April 12, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

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

A staff member with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) died Friday in the Israeli port city of Jaffa, the agency announced.

The male staffer was with USAID’s West Bank and Gaza mission, the agency said in a brief statement.

USAID did not provide details on the circumstances around his death or his identity or citizenship.

“He was a dedicated member of our team for more than two decades, and our thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues,” USAID said.

USAID is working with the US Embassy to work out details about the fatal incident and its follow-up investigation, it said.

The United States currently expects Iran will carry out strikes against multiple targets inside Israel and that Iranian proxies could also be involved in carrying out the attacks, according to a senior administration official and a source familiar with the intelligence.  

The targets would likely be both inside Israel and around the region.

The beginning of a state-on-state conflict between Iran and Israel would mark a serious escalation in the region that the US has hoped to avoid.

The US observed Iran moving military assets around internally, including drones and cruise missiles, signaling that it is possibly preparing to attack Israeli targets from inside its own territory, according to two people familiar with US intelligence. 

It is not clear whether Iran is preparing to strike from its soil as part of an initial attack, or if it is posturing to try to deter Israel or the US from conducting a possible counter strike on its territory. 

One of the people said the US had observed Iran readying as many as 100 cruise missiles.

Some context: The Iranians want their retaliatory strike on Israel — a response to the Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate last week in Damascus — to be “significant,” one of the people familiar with the intelligence said. But they also want to avoid getting embroiled in a direct war with Israel and the US, CNN has reported, which is why US intelligence has assessed that Iran may use its proxy forces to launch the first attack.

Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers stormed a village in the occupied West Bank on Friday, setting fire to several homes and cars — and leaving at least one Palestinian dead — in one of the largest attacks by settlers this year, according to Palestinian officials. 

The settlers attacked Al-Mughayyir village, east of Ramallah, raided homes and fired gunshots at residents, according to Amin Abu-Alia, the head of the village council. Videos obtained by CNN show parts of the village burning, with smoke billowing over several buildings and settlers lobbing rocks. Houses and cars are seen completely burnt up, with sounds of gunfire and clashes heard in the background.

Here are other headlines you should know:

The US will attempt to intercept any weapons launched at Israel if it’s feasible to do so, two US officials told CNN, in an indication of the level of ongoing cooperation between the two militaries before an anticipated Iranian attack.

US Navy forces in the Red Sea have previously intercepted long-range missiles launched from the Houthis in Yemen toward Israel. US forces in Iraq and Syria could also potentially intercept drones and rockets targeting northern Israel, depending on the location from which they’re launched.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command, has been in Israel meeting with the country’s security leadership. On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, met with Kurilla.

There have been a number of conversations where US officials have urged Israel not to escalate the situation in retaliating against Iran, according to one of the US officials. 

Remember: An Iranian attack is expected in response to Israel’s deadly strike of Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, last week.

The Damascus attack was the latest incident to stoke fears of a wider regional conflict breaking out in the Middle East during Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

Diplomatic efforts: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held a slew of calls to foreign counterparts aimed at pressuring Iran not to attack Israel.

The top US diplomat spoke with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Friday, according to a readout from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Blinken also spoke with the Turkish, Chinese and Saudi foreign ministers in recent days, Miller said.

Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers stormed a village in the occupied West Bank on Friday, setting fire to several homes and cars in one of the largest attacks by settlers this year, according to Palestinian officials. 

At least one Palestinian man was killed when shots were fired by Israeli settlers in the village of Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, according to the head of the village council Amin Abu-Alia. He said he identified the killed Palestinian as his 26-year-old relative named Jihad Abu-Alia, who was meant to get married this summer.

At least 25 others were injured in the rampage, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, the scale of which has not been seen since hundreds of settlers stormed through the villages of Turmusayya and Huwara in two separate incidents last year. 

Between 1,000 and 1,200 settlers surrounded the village, and around 500 stormed it just after midday local time on Friday, blocking all the roads in the area, Abu-Alia told CNN.

He added that Israeli security forces informed Palestinian officials that the settlers were looking for a 14-year-old Israeli boy who had gone missing earlier in the day.

