April 10, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli army has in recent days disrupted GPS signals over a number of cities, including the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and Jerusalem, with the aim of thwarting missile or drone attacks potentially fired by Iran or Iran-backed groups in the region.

The jamming caused major disruptions to daily life, sparking frustration across Israel. Residents using mapping applications such as Google Maps or Waze to commute in Tel Aviv said their apps showed they were in the Lebanese capital Beirut or Cairo in Egypt. 

Many people took to social media to post screenshots of the jamming, which disrupted online payments, deliveries and car-hailing services. 

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari last week said that Israel initiated GPS interference “in order to neutralize threats,” adding that “we are aware that these disruptions cause inconveniences, but it is a vital and necessary tool in our defensive capabilities.” 

The jamming was at its peak last week, but sporadically persists this week. Israel has been on high alert since its strike in Damascus last week that killed top Iranian commanders, prompting a promise of retaliation from Iran.

Sina Toossi, an Iran expert and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, warned that some Iranian drones are not easily susceptible to jamming. “Such extensive GPS jamming in Israel seems to reflect a lack of confidence in the effectiveness of their anti-missile & drone defense systems,” he wrote on X.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continue to carry out ground operations in Gaza, despite the departure of many units in recent weeks, and have launched “dozens” of air airstrikes in the past day.

The IDF said Wednesday they are “continuing to operate in the central Gaza Strip" and said it killed a number of people it called "terrorists" over the past day.

“During a close-quarters encounter, IDF troops killed a terrorist cell that posed a threat to the troops,” it said.

In addition, fighter jets struck locations in Jabalya and Shejaiya in northern Gaza on Tuesday, according to the IDF, after rocket launches were detected from compounds in each place.

Altogether, “fighter jets and aircraft struck dozens of terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including military sites, launchers, tunnel shafts, and infrastructure,” the IDF said.

On the ground, the IDF said, the 162nd Division, “continues to operate in the Netzarim Corridor that separates the northern and southern Gaza Strip, conducting targeted operations on terrorist infrastructure in the area.” Its soldiers had destroyed launching sites for anti-tank missiles and mortars.

Raghad Ezzat Hamouda can barely comfort her young siblings displaced in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. Every day, she says, they wail from starvation.   

The 19-year-old Palestinian is sheltering with at least nine relatives – including her seven younger brothers aged four to 17. They are observing Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset. But Hamouda says Israel’s siege on the enclave forced her family to starve long before the Islamic holy month.   

These days, she can only offer her siblings a paste made with thyme, oil and hibiscus to break their fast, adding that she misses suhoor – the predawn meal – so that her younger brothers can eat tomato sauce with salt and pepper. She says she has lost about 44 pounds (20 kg) of weight since Israel launched its offensive.

As of April 8, at least 28 children in Gaza have died from malnutrition and dehydration, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The actual number is likely to be higher, as limited access to northern Gaza has hindered the ability of aid agencies to fully assess the situation there.  

“The anxiety resulting from the thought of famine affects our mental and physical health. We think day and night: “Will we survive? Will we starve?” 

CNN’s Kareem Khadder contributed reporting to this post.

The Israeli agency that coordinates the inspection and delivery of humanitarian assistance for Gaza has again blamed the United Nations for failing to distribute the aid.

The agency, known as COGAT, posted on X Wednesday: “Israel is surging aid into Gaza, with over 1200 trucks entering in 3 days (avg 400/day). Right now, 500 trucks worth lying on the Gaza side of KS [Kerem Shalom] waiting to be picked up by UN agencies.”

It added: “@UN, Do your job, focus on distribution, and stop blaming Israel for your colossal failures.” The post is accompanied by a photograph of a large volume of aid waiting to be collected at Kerem Shalom, which along with Rafah is the main crossing point for aid.

There have been frequent disputes between Israel and UN agencies over who is to blame for delays and disruptions in getting aid into Gaza. COGAT has said that 419 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza on Monday and 468 trucks on Tuesday — the highest number of aid trucks that entered Gaza in one day since the start of the war.

UN's response: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said earlier this week that in March “an array of access restrictions and denials imposed by Israeli authorities continue to obstruct and limit humanitarian operations throughout Gaza.”

The United Nations main aid agency in Gaza has also said 176 of its staff have been killed since October 7.

The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, says "there is no military solution to the current confrontation and violence," instead suggesting "a political and diplomatic solution is the only way forward.”

He again warned of potential escalation as tensions continue to grow between Israel and Iran, and an almost daily barrage of rockets from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group across the Israel-Lebanon border.

Israel has been preparing for war with Hezbollah for months, having evacuated more than 40 communities in its north. The two sides have been engaging in skirmishes that have been confined to a few kilometers on each side of the border, although Israel last month struck as deep as 100 kilometers into Lebanon. Four UN peacekeepers were injured on March 30 when they were hit by a blast while on patrol in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, according to the UN mission.

Some context: UN Security Council resolution 1701, passed in 2006, calls for the full cessation of hostilities, the deployment of Lebanese forces to Southern Lebanon, parallel withdrawal of Israeli forces behind what is known as the Blue Line, and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that Israel "must be punished and it will be," for a deadly bombing of its consulate in Syria.

The airstrike, which Iran blamed on Israel, destroyed the consulate and killed seven Iranian officials, as well as at least six Syrians, according to Iranian state television. Iran subsequently vowed revenge.

Iran has vowed retaliation — an escalation of regional tensions over the war in Gaza that appeared to raise the risk of a wider Middle Eastern conflict.

Some context: Israel has intensified its longstanding military campaign against Iran and its regional proxies following the October 7 attack by Tehran-backed Hamas.

The strike in Damascus is a significant escalation because the consulate is considered sovereign Iranian territory, raising the risk of a wider Middle Eastern conflict.

What Israel says: After the strike, the Israeli military said it would not comment on foreign reports. But a military spokesperson said Israel believed the target was a “military building of Quds forces” — a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responsible for foreign operations.

In response to Iran's warnings on Wednesday, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said: “Once Iran directly attacks Israel — that’ll be a turning point."

He said Israel would respond "inside Iran" in the case of an attack.

President Joe Biden offered one of his sharpest rebukes of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza, describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the conflict as a “mistake” and calling for a halt to the fighting.

Biden's comments add to mounting US criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.

Hours before the president's interview aired, the Biden administration dismissed Netanyahu’s pronouncement that a Rafah offensive date was set as bluster fueled by the prime minister’s tenuous political standing at home, senior administration officials told CNN.

Here are the latest developments in the conflict:

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed 14 people on Tuesday, according to Dr. Khalil Al-Dikran, the spokesperson of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

He told CNN most of those killed were women and children, and 30 others were seriously injured. The information was also confirmed by the Civil Defense in Gaza.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

The attack happened on the last night before Eid al-Fitr, one of the most important holidays of the Islamic calendar, marking the end of Ramadan.

In a video posted on social media, several children are seen being rushed into the hospital, where doctors inspect them on the floor — their bodies dusty and covered in blood. Another video shows the uncovered bodies of three dead children next to other bodies wrapped in blankets. 

US President Joe Biden described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war in Gaza as "a mistake” in one of his sharpest critiques of how the Israeli government is prosecuting the conflict against Hamas. 

Biden made the comments in an interview with Univision that was taped just days after Israeli military strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, which sparked anger and frustration throughout the White House. 

The president added that he’s calling for Israel to agree to a ceasefire and that there is “no excuse” for not sending in humanitarian aid.