April 20, 2024 - News on the Middle East conflicts

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that security forces had killed 10 "terrorists" in an ongoing operation in Nur al-Shams, a refugee camp in Tulkarm, in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The IDF said eight of its soldiers and one Border Force officer were injured.

Palestinian reports: Earlier Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said five people had been killed during Israel's operation in Nur al-Shams. One of those killed was a child, according to Wafa, while the Palestinian health ministry said another was 16.

Wafa cited witnesses as saying the Israeli military was withholding the "bodies of the victims and preventing ambulance crews from reaching them."

Bulldozers destroyed water and wastewater networks and caused electricity outages, according to Wafa, while “dozens of youths” were detained.

The operation appears to be one of the largest in the West Bank since October 7. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday he discussed the “gravity” of the situation in Gaza with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and efforts to step up humanitarian aid to the enclave. 

Commenting on tensions between Israel and Iran, Shoukry said they are concerned about the ongoing escalation in the region and have called on both parties to exercise restraint. 

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to at least 34,049, following more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Saturday.

In the last 24 hours, 37 people have died and 68 have been injured following Israeli attacks, the ministry reported.

CNN cannot independently verify the ministry's casualty figures.

Five people have been killed during an offensive by the Israeli military in Nur al-Shams, a refugee camp in Tulkarm, in the north of the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the operation began Thursday night “to counter terrorism in Nur al-Shams; so far the forces have eliminated a number of terrorists, arrested a number of wanted persons, searched buildings and uncovered explosives.”

The operation appears to be one of the largest in the West Bank since October 7. 

Video obtained by CNN showed gunfire continuing Saturday morning, as well as further Israeli reinforcements moving towards the camp.

Wafa reported that one of those killed was a child, while the Palestinian Health Ministry said another was 16.

Wafa cited witnesses as saying that the Israeli military was withholding the "bodies of the victims and preventing ambulance crews from reaching them." CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the operation, including this claim.

Wafa reported that the military, after launching the offensive on Thursday night, surrounded Nur al-Shams, “deploying military vehicles on all axes leading to the camp and closing the main street amid the flying of reconnaissance aircraft in the area.”

Bulldozers destroyed water and wastewater networks and caused electricity outages, according to Wafa, while “dozens of youths” were detained.

The IDF said that its soldiers “eliminated a number of terrorists, arrested a number of wanted people, uncovered explosives and axis and searched buildings.”

Video obtained by CNN showed a number of young men being bundled into Israeli military vehicles.

The aftermath of the Israeli strikes in Iran left the world on edge as concerns of a potentially dangerous escalation of a fast-widening Middle East conflict continue to rise.

Here's the immediate response almost 24 hours after the strikes:

Here's what else happened:

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made no mention of Israel's Friday (local time) strike on Iran, while publicly lauding the unprecedented Iranian military operation last weekend targeting the "Israeli-occupied territories."

Iran's April 13 retaliatory strikes, part of an operation named "True Promise," were a display of Iran's military strength and a necessary act against what Raisi called the "illegal regime," he said Friday. 

Raisi described the strikes as "punitive reprisal" by the Iranian Armed Forces, aimed at demonstrating Iran's power and the resolve of its people. 

Remember: The April 1 strikes on Iran's embassy compound in Damascus demolished a building and left several dead, including two high-ranking generals.

Israel and the United States have said that Iran's lob of some 300 missiles had very little material impact and caused only one injury.

At least three people were wounded after five explosions rocked a military base belonging to an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, a local security official told CNN Saturday.

The blasts happened at a site belonging to the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), according to Muhannad al-Anazi, a member of the Security Committee in Babylon Governorate, south of the capital Baghdad.

There was no immediate indication as to the cause.

Israeli and US officials said neither was involved in the blast.

Read the full story here

Remember: The explosions near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad come one day after strikes against a military base in Isfahan, Iran. A US official told CNN that Israel was responsible for the strikes in Iran.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart on Friday, according to a readout from the Pentagon.

This comes one day after Israel carried out strikes in Iran. The readout makes no mention of the Israeli strikes, and the Biden administration has been tight-lipped following the actions. 

Austin and Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed “regional stability,” as well as the ongoing war in Gaza, according to the Pentagon.

Austin also spoke with Gallant on Thursday before the strikes took place. The readout of the earlier call had slightly more information, saying the two discussed “Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.”

In a previous call, Austin had asked Gallant for Israel to notify the US before taking any action in retaliation for a massive Iranian barrage fired at Israel last weekend.

The scope of Israel’s military response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the country remains murky. Israeli officials have yet to publicly acknowledge responsibility for reported overnight explosions in parts of Iran on Friday. Tehran has dismissed these as attacks by “tiny drones” that were shot down by its air defense systems.

Iran may be downplaying what was likely to have been a significant but limited Israeli attack, but that seems to be secondary to the larger forces at play. What is plain to see is that both Iran and Israel are keen to wrap up the most dangerous escalation between the two regional powerhouses to date.

This month’s dramatic escalation, which kicked off with an apparent Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, followed by a largely foiled Iranian attack of over 300 airborne weapons on Israel, seems to have given way to a rapid climbdown. Shortly after the Friday morning attack in Iran, a regional intelligence source told CNN that Iran was not expected to respond further, and that the direct state-to-state strikes between the two enemy states were over.

The latest flare-up brought the stakes into sharp focus, but it also exposed the limits of a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.

Remember: What happens between Iran and Israel rarely stays between Iran and Israel. The region is deeply intertwined. That heightens the risks of military action, but it also acts as guardrails against a potential conflagration. So when US officials said last weekend that Washington would not participate in an Israeli response to Iran’s attack on Israel, that seemed to immediately take the wind out of the sails of a potential escalation.