They attacked the village, raided homes and fired gunshots at residents, Abu-Alia said. Videos obtained by CNN show parts of the village burning, with smoke billowing over several buildings and settlers lobbing rocks. Houses and cars are seen completely burnt up, with sounds of gunfire and clashes heard in the background.

According to Abu-Alia, the Israeli military arrived at the scene at around 3 p.m. and didn’t stop the settlers from attacking the village. Israeli soldiers allowed them to raid homes, prevented Palestinian residents from moving around and blocked ambulances from reaching the injured, he added.  

Abu-Alia told CNN settlers stole approximately 70 sheep from the Palestinian village.

In response to a question by CNN, the IDF said “violent riots were instigated in multiple locations in the area” following the search for the boy.

Israeli warplanes carried out several airstrikes on Friday, targeting “military buildings” used by Hezbollah fighters in parts of southern Lebanon, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The areas include the Aita al-Shaab and the Taybeh in southern Lebanon, said Avichay Adraee, IDF spokesperson for Arab media, in a post on X.

“During the day, several shells were fired from Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee region, without causing any casualties. IDF forces attacked the sources of fire,” Adraee added. 

The Israeli airstrikes were before the 40 rockets that were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel Friday evening and claimed by Hezbollah.

US President Joe Biden expects an attack from Iran will happen “sooner than later,” he told reporters at the White House Friday.

“I don’t want to get into secure information but my expectation is sooner than later,” Biden said when asked how imminent an attack on Israel was.

Asked what his message to Tehran is right now, the president said “Don’t.”

In response to more shouted questions from reporters asking if American troops were at risk, Biden returned to the podium and said that the United States is “devoted” to the defense of Israel. 

“We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” Biden said.

Remember: The United States says it is on high alert for a significant Iranian retaliatory attack following Israel’s deadly strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus last week, raising fears of a wider regional war. There remains a “real,” “credible” and “viable” threat of Iran launching strikes, the White House said earlier Friday, following Israel’s attack on a diplomatic compound in Syria that killed three Iranian generals.

Around 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon on Friday evening, according to the Israeli military. Some were intercepted and the rest fell in open areas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

The IDF said there were no injuries.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militants confirmed the rocket barrage, saying that they fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at Israeli artillery positions.

Hezbollah said it was in support of Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in response to Israeli attacks on civilian homes in southern Lebanon.

Israeli air defenses also intercepted two explosive drones, which the IDF said were deployed by Hezbollah.

The IDF said it had struck several locations in Lebanon to “remove threats.”

The post has been updated with more details on Israel’s response to the rocket attack.

The US is sanctioning four leaders of Hamas’ cyber and drone operations based in Gaza and Lebanon, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced on Friday. 

“Operatives of terrorist group Hamas have used information warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to facilitate terrorist violence across multiple fronts,” Miller said.  

Those sanctioned include:

The al-Shimali unit manages the development and production of automatic 120mm mortars, mobile launchers for Grad rockets, development and production of flight simulators, UAVs for intelligence gathering and suicide UAVs, according to the Treasury Department. 

“The United States will continue to target Hamas’s destabilizing attempts to launch terrorist attacks, as well as to disrupt Hamas terrorists wherever they operate, including across cyberspace,” Miller said.

Hamas and Hezbollah have developed moderately effective cyber capabilities in recent years, according to private experts who track them. Hamas has used those capabilities in espionage campaigns aimed at Israel and Arab governments for years, researchers have found. In an interview with CNN in November, Israel’s cyber defense chief alleged that Hezbollah-backed hackers had breached private security cameras in Israel to try to track the movements of Israeli soldiers.

Israeli forces surrounded and attacked the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, wounding several journalists and at least one other person.

Turkish state broadcaster TRT accused Israeli tanks of launching a “targeted attack” on the journalists, including TRT Arabi cameraman Sami Shehada, who lost a leg, and correspondent Sami Barhoum, who suffered minor injuries. CNN stringer Mohammad Al-Sawalhi was also among those hurt.

