April 1, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza has moved here.

Japan has lifted its funding suspension of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa said Tuesday.

Israel has accused at least 12 staffers from the UN Relief and Works Agency of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks and has alleged that about 12% of the UN Relief and Works Agency’s 13,000 staffers are members of Hamas or other Palestinian militant groups. UNRWA says it has fired 10 of the 12 accused staffers and that the other two are dead. CNN cannot confirm the allegations.

Japan’s move came after a meeting on Saturday between Kamikawa and Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of UNRWA.

In the meeting, Lazzarini laid out the steps the agency was taking to “improve screening and education to ensure neutrality of UNRWA staff,” according to a statement from Japan’s foreign ministry on Saturday.

UNRWA also agreed to establish a new framework with Japan on project management and monitoring to ensure “transparency and traceability of projects,” the ministry added.

Some background: UNRWA is the primary humanitarian aid group in Gaza. Some 2 million Gazans rely on the agency for aid, with 1 million people using UNRWA shelters for food and healthcare amid the fighting in the enclave.

An Australian is among members of the aid organization World Central Kitchen who were killed in Gaza, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

“Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom was doing extraordinarily valuable work. This is someone who volunteered in Australia to help people during the bushfires. This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza,” Albanese said.
“Australia expects full accountability for the deaths of aid workers, which is completely unacceptable,” Albanese said. 

Australia has contacted Israel, Albanese said, adding that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has “requested a call-in from the Israeli ambassador to Australia” to “ask for accountability.”

“The truth is that this is beyond beyond any reasonable circumstances that someone going about providing aid and humanitarian assistance should lose their life. And there were four aid workers as well as a Palestinian driver in this vehicle,” Albanese said.

The prime minister sent his deepest condolences to her family.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has blamed Israel for Monday’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, but also said that the United States was responsible for it because it supports Israel.

The top diplomat’s comments underscore the increasing strain between Tehran and Washington, with Iran pointing fingers at the US for its support of Israel.

Conveying the stern message in a post on X, Amir-Abdollahian said the Swiss chargé d’affaires in Tehran was summoned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry early Tuesday to discuss the incident, given Switzerland’s role in representing US interests in Iran.

“The dimensions of the Israeli regime’s terrorist attack and crime were explained, and the American administration’s responsibility underlined” in the meeting, the minister said.
“An important message was relayed to the American administration as the Zionist regime’s supporter,” he added. “The United States should be answerable.”

Some background: The Israel Defense Forces hasn’t commented publicly on the strike that Iran said killed two commanders and several others. But IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari disputed that the building was a consulate. “This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus,” he said. Separately, The New York Times reported that four unnamed Israeli officials acknowledged that Israel carried out the attack.

At least five people working with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) have been killed in Gaza, WCK founder José Andrés told CNN on Monday, without giving specific details.

“We are aware of reports that members of the World Central Kitchen team have been killed in an IDF attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza. This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER. We will share more information when we have gathered all the facts,” WCK said in a separate statement.

Videos obtained by CNN show the bodies of multiple people wearing apparent WCK vests after an airstrike hit Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces said it is “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

Among the deceased were found a British passport, a Polish passport, and an Australian passport.

CNN has reached out to the various foreign ministries – but has not yet received a response.

Iran is accusing Israel of killing two senior commanders in a strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria. Tehran promised a “decisive” response to the strike. The attack may be the most dangerous escalation outside of Gaza since the start of the Hamas-Israel war nearly six months ago.

The New York Times reported that four unnamed Israeli officials acknowledged that Israel carried out the attack. CNN cannot verify the report and has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

The military hasn’t commented publicly on the strike, but IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, disputed that the building was a consulate. “According to our intelligence, this is no consulate and this is no embassy,” he said. “This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”

The Quds Force is a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for foreign operations.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter. The transaction would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the country went to war with Hamas on October 7.

Here’s what else to know:

Israel’s treatment of detainees: The Israel Defense Forces told CNN on Monday that those detained in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza during a 14-day operation are being “treated in accordance with international law.” Al-Shifa medical workers have said that staff were forced to strip naked, and that one staff representative was left “half naked for three hours” before being allowed to talk.

Ambulances face hurdles in reaching Al-Shifa: Ambulances trying to reach Al-Shifafollowing the withdrawal of Israeli troops are finding it “almost impossible because of the damaged roads,” Gaza’s Civil Defense tells CNN. “Right now, we are putting out fires, retrieving bodies of martyrs and moving the injured. But unfortunately, the ambulances can’t reach the hospital because of the problems on the road,” Director of Operations Raed al-Dahshan told CNN.

The UN will also try to reach Al-Shifa: The United Nations is planning a mission to Al-Shifa Hospital as soon as it is “allowed to help people receive medical attention and to assess the facility,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday.

