’s reaction will be limited in scope, sources told CNN. Regional leaders and allies of Israel have called for restraint.
  • Iraq denies involvement: Israel said some of Iran's weekend strikes were launched from Iraq, but Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has denied it to CNN.
  • UN restricts Iran FM: 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 told CNN. 

  • Refugee camp killings: In Gaza, a strike targeting the Al-Maghazi refugee camp killed at least 13 people, including seven children, according to hospital officials.
  • Cost of war: The US Navy said it had 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.
  • Crossborder fire: The Israeli military said it had killed three Hezbollah fighters, including two commanders, in airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
  • Child’s death in focus: The US 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 in Gaza.
  • Probe problems: A UN Commission of Inquiry has accused Israel of actively obstructing its efforts to collect evidence from victims and first-hand witnesses of Hamas’ attacks in Israel on October 7.
  • Airdrops continue: The US military airdropped more aid into Gaza, this time of about 25,300 meal equivalents. Humanitarian organizations have warned that airdrops are "good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid."
2:37 a.m. ET, April 17, 2024

Prime minister denies strikes on Israel launched from Iraqi territory

From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani listens as US President Joe Biden (not pictured) speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on April 15, in Washington, DC.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani listens as US President Joe Biden (not pictured) speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on April 15, in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Israel said some of Iran's missiles on Saturday were launched from Iraq, but Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani denied it to CNN Tuesday.

"It was not proven to us through the military reports we've received that any missiles or any drones were launched from Iraq," al-Sudani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview on Tuesday.
"Certainly, our position is clear; we do not allow any non-governmental body to use Iraq to bring it back into the battle. We have been taking the legal procedures to keep Iraq safe and to distance Iraq away from the conflict arena," al Sudani added.

Al-Sudani spoke with Amanpour from Washington, D.C., after he met with US President Joe Biden on Monday. Both leaders discussed the importance of de-escalating tensions in the Middle East.

11:43 p.m. ET, April 16, 2024

US to impose new sanctions on Iran in the coming days, national security adviser says

From CNN's Donald Judd

The United States will impose new sanctions targeting Tehran after Iran's attack on Israel over the weekend.

“Following Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel, President Biden is coordinating with allies and partners, including the G7, and with bipartisan leaders in Congress, on a comprehensive response,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a statement.

“In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Defense Ministry. We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions.” 

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier Tuesday that the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

“From this weekend’s attack to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers," she said at a news conference.

In addition to new sanctions, Sullivan said, the administration will “continue to work through the Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command to further strengthen and expand the successful integration of air and missile defense and early warning systems across the Middle East to further erode the effectiveness of Iran’s missile and UAV capabilities.”
11:37 p.m. ET, April 16, 2024

Israel's sense of reason has been replaced by revenge, new Irish prime minister says

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy

Taoiseach Simon Harris appears on CNN on Tuesday, April 16.
Taoiseach Simon Harris appears on CNN on Tuesday, April 16. CNN

Ireland's newly appointed prime minister told CNN that Israel's sense of reason has been "replaced by revenge" as he addressed recent tensions between the Israeli and Irish governments.  

In his first television interview since being appointed last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris hit back at recent criticisms from the Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich, accusing the country of being "on the wrong side of history" when it comes to the war in Gaza. 

"Excuse me for finding it a little bit hard to see where the representative of the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government is talking about being on the wrong side because I think the actions of the Netanyahu government right now, in terms of allowing this humanitarian catastrophe to unfold in Gaza, and the impact on women, children, civilians and civilian infrastructure is profound," Harris told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. 
Harris went on to say that "Ireland is extraordinarily clear in its condemnation of Hamas ... and of the right of Israel to be able to live in safety and security. But we also believe that reason has now been replaced by revenge."

The prime minister doubled down on his call for "an immediate cessation of hostilities" in Gaza and his plan to convince fellow European Union leaders to formally recognize the state of Palestine. Harris stated that a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza "involves a number of countries that are like-minded coming together to recognize the state of Palestine." 