The TRT statement called the assault “a deliberate attack against media professionals, marked clearly with ‘PRESS’ on their jackets” and said it was “part of a broader pattern of violence” against journalists in Gaza. As of Friday, at least 95 media workers have been killed covering the war, according to preliminary figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CNN video shows Shehada’s right leg was severed.

“We were filming in a safe place, I was wearing my flak jacket and my helmet — even the car I was in had a ‘PRESS’ and ‘TV’ sign marked on it. It was clear that I was a civilian and a journalist. We were targeted,” he told CNN from his operating bed.

“It will not stop me from working, even if I have to walk on crutches. I will show the whole world the crimes of the Israeli occupation against civilians, people and journalists. I am one of them and I will not leave my camera even if I die,” he told Al-Sawalhi.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the attack and allegations that journalists were targeted at the camp. 

Video from the scene: Footage filmed by Al-Sawalhi shows people — including children, women and the elderly — taking cover in shops and running away in panic as repeated artillery fire and gunshots can be heard in the near distance.

CNN spoke to an elderly man named Saleh, who said he was trying to flee the area after Israeli tanks surrounded the camp and that he’d been hit by shrapnel.

Moments later, Saleh could be seen crossing the street when intense artillery fire struck the road a few meters from where Al-Sawalhi was filming. The journalist was hit by shrapnel, slightly injuring his right hand.

Graphic footage of the aftermath shows the elderly man severely wounded, with a bloody head injury. Saleh, Al-Sawalhi, and a number of other journalists were taken to Al-Awda Hospital for treatment, CNN footage shows.

Recent attacks: Nuseirat camp, located north of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, has been the target of several Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including one that killed 14 people Tuesday, according to the spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US Central Command Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla on Friday discussed preparations for a potential Iranian attack on Israel.

Gallant and Kurilla spoke about “readiness for an Iranian attack against the State of Israel, which may lead to regional escalation,” according to a statement from Gallant’s office.

Following the meeting, Gallant called Kurilla “a true friend of Israel” and thanked him for US support for Israel. 

“Our enemies think that they can pull apart Israel and the United States, but the opposite is true — they are bringing us together and strengthening our ties. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder,” Gallant added.

The defense minister said Israel was “prepared to defend ourselves on the ground and in the air” and would respond “in close cooperation with our partners.”

 The two met at the Israeli Hatzor Air Base near Ashdod in Israel’s Southern District.

The US Defense Department is moving additional assets to the Middle East region, a defense official told CNN, as Israel and the US brace for a potential Iranian attack on Israeli facilities in the country and the broader region.

The move is “to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for U.S. forces,” according to the official. 

The Pentagon has been working specifically to reinforce air defenses for the US troops stationed in Iraq and Syria, who came under attack by Iran-backed proxy forces over 100 times between October and February. In January, three US service members were killed when a drone got through US air defenses at the Tower 22 base in Jordan. 

The US is not anticipating that Iran or its proxies will attack US forces as part of its retaliation, but are moving the assets just in case.  

The European Council has adopted sanctions against three Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad entities, in light of “their responsibilities in the brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks” that occurred across Israel on October 7.

The listed entities are:

They are now subject to an asset freeze and a travel ban to the European Union, the EU Council said Friday in a news release, adding, “the provision of funds to them, directly or indirectly, is now also prohibited.”

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz welcomed the decision. It “sends a clear message: those who murder, rape, burn, abuse the bodies of babies, girls, women, and men, and commit atrocities against humanity - will pay the price,” Katz said in a post on X.

Some context: In March, a United Nations team found “clear and convincing” information that hostages in Gaza were sexually abused, and there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the sexual violence is ongoing.

CNN’s Richard Roth contributed previous reporting to this post.

The Israeli military does not understand how humanitarian operations work, a top United Nations official said Friday, maintaining there is a “degree of mistrust” that needs to be resolved between the Israel Defense Forces and nongovernmental organizations on the ground in Gaza.

Fears over the safety of humanitarian workers in Gaza have risen in the wake of a deadly Israeli strike on April 1 that killed seven workers from nonprofit World Central Kitchen.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Jamie McGoldrick told reporters Friday that humanitarian workers “fear for their own safety” after the WCK killings and other incidents, such as an attack on a UNICEF convoy Wednesday.