Hamas leader’s sister arrested in Israel: Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the sister of the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has been arrested in Israel on suspicion of terror offenses. She is accused of “having contact with Hamas operatives” and “inciting and supporting acts of terrorism in Israel,” according to Israeli police.

US pushed for alternatives to Rafah ground offensive: Senior US and Israeli officials met virtually to discuss potential military operations in Rafah on Monday. The White House said there was no breakthrough, but that conversations will continue over the coming weeks.

In other news:

This post has been updated with the New York Times report about the Damascus attack.

A journalist working for CNN said the scene at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital on Monday “feels like a horror movie” after Israeli forces withdrew, ending their two-week siege of the facility.

Here’s what the hospital complex looked like a few months ago:

Here’s what it looked like today:

The Biden administration has yet to see operational plans from the Israeli government detailing what a major military operation into Rafah would look like, including how Israel would try to protect the more than 1 million civilians in that area, US officials tells CNN on the heels of a virtual meeting of senior American and Israeli officials Monday.

Senior US officials have been steadfast in their public warnings in recent weeks that Israel must not expand its military operations into southern Gaza without an executable plan to protect the many civilians who are currently sheltering in Rafah.

The fact that the US has yet to be presented with a detailed blueprint on how Israel would conduct such an operation makes it clear that if Israeli forces were to move forward with a ground incursion into Rafah at this time, Israel would be crossing the so-called “red line” that President Joe Biden warned about recently.

CNN previously reported that in Monday’s meeting, the two delegations discussed the situation in Rafah and that US officials presented to their Israeli counterparts alternatives to a major ground operation into southern Gaza.

The Russian Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus in a statement published on its website Monday.

“We consider any attacks on diplomatic and consular facilities to be categorically unacceptable, the inviolability of which is guaranteed by the relevant Vienna Conventions,” the ministry said, adding that “such aggressive actions by Israel are absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped.”

Iran has blamed Israel for Monday’s attack. When asked if Israel was involved, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that Israel won’t comment on the attack but believes the Iranian building that was struck is a “military building of Quds forces,” with his a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

CNN cannot independently verify the claims from either country.

In other reactions:

This post has been updated with Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia’s responses.

Al Jazeera on Monday condemned the Israeli decision to temporarily close down the network in Israel and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to provide any legitimate evidence to support his claims of its involvement in the October 7 attack.

The Qatar-based outlet accused Netanyahu of resorting to “inflammatory slanders” that jeopardized not only the reputation of Al Jazeera but also the safety and rights of its employees worldwide.

“Al Jazeera holds the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for the safety of its staff and Network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful manner,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

Here’s more reaction:

The attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday may be the most dangerous escalation outside of Gaza since the start of the Hamas-Israel war nearly six months ago.

The attack is the latest in a recent string of apparent Israeli strikes in Syria that targeted the IRGC and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. So far, the attacks have not provoked a response outside the scope of months-long skirmishes on Israel’s border with Lebanon — despite repeated threats by Iran and Hezbollah’s leadership to respond to Israeli attacks in kind.

Monday’s incident, however, may be the last straw.

Iran’s regional allies say they entered confrontations with Israel on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza, where over 32,000 people have been killed, according to local authorities. This has boosted their regional popularity and shored up their political positions domestically. But they have sought to avoid an all-out conflagration, a relief to Washington, which has thrown its weight into preventing a regional war.

That may be an untenable position after today’s strike, which has again brought the region to the brink of an expanded war.

Biden administration officials had “no expectation” for a breakthrough with Israeli officials on the strategy for a potential ground operation in Rafah, a US official tells CNN. 

Officials from both countries participated in a two-and-a-half-hour virtual meeting on Monday. It was led by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, according to a senior administration official.

The White House sees the meeting as a series of conversations between the allies that will continue over the coming weeks. “It’s not the end-all, be-all,” the official told CNN.

During the meeting, US officials pressed their Israeli counterparts for what they see as a “better alternative” to a major ground invasion into Rafah, US officials told CNN. Still, there is acknowledgment that it will ultimately be up to the Israelis to decide how to proceed with their military operation, the officials said.

Monday’s talks come after working-level conversations between the two countries and a meeting between Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, last week. Following that visit, the Pentagon said Austin had stressed that Israel “should not proceed without a credible and implementable plan that ensures the safety of and humanitarian support for civilians sheltering” in the southern city.

The Biden administration has communicated its strong desire for alternatives to a major military operation — or an operation as targeted as possible — in Rafah, where more than a million Gazans have sought refuge, a US official said.

This post has been updated with new details about the meeting.

The Biden administration is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The transaction, which would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the country went to war with Hamas on October 7, comes as the administration is also expected to notify Congress soon of a large new sale of precision-guided munitions to Israel, the people said.

The new sales of some of the US’ most sophisticated weaponry underscore the extent to which the US continues to support Israel militarily, even as Biden administration officials criticize Israel’s operations in Gaza, which have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians since October, according to the Gaza Ministry of health.