The Israeli foreign ministry has condemned Ireland's intention to recognize Palestinian statehood, maintaining in a news release last week that doing so would be awarding Hamas a "prize for terrorism."

11:36 p.m. ET, April 16, 2024

IDF says its airstrikes in Lebanon killed 3 Hezbollah fighters

From CNN's Eugenia Yosef and Mohammed Tawfeeq

The Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes killed three Hezbollah fighters, including two commanders, in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. 

Muhammad Hussein Shahouri, "the Commander of the Rockets and Missiles Unit of Radwan Forces' Western Region," was killed in an airstrike in Kfar Dounine in south Lebanon, an IDF statement said.

"As part of his role, Muhammad planned and promoted rocket and missile launches toward Israeli territory from the areas of Lebanon's central and western regions." 

Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, "an operative of Hezbollah's Rockets and Missiles Unit," was also killed in the same airstrike, the IDF added.

Earlier, the IDF said in a separate statement that its airstrike killed Ismail Youssef Bazz, "the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector, in the area of Ain Ebel in Lebanon," in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of its three fighters without providing details on the circumstances of their deaths or ranks. 

11:35 p.m. ET, April 16, 2024

At least 13 people killed, including 7 children, after strike on Gaza's Al-Maghazi refugee camp

From CNN's Mohammad Al-Sawalhi in Gaza, CNN’s Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Zeena Saifi in Jerusalem

At least 13 people were killed, including seven children, after a strike targeted the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials.

Graphic video obtained exclusively by CNN from eyewitness Nihad Owdetallah shows several casualties scattered on the floor, including children, with blood streaming around the area.

Dozens of people appear to be running around in panic, screaming and trying to count and carry the dead bodies. A foosball table covered in dust is seen among the dead bodies. 

Owdetallah, who lives in the camp, told CNN he heard an explosion at around 3:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday. 

"I immediately walked to see what happened and found dead bodies thrown on the ground. People screaming, kids screaming. Kids dead on the ground. They were just playing foosball, and they were martyred," he said.

Footage shot for CNN from inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital shows a continuous flow of causalities and injured people being ushered in, as the emergency room is crowded with patients, including several wounded children, crying out on the floor.

Video from inside a morgue at the hospital shows families trying to identify their loved ones among the deceased. Fatmeh Issa points to a white body bag with a young boy’s bloodied face exposed, telling CNN, "This is my son."

Another man cries out, “They have nothing to do with anyone! They are civilians. Have mercy on us. You are killing children. You are not killing an army or fighters; you are killing children who were peacefully playing in the street."

Read the full story.

11:34 p.m. ET, April 16, 2024

Analysis: Can Netanyahu avoid triggering a regional war?

From CNN's Nic Robertson

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on July 5, 2023.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on July 5, 2023. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images/File

Israel, aided by its allies, dodged a bullet Sunday.

To be more precise, 60 tons of explosives aboard more than 350 Iranian projectiles, some bigger than a family car, failed to dodge Israel’s defenses.

Yet Israel, in defiance of US President Joe Biden’s warnings to “take the win” and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s threat of a “severe, extensive and painful” response to any retaliation, is contemplating just that.

Deterrence, shorthand for “meanest S.O.B. in the room,” Israel believes, is the cornerstone of its survival. Iran is stealing that brick.

When faced with existential threats in the past, Israel has executed the most audacious raids the region has ever witnessed. The point is that Israel won’t telegraph its attack plans as Iran did at the weekend.

Aside from the core members of Israel’s war cabinet, more than a dozen other people have sat at the table deep inside the Kirya, Israel’s maximum security defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, thrashing out their next move.

Netanyahu’s next move will likely try to lock in sanctions and strike before negative Gaza headlines dump the international goodwill filling his sails.

The clock is ticking. He needs two things: time to prepare a significant surprise strike and time to coalesce international diplomacy. As both march to different beats, his legendary political acumen faces one of its stiffest tests yet.

Netanyahu is famed as a political survivor. But now he faces the biggest gamble of his career. He is betting the blood of his nation over Iran’s read of his rift with America.

Read the full analysis.