“One of the things that we should understand is that the IDF have never worked with humanitarian organizers before in this type of environment. They don’t understand how we function, they don’t understand our language, what our purpose is,” McGoldrick said.

“There’s a degree of mistrust and misunderstanding that we have to address,” he added.

CNN has reached out to the IDF regarding McGoldrick’s remarks.

The UN official spoke to journalists after returning from Gaza, where he held a meeting with the head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman. During the meeting, he said they discussed interactions between Israeli soldiers and NGOs, concerns over “weapons discipline,” and clearer markings on NGO-affiliated vehicles.

McGoldrick also highlighted dangers posed by inadequate communication infrastructure inside Gaza.

Israel’s former head of military intelligence is urging Israel’s leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to strike a hostage deal that includes an indefinite ceasefire and work with a reformed Palestinian Authority to restore order in Gaza. 

Tamir Hayman, who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, said Israel risks falling into a perpetual war of attrition, where there is “endless friction” with its neighbors. He gave recommendations in a roadmap on “the day after” the war, which INSS released Friday. 

A prolonged war, said the retired general, risks either leaving Gaza under Hamas rule or at the mercy of a power vacuum where various armed groups may compete for authority. Israel needs to work with a reformed Palestinian Authority, he told CNN, “instead of chaos, instead of no man’s land” in Gaza. 

Hayman has warned of the urgency of these decisions, saying Israel will not “have any other opportunities” to do so, especially as presidential elections in the United States loom. Israeli leaders must “do the right thing” and not focus on achieving “immediate short-term” wins, Hayman said. 

Remember: Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of a Palestinian Authority-ruled Gaza, and talks for a ceasefire-hostage deal continue to stall as Hamas tells negotiators that it cannot identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages needed for the first phase of an agreement. The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but was expelled from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

There is a “very credible” threat of Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel, the White House said Friday, as US President Joe Biden receives constant updates on the situation from his national security team. 

“We’re watching this very, very closely,” said national security spokesperson John Kirby, who declined to provide information about the expected timing of the threat.

But he said US officials were in “constant communication” with their Israeli counterparts about the matter and that steps were underway to ensure Israel is able to defend itself.

“We are certainly mindful of a very public and what we consider to be a very credible threat made by Iran in terms of potential attacks on Israel,” Kirby said Friday. 

He pointed to a visit to Israel on Friday by US Central Command chief Gen. Michael Kurilla to have “those conversations directly with his (Israel Defense Forces) counterparts.” Biden is also receiving briefings multiple times a day on the situation, Kirby said.

“He has made it clear to the entire national security team that that we will take seriously our commitments to the defense, the self-defense of Israel,” Kirby said.

The US is also assessing its own posture in the region ahead of the potential retaliatory attack, he added.

US markets react: US stocks slid and oil prices spiked Friday morning, in part due to worries on Wall Street about escalating tensions in the Middle East.

CNN’s Krystal Hur contributed reporting to this post.

A surgeon who visited Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza after Israeli forces laid siege to the complex for two weeks said valuable medical resources were destroyed.

Dr. Athanasios Gargavanis recalled the scale of material destruction wrought in the wake of the attack, including an oxygen plant, a CT scan and laboratory equipment.

The specialized surgical buildings was blown out from the basement to the second floor, the World Health Organization doctor said, adding further assessment by an engineer would determine whether the buildings could be restored. 

Health workers in Gaza have claimed that Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and left their bodies to decompose during their two-week siege of the complex in March. 

The world saw for the first time the full scale of the destruction left by Israeli forces on Al-Shifa when footage of the complex emerged on April 1 — the day that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed its withdrawal from the hospital.  

The IDF claimed “hundreds of terrorists were killed or captured” during the two-week siege. CNN cannot independently verify the IDF’s statement.

Israeli troops killed two Hamas members — Muhammad Essam Shahmawi and Muhammad Omar Daraghmeh — in a raid on the city of Tubas in the occupied West Bank overnight Thursday into early Friday morning, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The IDF described Daraghmeh as “a central figure in the region and in recent months planned significant terror attacks against Israel.” Israeli forces “located weapons in his vehicle… and confiscated them,” the IDF added. CNN cannot independently verify statements from the Israeli military.