The sale is likely to be hotly debated in Congress, particularly by members of the president’s party. US weapons sales to Israel have come under intense scrutiny in recent months and Democratic lawmakers have called for restricting military aid to Israel until it allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza and does more to protect civilians there.

Since Hamas’ attack on Israel in October, which killed over 1,200 Israelis, the United States has made more than 100 foreign military sales to Israel. Most of those have fallen under the specific dollar amount that requires a notification to Congress, an official familiar with the matter previously told CNN.

Iran promised a “decisive” response after a deadly strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, that it blamed on Israel.

Remember: Iranian ambassador in Damascus, Hossein Akbari, accused Israel of the attacks, alleging that the building “was targeted with six missiles from Israeli F-35 warplanes.” Syrian state media Syrian Arab News Agency also reported that “an Israeli act of aggression targeted on Monday afternoon a building in Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus,” causing “massive destruction.” CNN cannot independently verify the claims.

Akbari said Israel’s attack was “against all international laws” and Iran “will be decisive in our response.”

Seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp officials were killed in the attack, including senior Iranian commanders Mohammed Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, according to an IRGC statement.

“This is perhaps the first time that the Zionist regime allows itself to attack an official building of the Islamic Republic of Iran embassy, which had the flag of the Islamic Republic raised on top of it,” he claimed.
“Iran preserves the right to take reciprocal measures and will decide the type of response and punishment against the aggressor,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said, according to IRGC-affiliated Fars News.

Israel response: The Israeli military would not comment on the Damascus strike, but a military spokesperson added:

“According to our intelligence, this is no consulate and this is no embassy. I repeat, this is no consulate and this is no embassy. This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an interview with CNN.

The post was updated with a comment from an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson.

Seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) officials were killed in the attack on Damascus, including senior Iranian commanders Mohammed Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, according to an official IRGC statement.

Haji Rahimi was named as the second commander killed in the attack on Iran’s consulate building in the Syrian capital, according to the statement shared by state news agency IRNA on Monday night.

Haji Rahimi was reportedly a coordinator for the Quds Force, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News.

The IRGC statement also named five other officials who were killed:

That brings the total death toll to at least seven people. 

Israel’s parliament approved a law on Monday that would allow the government to temporarily shut down the Al Jazeera news network in Israel.

The law gives the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to order the closure of foreign networks operating temporarily in Israel that are deemed a threat to national security.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intends “to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity,” according to a post on X.

CNN reached out to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera for comment.

Separately, the United States said it will “continue to make clear” to Israel that it supports “the work that the free press does,” including Al Jazeera, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

“We think the work that the independent free press does is important everywhere in the world, and much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs, including reporters from Al Jazeera,” Miller said Monday.

A top commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been killed in an airstrike on the country’s consulate building in Damascus, Syria, according to Iranian officials and state-affiliated media, which blamed Israel for the attack.

Iranian Quds Force commander Mohammed Reza Zahedi was among those killed in the incident on Monday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Iranian ambassador Hossein Akbari alleged that the building “was targeted with six missiles from Israeli F-35 warplanes.”

“Between five and seven people were killed in the attack. I was in my office in the embassy at the time and witnessed the destruction myself,” Akbari said.

Akbari added that Iranian diplomatic staff and military advisers were killed in the attack, and their names will be announced later. In a separate interview later on Monday, he said two Syrian policemen were among the people injured.

CNN cannot independently verify the claims or casualty figures. 

Syrian state media Syrian Arab News Agency also reported that “an Israeli act of aggression targeted on Monday afternoon a building in Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus,” causing “massive destruction.”

Asked for comment on the incident by CNN, the Israel Defense Forces said it does not comment on foreign reports. Footage of the aftermath of the blast, published by Iranian state media Press TV, showed damage to the building, fire and smoke at the scene.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Syria also accused Israel of authoring the attack, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian calling it a “violation of all international obligations and conventions” and demanding a “serious response by the international community. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad described the alleged attack a “gross violation of international regulations, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” according to a readout of his call with Amir-Abdollahian.

Zahedi, the slain commander, was previously the commander of IRGC’s ground forces, the commander of IRGC’s air force, and the deputy commander of the IRGC’s operations.

This post was updated with more details on the casualties in Damascus.

The United Nations is planning a mission to Al-Shifa Hospital as soon as it is “allowed to help people receive medical attention and to assess the facility,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday.

The announcement comes after Israel ended its 14-day siege on Gaza’s largest hospital on Monday.

At least 300 bodies have been uncovered there so far, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, and one witness described the destructive aftermath as like a scene from a “horror movie.” 

The United Nations also said a WHO team visited the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza on Sunday when a tent camp inside the compound was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

On Sunday, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs, called for attempts to sideline the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — to stop.

He called UNRWA “the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza” and added in his post on X that “any effort to distribute aid without them is simply doomed to fail.” He added, “No other agency has the same reach, experience or community trust needed to do the job.”

