April 17, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has urged the world’s largest economies to coordinate sanctions against Iran to show a “united front.” 

Iran's large-scale attack on Israel over the weekend has raised global concerns that it would escalate conflict in the region.

“We want to see coordinated sanctions against Iran,” Cameron said ahead of a G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Capri, Italy on Wednesday.

“I think there is more we can do to show a united front that Iran is behind so much of the malign activity in this region," he told reporters in Israel, where he and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attended talks with top Israeli officials in the wake of Iran’s aerial attack.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the United States would impose new sanctions on Iran.

"We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions,” he said. 

Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 16 people in Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to the Civil Defense Directorate in the besieged enclave.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told CNN that at around 2:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, a resident had received a telephone warning from Israeli forces to evacuate the building in which they were living in Gaza City's Al Tuffah neighborhood. Basal said that the residents evacuated the building, but 15 minutes later, a six-story building nearby was struck. Nine people were killed, among them two children, a woman and a man, Basal said.

CNN is seeking comment from the Israel Defense Forces about the strike in Al Tuffah and other airstrikes carried out over the last 24 hours.

On Tuesday night, an Israeli airstrike that hit the Yabna refugee camp in Rafah killed seven Palestinians, according to the Civil Defense Directorate. The Civil Defense said the casualties included four children and two women. It said that Israeli planes targeted the home of the Abu El-Honoud family, where several displaced people were sheltering.

Earlier on Tuesday, a strike that targeted Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 13 people, including seven children, according to hospital officials.

The IDF said Wednesday that its troops were continuing activities in central Gaza, and that Israeli planes “eliminated a number of terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure." They said "one of the strikes was on a terrorist cell operating an armed drone toward IDF troops in the area.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has urged his government not to respond militarily to Iran's weekend attacks, saying that the Jewish state had already punished the Islamic Republic "in a humiliating and powerful way."

While Iran's attack was “despicable,” Olmert said, "the state of Israel proved its power, strength and capability when it’s prepared, and not indifferent or arrogant."

He said that launching a "painful" response against Iran would result in "another round of their strikes and our counter-strikes — which is exactly what we want to prevent.”

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attended talks with top officials in Israel on Wednesday morning, in the wake of Iran’s aerial attack over the weekend.

The UK was among the nations that helped the Israeli military intercept a barrage of Iranian strikes on Israel. In the meetings, Cameron reinforced international pressure on Israel to not escalate tensions with Iran.

"It’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act," he told reporters in Israel.

Cameron said he would discuss these points with both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he held a “warm discussion” with Cameron and Baerbock.

Terror listing: During the meetings, Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, asked the visiting British and German foreign ministers to designate the Iranian government as a terror organization and impose sanctions on Iran's missile project. 

Earlier this week, Cameron told the BBC that “We’ve sanctioned the IRGC … in its entirety, and we’ll continue to look at what further steps we can do.” But the UK government has not declared the IRGC a terror group.

The United States will impose new sanctions targeting Tehran after Iran's large-scale attack on Israel over the weekend, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Most of the 300 projectiles, the majority of which are believed to have been launched from inside of Iran’s territory, were intercepted by Israel and its allies. Iran said it attacked Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its diplomatic compound in Syria.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

Here are the latest developments in the region:

Israel said some of Iran's missiles on Saturday were launched from Iraq, but Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani denied it to CNN Tuesday.

Al-Sudani spoke with Amanpour from Washington, D.C., after he met with US President Joe Biden on Monday. Both leaders discussed the importance of de-escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The United States will impose new sanctions targeting Tehran after Iran's attack on Israel over the weekend.

“Following Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel, President Biden is coordinating with allies and partners, including the G7, and with bipartisan leaders in Congress, on a comprehensive response,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a statement.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier Tuesday that the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

“From this weekend’s attack to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers," she said at a news conference.

Ireland's newly appointed prime minister told CNN that Israel's sense of reason has been "replaced by revenge" as he addressed recent tensions between the Israeli and Irish governments.  

In his first television interview since being appointed last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris hit back at recent criticisms from the Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich, accusing the country of being "on the wrong side of history" when it comes to the war in Gaza. 

The prime minister doubled down on his call for "an immediate cessation of hostilities" in Gaza and his plan to convince fellow European Union leaders to formally recognize the state of Palestine. Harris stated that a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza "involves a number of countries that are like-minded coming together to recognize the state of Palestine." 

The Israeli foreign ministry has condemned Ireland's intention to recognize Palestinian statehood, maintaining in a news release last week that doing so would be awarding Hamas a "prize for terrorism."

The Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes killed three Hezbollah fighters, including two commanders, in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. 

Muhammad Hussein Shahouri, "the Commander of the Rockets and Missiles Unit of Radwan Forces' Western Region," was killed in an airstrike in Kfar Dounine in south Lebanon, an IDF statement said.

Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, "an operative of Hezbollah's Rockets and Missiles Unit," was also killed in the same airstrike, the IDF added.

Earlier, the IDF said in a separate statement that its airstrike killed Ismail Youssef Bazz, "the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector, in the area of Ain Ebel in Lebanon," in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of its three fighters without providing details on the circumstances of their deaths or ranks.