At least three other people were injured from live bullet rounds, including one who is in critical condition, the Palestine Red Crescent Society told CNN. Israeli gunfire targeted a PRCS ambulance, the organization added.

“A volunteer paramedic sustained bruises as a result of severe beating, after he was arrested from inside a Red Crescent ambulance,” the PRCS said.

Video of the Israeli incursion obtained by CNN shows a plume of smoke indicating an explosion, and sounds of gunfire in the area. Others show hundreds of people participating in a funeral procession for Daraghmeh Friday morning, carrying his casket with a Palestinian flag draped over it.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 462 Palestinians and injured about 4,700 people in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

At least 29 people were killed and dozens more were injured after an Israeli airstrike early Friday targeted a house belonging to the well-known Al-Tabatibi family in eastern Gaza City, according to a local health official. Last month, an Israeli airstrike struck a residential block in central Gaza, killing 35 members of the Al-Tabatibi family.

Another airstrike later targeted an apartment building on nearby Yaffa Street, injuring at least three people, Mohammad Ghirabah, an emergency doctor at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, told CNN.

Video of the aftermath shot for CNN shows crushed cars and piles of rubble covering several hollowed buildings.

“We were asleep and then all of a sudden we heard screams and disturbances. Women and children (were) thrown on the street in the middle of the night at 3 a.m.,” said Ziad Dardis, a neighbor.

“They gave us no pre-warning of the strike. The majority of those killed were women and children. This is the pinnacle of all crimes. They are taking revenge on our people,” Mahmoud Al-Nounou, another neighbor, added.

CNN cannot independently verify claims about the strike or casualties due to lack of access to the strip. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment but have not yet received a response. 

Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is convening the war cabinet and senior defense officials on Friday afternoon local time (9:30 a.m. ET) to discuss “Israel’s readiness for an Iranian response,” an Israeli official with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

US and Israeli leaders said they were preparing for a potential retaliation by Iran or its proxies after a deadly Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Syria last week killed top Iranian commanders.

Diplomats have warned that Israel’s war in Gaza could spill into the wider region.

The Israeli military says a relief convoy entered the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday through a new crossing from Israel for the first time as human rights organizations warn famine is imminent.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered through “the new Northern Crossing,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, without specifying its location. CNN has asked the IDF and Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) for the location of the crossing and the number of trucks that crossed into Gaza.

The aid delivery was coordinated by the IDF and COGAT “as part of efforts to enhance the humanitarian aid corridors to the Gaza Strip in general, and to the north in particular,” according to the IDF. The trucks had undergone security checks at the Kerem Shalom crossing and were accompanied by IDF troops, the military added.

Accusations of war crimes: Famine is imminent in northern Gaza where 70% of the population are already suffering with catastrophic levels of hunger, a UN-backed report said last month, as the EU’s top diplomat accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon of war.”

CNN previously reported on how dates — a rich source of nutrients desperately needed by a hungry population — are among the most common items most frequently rejected by Israeli authorities. Israel insists there is “no limit” on the amount of aid that can enter the strip, but its inspection regime means relief is barely trickling in.

A doctor who visited Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza recalled shocking scenes of open spaces filled with graves after an Israeli siege in March turned the complex into “dust and rubble.”

Dr. Athanasios Gargavanis painted a horrifying picture of the scenes at the medical facility in Gaza City following a World Health Organization-led mission on April 5 to assess the extent of destruction.

Gargavanis, a WHO surgeon, said he counted the remains of eight bodies — although he could not give a total figure as other remains were buried under plastic sheets.

“It was really shocking to see there were some bodies left uncovered or covered with plastic sheets on the side of buildings,” he said Friday.

Allegations of mass graves: Earlier this week, health workers told CNN they exhumed the first corpses from mass graves in and around Al-Shifa hospital following the Israeli military’s deadly 14-day siege that witnesses and Palestinian officials say left bodies strewn across the complex.

Determining the precise number of people killed is difficult, Gaza’s Civil Defense said, because Israeli troops had buried bodies inside and around the complex and bulldozed nearby roads.