Media reports of the aftermath of Israel’s operation inside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza demonstrate “the need for Israel to have a sustainable long-term strategy” for the aftermath of the war, the United States State Department said Monday.

“They need to have a long-term sustainable strategy that is not just a security strategy, but also a political strategy if they really want to secure the future of Israel against the terrorist threat that has to date emanated from Gaza,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller at a press briefing Monday.

Miller elaborated that the US still has not seen such a plan from Israel.

Witnesses and Palestinian officials say the Israeli operation left buildings largely destroyed and bodies strewn across the hospital complex. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed its withdrawal Monday, saying its troops had killed Hamas militants, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.

Miller also said that while the US “generally” does not want to see Israel operating in hospitals inside Gaza, “it is concerning that after Israel had conducted an operation earlier in this campaign to clear Al-Shifa that Al-Shifa again was apparently infiltrated by Hamas fighters.”

“It would be great if Hamas would stop hiding behind civilians and stop hiding inside civilian infrastructure,” he added.

The White House confirmed that senior US and Israeli officials are meeting virtually today as the Biden administration works to dissuade the Israeli government from a large military incursion into Gaza’s densely populated city of Rafah. 

“We’ve been very clear about our concerns about a military operation into Rafah,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday, adding that there will be a readout of the meeting. “If they’re going to move forward with a military operation we have to have this conversation. We have to understand how they’re going to move forward.”

The officials are also going to discuss “alternative ways of going after Hamas,” she said. “I think it’s important that it happen as quickly as it did even though it’s virtual. And we’ll certainly have more to share.”

It is taking place after a previously scheduled meeting was called off by the Israeli government after the US declined to block a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Meanwhile tomorrow: President Joe Biden is expected to host a significantly scaled down iftar dinner at the White House on Tuesday to commemorate Ramadan, three sources familiar with the plans tell CNN. Several people who were invited to the dinner have declined, sources said, citing frustration with the administration’s support of Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, senior White House aides, and less than dozen invited guests are expected to attend the small gathering, a senior administration official said. Officials are hoping that the dinner will provide an opportunity for the guests to directly speak with the president and share their concerns about the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a senior administration official. 

CNN’s Khalil Abdallah, Camila DeChalus, and Betsy Klein contributed reporting to this post.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN on Monday that those detained in Al-Shifa hospital during the military raid are being “treated in accordance with international law.”

When asked to respond to Al-Shifa medical staff complaints that staff were forced to strip naked, and that one staff representative was left “half naked for three hours before allowed to talk,” the IDF responded: “It is often necessary for terror suspects to hand over their clothes such that their clothes can be searched and to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry.” The IDF said detainees were given back their clothes “when possible to do so.”

The IDF claimed they were only detaining people they said were involved in terrorist activity, and releasing others who were not found to be involved. 

Israel’s claims come as the military withdraws from Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, after a 14-day siege that witnesses and Palestinian officials say has left buildings largely destroyed and bodies strewn across the complex. The IDF said Monday that its troops had killed Hamas militants, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents and that troops had done their “utmost” to keep civilians unharmed. 

But Gaza’s Civil Defense reported earlier that at least 300 bodies have been found so far at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The organization added that it was difficult to determine the exact number of people killed as Israeli forces had buried bodies inside and around the Al-Shifa complex and bulldozed nearby roads.

Israel has withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, after a 14-day siege that left buildings largely destroyed and hundreds of people dead.

This is what the devastation looks like in images:

The Al-Shifa Hospital complex suffered significant building destruction and bulldozing during the 14 day siege by the Israel Defense Forces, according to new satellite images from Maxar Technologies.

The images, taken on April 1, show that much of the area around the hospital complex in central Gaza City has been leveled. 

Inside the complex, most of the buildings have sustained damage: some have been completely destroyed, others are missing entire facades and roofs. 

The grounds of the entire hospital complex is now covered in a layer of bulldozed dirt. 

The Gaza Civil Defense said that at least 300 bodies have been found at the complex, so far. 

“Injured and dead bodies fill the hospital grounds,” Gaza Civil Defense captain Mahmoud Bassal told CNN on Monday, adding, “There are bodies buried in the hospital yards.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday claimed more than 200 militants had been killed in the hospital. The IDF has repeatedly claimed the Al-Shifa complex was being used by armed militants. 

Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care doctor with Doctors Without Borders, who has just returned from Gaza, told CNN on Monday that they are seeing a “massacre of human and civilian life” in the enclave.

Speaking to CNN from Amman, Jordan, Haj-Hassan said there have been many killings of civilians young and old.  

“We saw in the emergency department entire families being killed, maimed, dismembered, burned,” she said.  

Haj-Hassan recalled a story about a young boy whose entire family had been killed. She said the boy’s sister initially survived but was so badly burned and maimed that he was not able to recognize her.  

