April 23, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

An Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Hanine in Lebanon targeted a house, killing at least two people and injuring six others, according to state-run media NNA.

A woman and her 11-year-old niece were killed and at least six others were wounded, NNA reported. 

The incident happened on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. local time when the two-story house of Ahmad Ali Khashakesh in Hanine was struck with two rockets, according to NNA.

CNN reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the incident.  

Earlier Tuesday, the IDF announced that fighter jets struck Hezbollah military positions in the area of Markaba in southern Lebanon. Also on Tuesday, the IDF said it had “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.”

Nirmine Moussa said her children will never get used to the sound of Israeli strikes raining down on Gaza. The Palestinian mother was left homeless after her house in the north was destroyed in the early days of the war.  

After 200 days since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, Palestinians who spoke to CNN by phone say they feel exhausted by a war that has wiped out families and turned once-lively neighborhoods into rubble-filled wastelands.  

“Have I even survived without my father, without my house, without everything?” said Maram Faraj, 26, a writer displaced in the coastal town of Al-Mawasi. “Will I be the next genocide victim? If so, will my family be able to identify my body?” 

Raed Redwan, who is in the southern city of Rafah, said he is homeless and afraid. The teacher and academic said he has been living on the streets for more than six months, with no access to electricity or running water.  

US military vessels are in the Mediterranean region and “standing by” and prepared to begin construction on the temporary pier off the coast of Gaza when given the order to do so, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday. 

He also said the United States was “positioned to begin construction very soon, in the near future.”

Currently, officials are working through a checklist of processes and procedures, including security on the ground, coordination with partners supporting this effort and drawing up a timeline for implementation, Ryder said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will support the distribution of aid from the pier following weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the organization said Saturday.

The temporary pier, which will be several miles off the coast of Gaza, will receive both military and civilian vessels, Ryder added. The aid brought by those vessels will then be transported from the pier by US military vessels to the causeway, where non-military trucks — driven by non-profit organization personnel — will take the aid and then distribute it into Gaza.

Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of Hamas’ military wing Al Qassam Brigades, urged continued attacks on Israel in his first video message in more than six weeks on Tuesday, marking 200 days of the Israel-Hamas war.

He also praised Iran's unprecedented strikes on Israel earlier this month, saying the attack's "size and nature, established new rules and confused the enemy's calculations." Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile attack at Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria. The Israeli military said 99% of the more than 300 projectiles fired were intercepted.

Abu Obaida also slammed Israel's role in the hostage release and ceasefire negotiations, saying Israel is "trying to renounce all his promises" and wants to "gain more time." Israel and the US have blamed Hamas for holding up negotiations by making unreasonable demands.

Jordan has conducted an airdrop of humanitarian and relief aid into Gaza on Tuesday, according to Jordanian state news agency Petra.

The Jordanian Armed Forces conducted seven airdrops to multiple sites in northern Gaza, and said they would continue sending humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza through airdrops, ground convoys and through the Marka airport in Amman to Egypt's Al-Arish International Airport.

Jordan has conducted 87 airdrops into Gaza and took part in 209 international airdrops since October 7, according to Petra.

Petra reported that Tuesday's aid drop was conducted along with the US, Egypt and Germany.

"Focus on Gaza:" As tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran appear to have concluded, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told CNN, "The focus should remain on Gaza," as the strip edges towards famine.

An Israeli attack on Iranian territory would have serious consequences and result in there being "nothing left" of Israel, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

Raisi's comments were made on the second of his three-day official visit to Pakistan, at a university in Punjab province.

Raisi warned that if Israel "commits another mistake and violates the sovereignty of the holy Iranian lands, the situation will be different."

The warning came after Israel on Friday carried out a military strike inside Iran, a US official told CNN, although Israel has not officially claimed the attack. Officials in Tehran have sought to play down the Friday morning strike on Iran, as tensions simmer from a significant escalation between the regional powerhouses.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued a warning to people in parts of the area of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. 

Identifying several blocks from its map of Gaza, the IDF warns: “You are in a dangerous combat zone. The IDF will work with extreme force against terrorist infrastructure and subversive elements in the region.”

The IDF called on residents to evacuate and "head towards the known shelters in Blocks No. 1770, 1766" in the west and south of the city.

It’s unclear how many people would receive the warning, given the sporadic nature of electricity and connectivity in northern Gaza.

Reports from journalists in Gaza speak of artillery bombardments and air strikes in the north and renewed airstrikes in Zeitoun in central Gaza.

Qatar is yet to decide whether it will shut Hamas’ office in Doha, Qatar's capital, as it questions both the Palestinian militant group and Israel’s commitment to reach a hostage-ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Qatar has come under pressure from Israel and US politicians over its links with the Palestinian militant group. But it said on Tuesday that there won’t be a need to shut the Hamas political bureau in Doha provided that communication channels remain open.

“We are calling on both sides to show more flexibility and seriousness in the negotiations,” Ansari said.

Stalled talks: Meetings between negotiators in Qatar have stopped amid a deadlock in the months-long indirect talks between Hamas and Israel. The lack of progress, coupled with criticism of Qatar’s relationship with Hamas, has pushed Doha to reconsider its role as an interlocutor in the stagnant negotiations.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has “successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast.”

Sirens sounded in the city of Acre for the first time since December.

Hezbollah said that “in response to the Israeli aggression on the town of Adloun and the assassination of one of our mujahideen brothers,” it had launched an attack on the command headquarters of the Golan Brigade and the Eguz 621 unit near Acre.

Earlier, Hezbollah had acknowledged the death of a senior operative, Hussein Ali Azkul. The IDF said it had killed Azkul, whom it described as “a significant terrorist operative in Hezbollah's Aerial Defense Unit” in southern Lebanon.

There are no reports of damage or casualties from the Hezbollah attack.