Israel has for years claimed that Hamas fighters are sheltering in mosques, hospitals and other civilian places to avoid Israeli attacks. Hamas has repeatedly denied the claims.

France urged its citizens to “absolutely refrain” from traveling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories on Friday, as world leaders warned of ramped up regional tensions stoked by Israel’s war in Gaza.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne issued new guidance over the risk of “military escalation” after a crisis meeting, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.

Families of diplomatic staff in the Iranian capital Tehran are set to return to France, and civil servants will be banned from work missions to those countries and territories. 

Indian advisory: The Indian government on Friday also advised its citizens not to travel to Iran and Israel, India’s foreign ministry announced in a statement.

Diplomats on high alert: It comes as US and Israeli leaders said they were bracing for a potential retaliation by Iran or its proxies after a deadly Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Syria last week killed top Iranian commanders.

A forthcoming Iranian attack was a major topic of discussion on US President Joe Biden’s phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday. As of Friday, the two governments did not know when or how Iran planned to strike back, a senior administration official told CNN.

This post has been updated with the advisory from the Indian government.

CNN’s MJ Lee, Jennifer Hansler and Aishwarya S Iyer contributed reporting to this post.

Indonesia has “no plan to establish diplomatic relations with Israel,” state media agency Antara has reported, citing the Foreign Ministry.

“I emphasize that until now, we have no plan to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, particularly as Israel has yet to cease its atrocities in Gaza until now,” Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lalu Muhamad Iqbal said in a statement late on Thursday, according to the report.

The statement came hours after two Israeli officials told CNN that Israel and Indonesia had been holding discussions to normalize relations over the past three months.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry has not responded to CNN’s inquiry about those discussions. 

Iqbal said that Indonesia would be “consistent” and “on the front line to defend the rights of the Palestinian nation,” according to the state media report.

Some background: The establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel is a precondition for Muslim-majority Indonesia’s entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) — a group of the world’s biggest economies that Jakarta is seeking to join.

Iqbal said that Indonesia would have to undergo a long process before being accepted into the OECD, beginning next May, according to the state media report.

The US and Israel are on high alert for a potential attack by Iran or its proxies that could escalate regional tensions stoked by the war in Gaza.

Iran has vowed revenge on Israel after a deadly strike on its embassy compound in Syria last week.

Concerns about this possible attack have prompted diplomatic conversations around the globe.

Here’s what you need to know:

And here’s the latest on the conflict in Gaza:

A specialized UN committee failed to reach a consensus Thursday on Palestinian membership in the United Nations, according to the president of the UN Security Council.

Two-thirds of the committee members were in favor of moving on with membership, with many countries arguing that “Palestine fulfills all the criteria that are required” to be granted full state member status, Malta’s Ambassador and Security Council President Vanessa Frazier said. 

She added that no one explicitly objected to the membership qualifications.

Frazier also said she would circulate a draft report on the deliberations as soon as Friday. If the committee doesn’t agree on the report, it could hold another meeting to iron out any differences.

“Unless the next step of agreeing (to) the report of the committee warrants another meeting to iron out the differences, it’s not foreseen that there would be any further committee action,” she said.

But she noted that any UN Security Council member can still table a resolution to vote on Palestinian membership at any time, regardless of the committee’s report.

The imperative for Tehran to “punish” Israel for the deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus last week might have been avoided if the attack had been condemned at the United Nations, Iran’s Mission to the UN said Thursday.

“Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated,” the mission said on X.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack on April 1, according to a statement from the UN spokesperson Stephan Dujarric. 

A Security Council discussion was held on April 2 to discuss the attack, but differences among members prevented any formal action or condemnation from taking place.

The United States is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region in response to the strike in Damascus that killed top Iranian commanders.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant today to “reaffirm the US ironclad commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies,” according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

The call comes a day after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “must be punished and it will be” following a strike on an Iranian embassy compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials.

Israel “will not tolerate an Iranian attack on its territory,” the statement read, adding that the two defense leaders also discussed detailed preparations “for an Iranian attack against the State of Israel.”