“He kept calling her name, he himself had half of his face blown off and is undergoing reconstructive surgery as we speak,” she said. “She (the sister) died two days later.” Haj-Hassan continued to say that the war has been documented in real time with videos from social media and was “ashamed to be a part of society that is allowing it to happen.”

“This is a demise of our collective humanity,” Haj-Hassan said. “I hope that that anybody with an awake conscience watching this hears these words and translates them into action,” she added.

The Israeli military has withdrawn from Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, following a 14-day siege.

Eyewitnesses described the aftermath of the hospital raid as “like a horror movie,” with one journalist saying: “I’m looking around me and I can’t believe what I see.”

This video shows the extent of the damage to the hospital:

Senior US and Israeli officials will meet virtually to discuss potential military operations in Rafah on Monday, a US official says. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be at the virtual meeting, according to a US official. National security adviser Jake Sullivan is leading the US side, while national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will lead for Israel, according to another US official and an Israeli official. There will also be representatives of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other Israeli security services present. The meeting is scheduled to last two hours. 

The US officials’ primary focus will be stressing “alternative ways” that the Biden administration believes Israel can achieve its goal of dismantling Hamas — without launching a significant military operation into southern Gaza, according to that official. That outcome, US officials have warned repeatedly, is certain to result in a huge number of additional civilian casualties and would be unacceptable to the Biden White House.

The two sides are still working toward an in-person meeting on the issue at some point, the official said. “We anticipate follow up meetings in person following additional work by expert teams,” an official said. 

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over the weekend in the largest protests Israel has seen since the start of the war against Hamas — a significant challenge to the increasingly embattled leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Demonstrators are angry at Netanyahu and his government for not having secured the release of all the hostages taken captive during the October 7 terror attack. While 105 people were released during a temporary truce last year, another 130 that were kidnapped are either dead or still being held by Hamas and other militant groups.

Banners at the protests called on the Prime Minister to resign and for Israel to hold new elections.

“You’ve failed,” one poster read. “Impeachment now,” read another.

Netanyahu has said that the goals of the current war against Hamas are to bring back the hostages, destroy Hamas and remake Gaza so that no militant group can ever carry out the type of attack that Israel suffered last year, in which about 1,200 people were killed.

Families of hostages among protesters: But the families of the hostages and demonstrators that came out over the weekend believe the Israeli government should be more focused on hostage retrieval than any military or security objectives.

Read more about the anti-government protests in Israel here.

Ambulances trying to reach Al-Shifa hospital following the withdrawal of Israeli troops on Monday are finding it “almost impossible because of the damaged roads,” Gaza’s Civil Defense tells CNN. 

“Right now, we are putting out fires, retrieving bodies of martyrs and moving the injured. But unfortunately, the ambulances can’t reach the hospital because of the problems on the road,” Raed al-Dahshan, Director of operations of Gaza Civil Defense told CNN.

Gaza’s Civil Defense reported earlier that at least 300 bodies have been found so far at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but added that it was difficult to determine the exact number of people killed as Israeli forces had buried bodies inside and around the Al-Shifa complex and bulldozed nearby roads. CNN is unable to independently verify these numbers because of lack of reporting access to the strip. 

Speaking in front of a burning building of the surrounding Al-Shifa hospital right before sunrise as people and rescue groups were still making their way to the complex, Al-Dahshan said they are working despite the limited resources.

“Al-Shifa hospital is completely burnt,” he said. “But we want to be close to our people to salvage what we can: put out the fires raging in house, stop the bleeding injuries and remove the decomposing bodies,” he added.

The sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been arrested in Israel on suspicion of terror offenses.

Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, the sister of the head of Hamas’s political bureau, is accused of “having contact with Hamas operatives” and “inciting and supporting acts of terrorism in Israel,” according to Israeli police.

While an Israeli police statement did not give the woman’s identity, an Israeli security source confirmed to CNN that the suspect, arrested early Monday morning, is Haniyeh’s sister. The 57-year-old was arrested at her home in the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva in southern Israel. She had been jointly investigated by Israeli police and the ISA, also known as Shin Bet or Shabak, Israel’s domestic security agency.

Israeli police said evidence “linking her to committing serious security offenses against the State of Israel” had been found during the raid on her home. Haniyeh was detained for questioning and will be brought before a judge with the request to extend her detention later on Monday.

Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, two weeks after it first launched an offensive on the facility.

Eyewitnesses to the aftermath of the raid described it as “like a horror movie,” with one journalist saying: “I’m looking around me and I can’t believe what I see.”

If you’re just joining us, here’s what to know:

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a briefing on Monday after they withdrew from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital.

Gallant expressed his appreciation to the IDF and Shin Bet personnel for their “determined and professional action” inside the medical complex. Describing the 14-day hospital siege as a “precise and deadly operation,” he said that fighters belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad had been taken by surprise with hundreds killed or captured.

“The terrorist base in Shifa has been eliminated,” Gallant said.

On Sunday — before the IDF withdrawal — the Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said 21 patients had died since the siege began on March 18 and dozens of patients were still trapped in the facility.

“107 patients are in an inadequate building, within the hospital compound, lacking needed health support, medical care and supplies,” he said. When Israeli forces surrounded the medical complex on March 18 the Ministry of Health in Gaza said about 3,000 people were sheltering in the area.

This post has been updated with more details on the number of people believed to have been sheltering in the area.

Medical service crews are working to recover hundreds of bodies “scattered” around the Al-Shifa medical complex, they said on Monday, as the scale of destruction emerges following the Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the besieged compound.

“What is happening here is a catastrophe in the truest sense of the word, against humanity and against the health system in the Gaza Strip,” said Fares Afanca, head of ambulance crews in Gaza city.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Palestine Initiative and director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society described a “massacre” with “hundreds of mutilated bodies of children, women and civilian men killed by the Israeli army.” One hundred and thirty “sick and injured people were found in terrible health condition, dehydrated, starving, with their wounds infected and covered with flies,” he continued.

Several decomposed and disfigured bodies partly buried beneath the rubble of what was once the structures of Gaza’s largest hospital can be seen in videos obtained by CNN.

CNN has asked the IDF to comment on accusations of crushing bodies. In a briefing Monday, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the IDF had distinguished between patients, medics and civilians sheltering at the medical complex and militants and had done its utmost to avoid civilian harm, reaffirming the 14-day siege was an “anti-terror” mission. According to the Civil Defense in Gaza on Monday, 300 bodies have been found at the Al-Shifa complex.

At least 300 bodies have been found so far at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City following the Israeli military’s withdrawal from the medical complex Monday, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense.  

“All those who called us for rescue requests earlier have passed away around the Shifa Complex,” Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement on Monday.

The organization said it was difficult to determine the exact number of people killed as Israeli forces had buried bodies inside and around the Al-Shifa complex and bulldozed nearby roads. CNN is unable to independently verify these numbers because of a lack of reporting access to the strip.  

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from Al-Shifa Monday following a 14-day siege of the facility. The Israeli military repeatedly said the Al-Shifa complex was being used by armed militants. CNN has reached out to the IDF on these numbers and have yet to hear back.  

Israel says its operations in and around the hospital were a “precise” anti-terror mission and said it had done its utmost to avoid civilian harm. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said more than 200 militants had been killed in the hospital.

More on the Al-Shifa operation: In a briefing Monday, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that 900 suspected militants had been detained in the two-week-long operation. More than 500 militants had been identified as members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hagari added, with some of those detained being “commanders and significant people.” He claimed Hamas and PIJ started regrouping in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and were using Al-Shifa as a base to rebuild.

Protests calling for the removal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have entered their second day Monday after thousands took to the streets of Jerusalem on Sunday.

Dozens of people marched outside Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, waving signs and shouting slogans calling on Netanyahu to step down.

Protesters blame the prime minister for failing to secure the release of hostages in Gaza with others chanting “Bibi, you failed. Go home.” Netanyahu is known throughout Israel by the nickname “Bibi.”

Some protestors camped out the night before with organizers planning to maintain their presence in front of the Knesset and the Supreme Court until Wednesday, when the Israeli parliament will begin its spring recess.

Appearing in a news conference on Sunday ahead of a surgery, Netanyahu again rejected calls for early elections, saying only Hamas will benefit from them.

A journalist working for CNN said the scene at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital on Monday “feels like a horror movie” after Israeli forces withdrew, ending their two-week siege of the facility.

“Bulldozers crushed bodies of people everywhere around and in the yard of the hospital,” said Khader Al Za’anoun, a staffer with Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Al Za’anoun said people had arrived at the complex to search for missing family members. 

“Many families are looking for their loved ones and cannot find them. Some of them even know they were killed but their bodies are missing,” he said. “We found entire families dead and their bodies are decomposed in houses around the hospital.”

Al Za’anoun said survivors at the complex were malnourished.

“People who are alive inside the hospital are suffering from starvation as they were given one bottle of water a day to share for six people,” he said. “I’m looking around me and I can’t believe what I see.”

In a statement confirming their withdrawal from the hospital, Israel’s military said its troops had killed terrorists while preventing harm to civilians.

Israeli military forces on Monday said they have withdrawn from the Al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza City following a 14-day siege.

“IDF and ISA troops have completed precise operational activity in the area of the Shifa Hospital and exited the area of the hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces said, using an acronym for Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet.
“The troops killed terrorists in close-quarters encounters, located numerous weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, while preventing harm to civilians, patients, and medical teams.”

A Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson on the scene told CNN that the hospital, which was the enclave’s largest medical facility, had been “completely destroyed and burned down.”

More than 30 wounded people were transported from Al-Shifa to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital east of Gaza City, Bassal said.

Images from the area showed widespread destruction with charred and pockmarked buildings inside the complex.