Gallant said an Iranian attack on Israel could lead to a regional escalation.

It is the second discussion held between Gallant and Austin over the past week, according to the statement.

Gallant expressed his appreciation for Austin’s personal commitment to the security of Israel and for the deepening cooperation between the defense establishments of both countries, as well as between the Israel Defense Forces and US CENTCOM.

A member of Hamas’ political bureau said a prisoner-hostage exchange is being discussed as part of larger ceasefire negotiations.

“Part of negotiations is to reach a ceasefire agreement to have enough time and safety to collect final and more precise data” on the hostages held in Gaza Basem Naim said in a statement on Thursday.
“Because they (hostages) are in different palaces, (being held) by different groups, some of them are under the rubble killed with our own people, and we negotiate to get heavy equipment for this purpose,” he added.

Naim’s statement was in response to questions from media outlets about whether Hamas has rejected the latest proposal, made in Cairo over the weekend, because it cannot release 40 hostages in the first phase of a three-stage ceasefire deal.

According to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the discussions, Hamas told negotiators it was currently unable to identify and track down 40 Israeli hostages meeting the criteria required for a deal, raising fears that more hostages may be dead than are publicly known. 

CNN’s record of the conditions of the hostages also suggests there are fewer than 40 living hostages who meet the proposed criteria.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are constructing a new land crossing from Israel to northern Gaza, according to a statement released Thursday.

The Israeli military said the new northern crossing will “enable more aid to flow directly to civilians in the areas that have been challenging for trucks to access.״ 

The UN and other agencies have reported a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is imminent due to a lack of aid.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said late Wednesday that Israel was planning to “flood Gaza with aid,” amid intensifying pressure from the US to urgently increase humanitarian assistance to Gaza. 

COGAT, the Israeli agency that coordinates the inspection of aid deliveries to Gaza, said the daily number of trucks entering Gaza had doubled from last week’s numbers. But the UN agency for Palestinian affairs, which tracks the flow of aid into Gaza, has not reported a similar increase.

Israel is preparing for “scenarios” in locations other than Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during a visit to an Israeli airbase on Thursday. 

Tensions are mounting throughout the Middle East following warnings from US officials that Iran could carry out an imminent attack on US or Israeli assets in the region. Iran has blamed Israel for a recent attack on its consulate in Syria that killed commanders from its Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

“We are in the midst of the war in Gaza, which is continuing at full force, even as we are continuing our relentless efforts to return our hostages. However, we are also prepared for scenarios involving challenges in other sectors,” Netanyahu said, according to a readout from his office. 

The prime minister said Israel had developed a strategy in the face of potential attacks. 

“We have determined a simple rule: Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively,” Netanyahu said to Israeli air force personnel at the Tel Nof Air Base, south of Tel Aviv.

While at the base, the Israeli leader also received an update on Israel’s activity during the war in Gaza from the deputy base commander and squadron commander, according to his office. 

The top US humanitarian official said Wednesday it is “credible” to assess that famine is already happening in parts of Gaza.

Although US officials have been sounding the alarm about the imminent risk of famine in the enclave, United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power is the first official to publicly agree with an assessment that famine is already taking place.

Power, speaking at a congressional hearing, was asked about an assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and whether it “is plausible or likely that parts of Gaza, and particularly northern Gaza, are already experiencing famine.”

“The methodology that the IPC used is one that we had our experts scrub,” Power said. “It’s one that’s relied upon in other settings and that is their assessment and we believe that assessment is credible.”

“So there’s, famine is already occurring there?” the administrator was asked by Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro.
“That is – yes,” she replied.

Power noted that the rate of malnutrition in northern Gaza before October 7 “was almost zero. And it is now one in three … kids.”

Some background: An IPC analysis last month stated that all 2.2 million people in Gaza do not have enough food to eat, with half of the population on the brink of starvation and famine projected to arrive in the north “anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” It is unclear if this is the analysis cited in the hearing.

Why this matters: The assessment is likely to fuel further calls for the Biden administration to put restrictions on its military aid to Israel. Top officials, including the US president himself, have told Israeli officials they must do more immediately to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk changes in US policy.

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