Some context: Israel’s military first raided Al-Shifa in November. Its second military operation there came despite the IDF in January saying it had completed dismantling Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza.

The IDF has said civilians, patients, and medical teams were evacuated during the operation — though Palestinians inside and around Al-Shifa reported civilian casualties and arrests.

This post has been updated to include the IDF’s statement on its withdrawal from Al-Shifa.

An Israeli drone strike on tents outside the Al-Aqsa medical complex killed at least two people on Sunday, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Thousands of displaced people are sheltering on the hospital grounds in central Gaza, along with several journalist teams working from tents in the area. Al-Aqsa is the only remaining functional medical facility in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Videos of the aftermath, shared by journalists, show panic as people ran for cover, and to aid the wounded.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft struck an “operational Islamic Jihad command center and terrorists that operated from the courtyard” of the hospital. It did not provide evidence to support this claim.

In the north, a raid on Al-Shifa Hospital — Gaza’s largest medical facility — has lasted 14 days, as of Sunday. Israel says it has killed more than 200 militants at the facility, while Palestinians inside Al-Shifa and around it have reported civilian casualties and arrests, as well as large-scale destruction.

The health ministry in Gaza says Israel is not allowing patients and medical staff to evacuate, trapping them without basic resources.

Here are the latest developments in the conflict:

A new Palestinian government has been sworn in amid intense international pressure for the Palestinian Authority to reform. 

The cabinet, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, was officially sworn in on Sunday before President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Mustafa had been appointed earlier this month to replace former Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, who resigned in February along with his government.

Following the ceremony, Abbas chaired a meeting of the new government, during which he said:

“Work is underway with Arab and international parties to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza,” he said at the meeting, according to WAFA.

“Our political goal is to achieve freedom, independence and liberation from the occupation, and we are working with concerned Arab and international parties to obtain full membership in the United Nations,” Abbas said. 

Abbas emphasized the need for “far-reaching institutional reforms to enhance performance and provide better services to the Palestinian people everywhere.”

He added that the new government will need to focus on humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza and the revitalization of the Palestinian economy, according to WAFA.

The PA faces intense pressure from the US to reform and improve its governance in the West Bank. It has long been seen as corrupt by US politicians and Palestinians themselves.

Some background: The PA held administrative control over Gaza until 2007. Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections in the occupied territories and thereafter expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza. Hamas has ruled the enclave since, while the PA governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the current opposition leader, has called on the government to pay attention to the ongoing demonstrations and the protesters’ demands. 

“Present here in the crowd are families of hostages. They stood outside the Kirya (the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv), screamed their souls out, and nobody heard. They waved signs and no one saw. The Israeli government is ignoring their existence,” Lapid said while at the rally outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Danny Elgarat, brother of one of the hostages, Itzhak Elgarat, also called on Netanyahu to leave his position.

“Bibi, this is the end to the shady deals, the end to corruption,” Elgarat said, using a nickname by which the prime minister is widely known in Israel. “Bibi, this is the end to playing games with us. 177 days! Bibi — this is the end!” 

Thousands more protesters gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, carrying flags and banners. 

“Bring everyone home now. Without returning the hostages, Israel doesn’t have a justification to exist,” one of the banners reads.

The Israel Police said in a statement that “a number of pyrotechnic items, including smoke flares, were set off near the demonstrators” and that one person was arrested on suspicion of being involved.

Meeting with Netanyahu: Separately, the family of an Israeli female soldier held hostage in Gaza said “no good news” came out of their meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday.

“After six months, we hoped and expected to get some good news as the negotiations progressed,” the father of 19-year-old captured soldier Naama Levy said in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio.

“We received no such news. On the contrary, we are disturbed that negotiations are progressing slowly.”

Protesters gathered in Israel for a second day on Sunday to call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation.

What Netanyahu said: At a news conference ahead of a medical procedure on Sunday night, the prime minister said Israeli forces killed more than 200 people he described as militants in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military has made similar claims about its ongoing raid at the medical facility. He also reiterated his commitment to invading the southern city of Rafah, saying it was necessary to defeat Hamas.

Ongoing protests: As the prime minister spoke, another major protest was underway outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza and the resignation of Netanyahu.

Sunday’s protests mark the second day of mass anti-government protests this weekend. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Raanana and Herzliya on Saturday. At least 16 people were arrested, according to Israeli police.

An Israeli drone strike on tents surrounding the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza killed at least two people and wounded more than a dozen others Sunday, a hospital spokesperson told CNN.

Thousands of displaced people are sheltering on the hospital grounds, along with several journalist teams working from tents in the area. Al-Aqsa is the only remaining functional medical facility in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Videos of the aftermath, shared by journalists, show panic as people ran for cover under flying debris, while others rushed toward the smoldering tents to aid the injured and put out small fires.

IDF statement: The Israeli military claimed in a statement that one of its aircraft struck an “operational Islamic Jihad command center and terrorists that operated from the courtyard” of the hospital. The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency did not provide evidence to support this claim.

The IDF said the operation was planned with the aim of “minimizing harm to uninvolved civilians” and avoiding damaging the main hospital building.

Firsthand accounts: Journalist Usama Al-Kahlout told CNN the strike was “direct targeting of the journalists’ tents,” which are surrounded by the tents of displaced people at the hospital’s emergency entrance.

“We were sitting here safely. Suddenly, dust filled the air. I looked around and I saw that our neighbor’s tent was hit. Those displaced people have nothing to do with anyone — one is a teacher and the other is a doctor that are not related to anything,” Hamza al-Kurd, who is sheltering in the area with his family, told CNN.

Video shot by a CNN stringer shows the destruction of some of the journalists’ tents and equipment. In the footage, people are seen inspecting the damaged tarp tents and going through the blood-stained wreckage to salvage what’s left of their belongings.

The Israeli military said Sunday it was continuing its operations in and around Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for a 14th day.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was “preventing harm” to civilians, patients and medical teams, and said it killed what it described as “terrorists barricaded in the area in close-quarters combat and located weapons in the area of the hospital.” 

But Gaza’s Health Ministry on Saturday said 107 patients, including 30 paralyzed patients, and 60 medical staff remain in Al-Shifa Hospital in “inhuman conditions, without water, medicine, food or electricity.”

“The occupation has prevented all attempts to evacuate these patients through international institutions,” the ministry said, adding that the lives of these patients are in grave danger.

Palestinians inside Al-Shifa and around it have reported civilian casualties and arrests, as well as large-scale destruction at the complex.

Negotiations over a ceasefire and a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas resumed in Cairo on Sunday, Egypt’s state-run media Al-Qahera News said on Sunday, citing a security source. 

“An Egyptian security source confirmed that there is resumption of negotiations on the truce between Israel and Hamas in Cairo today. The Egyptian source has pointed out that joint Egyptian-Qatari efforts are being exerted to achieve progress in the forthcoming talks between Israel and Hamas,” Al-Qahera News reported.

CNNlier this month, talks over the release of hostages and a humanitarian pause were held in Qatar’s Dohcapital a. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized an Israeli negotiating delegation to travel to Qatar and Egypt in the coming days.

Some context: CIA Director Bill Burns was also in Doha late last week to meet with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari counterparts. 

Burns put forward a proposal that was accepted by Israel and sent back to Hamas, according to a source and an Israeli official. On Tuesday morning, Israel was informed that the proposal was rejected by Hamas.

Nearly 400 tons of food aid are expected to arrive in Gaza by ship in the coming days, according to the non-governmental organization arranging the deliveries.

The aid will be provided to people in the northern part of the strip, said Juan Camilo, a community outreach manager with World Central Kitchen.

The Open Arms, a salvage vessel that delivered aid to Gaza earlier this month, is towing a barge, while a cargo vessel, the Jennifer, is also carrying aid, Camilo said.

World Central Kitchen said the vessels were also carrying machinery to speed up the process of offloading the ships, and that it was delivering dates provided by the United Arab Emirates for Palestinians observing Ramadan.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across the world over the weekend, including in London, Paris, New York, Tunis and Amman, to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Gaza and show their support for a ceasefire in the strip.

Amman, Jordan: Police can be seen in a video published by AFP pushing back against a massive crowd of demonstrators who gathered Saturday – also known as “Land Day” – chanting, holding signs and waving Palestinian flags.

Tunis, Tunisia: In the capital, demonstrator Mona Elsayed told AFP on Saturday, “This march is the least we can do for the Palestinian people. A people who have been suffering for years. Today is ‘Land Day’ and it’s an opportunity to remind people that oppression exists. As Arabs and Muslims, we must stand by our brothers.”

Paris, France: A French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri told AFP on Saturday that he expects France “to put an end to its complicity in this ongoing genocide (in Gaza), to totally halt the sale of arms to the Israeli occupier, and to impose a military and economic embargo on the occupying force.” Left-wing politician Manon Aubry was also among those demonstrating Saturday.

London, UK:  A significant police presence could also be seen in London on Saturday as large swathes of people joined a pro-Palestinian march waving the Palestinian flag in front of a smaller pro-Israeli demonstration. 

New York, US: Protesters marched through the streets chanting and banging drums. 

High-level talks between US and Israeli officials over planned military operations in Rafah could take place in Washington, DC, as soon as today, US officials told CNN last week. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly called off previously scheduled talks after the United States did not block a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of captives held by Hamas. 

The Israeli delegation had proposed to reschedule the talks for Monday, officials said. 

US officials had said no date is finalized. 

The White House previously said it supports the rescheduling of the talks and is working with its counterparts to do so in a timely manner. 

“We’re now working with them to find a convenient date that’s obviously going to work for both sides,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.