February 4, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East has moved here.

The United States military struck Houthi anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles in Yemen Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said, one day after joint US-UK strikes against the Iran-backed militant group

US forces struck an anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea at approximately 4 a.m. Yemen time Sunday, CENTCOM said.

Ninety minutes later, US forces struck a Houthi land attack cruise missile. The rebel group has used these types of missiles to attempt to strike Israel, as the Houthis claim their operations are carried out in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

At 10:30 a.m. Yemen time, US forces targeted four more anti-ship cruise missiles, saying they presented a threat to merchant vessels and US warships in the region.

More context: These strikes, which have becoming increasingly common as the US goes after Houthi weapons, come one day after a US-UK joint operation struck 36 different Houthi targets across 13 different sites in Yemen.

US Senators unveiled a long-awaited border deal and foreign aid package with assistance for Ukraine and Israel on Sunday, paving the way for a key vote in the chamber this week in which the legislation is at risk of failing and, if it does pass, setting up a clash with the House.

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the sweeping $118.2 billion legislative package includes roughly $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, as well as humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

It’s the product of months of bipartisan negotiations with a trio of senators — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, one of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans. But former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have attacked the border deal as too weak, and their opposition threatens to derail the legislation.

If Congress is unable to pass the legislative package, senators will have to decide whether to try to pass aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan separately from border and immigration measures.

Johnson announced Saturday that the House will vote this week on a standalone bill providing aid for Israel. The Louisiana Republican called on the Senate to take up that bill swiftly, ratcheting up pressure on senators to abandon their efforts to keep Israel aid linked with other issues.

Read more about the package.

The Royal Jordanian Air Force worked with the Dutch Air Force Sunday to successfully airdrop aid and medical supplies twice in the vicinity of the Jordanian field hospital in northern Gaza, according to officials in both countries.

The drop included humanitarian and medical supplies, delivered using GPS-guided parachutes, according to a statement published by the Jordanian Armed Forces on Sunday.

The Dutch Ministry of Defense confirmed the successful humanitarian mission, and chef José Andrés, founder of the NGO World Central Kitchen, said he was also part of the effort.

Earlier in January, French and Jordanian air forces dropped 7 tons of urgent humanitarian and medical aid to another field hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

A destroyed building is pictured at the site of a US airstrike in al-Qaim, Iraq, on February 3.

The US destroyed or damaged 84 out of 85 targets in a sweeping series of airstrikes on Friday in Syria and Iraq, according to two US defense officials, with no current indications of Iranian casualties. 

All but one of the 85 targets were “destroyed or functionally damaged,” the officials said, citing a preliminary battlefield damage assessment. A complete post-strike analysis is still under way, but one official says there are currently no indications that members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed as part of the operations.

On Friday, in a briefing with reporters after the strikes, Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the targets were chosen “with an idea that there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities.”

These undated photos from the US Army Reserve Command show Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23.

Remember: In response to a drone attack that killed three US service members and wounded scores more in Jordan last weekend, the US targeted facilities and weapons used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran-backed militias in both Iraq and Syria on Friday.

President Joe Biden’s administration has faced criticism that it waited too long to respond to the deadly drone strike in Jordan, which gave the Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria time to move their personnel. Sims said on Friday that good weather conditions for the operation did not present itself until Friday night. 

Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes, far larger than previous US operations in Iraq or Syria, were only the start of the US response. 

The Houthi rebel group in Yemen projected “robustness” Sunday, criticizing ongoing strikes by the United States and United Kingdom and saying their military capabilities are resistant to such attacks.

The US and UK hit at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, with US forces striking an additional Houthi anti-ship cruise missile early Sunday local time.

In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Houthi spokesperson Mohammad Abdul Salam highlighted the “resilience” and “gradual enhancement” of the Houthis’ military capabilities, saying they are “not easy to destroy.”

Abdul Salam also warned that such “aggression” by the US and UK would not yield any positive outcomes for the involved nations, but rather “increase” the regional issues and problems.

The statement also reaffirmed the Houthis’ support for Gaza. The group has said its attacks on global shipping lanes in the Red Sea — which prompted the US and UK strikes — are aimed at pressuring Israel to end its offensive in the enclave.

At least 14 Palestinians were killed, and many others injured, by three Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza, a doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told CNN on Sunday.

The strikes hit the Al-Shuhada Mosque in the city of Deir al-Balah, according to the doctor. Video obtained by CNN from the western part of the city showed destruction at the mosque, with civilians trying to rescue people from under the rubble.

Video from the hospital showed scenes of multiple dead bodies in plastic bags Sunday and many people, including multiple children, being treated in the emergency room.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CNN is unable to independently verify who was responsible for the destruction.

More strikes this weekend: The news from Deir al-Balah comes after airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah killed at least 17 people in the densely populated El-Geneina neighborhood Saturday, according to Dr. Marwan Al-Homss, the director of Abu Youssuf Al-Najjar Hospital.

Responding to an inquiry from CNN about the Rafah strikes, the IDF stated Saturday that they had no knowledge of any strike occurring at the specific time and location provided by CNN.

The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health in the strip says at least 27,365 people have been killed and 66,630 injured in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s ensuing offensive in the enclave.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is pictured during an interview with CNN on February 4.

The US will take “further action” after conducting major airstrikes over the weekend against Iranian-backed militias who have carried out attacks on US troops in the Middle East, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.

Sullivan, in response to Bash asking whether that meant the US was planning additional strikes, said, “What it means is that we will take further action.

“I’m not going to, obviously, describe the character of that action because I don’t want to telegraph our punches,” he said, “but there will be further action.”

Read the full story here.

At least 83 trucks have entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel, while four trucks carrying cooking gas tankers have entered through Egypt’s Rafah crossing on Sunday, the spokesman for the Crossings Authority Hisham Adwan told CNN Sunday.

This comes after hundreds of Israeli protesters blocked aid trucks from driving into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing for several days last week, demanding that hostages held in Gaza be freed before any more aid was delivered into the enclave. 

Aid began entering the strip when Israel declared the area around the crossing a closed military zone due to last week’s demonstrations.

Israel’s Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) – which falls under the Israeli Defense Ministry and oversees infrastructure, humanitarian and economic issues – said at least 79 aid trucks crossed on Friday, delivering food, medical supplies, and shelter equipment.

Measures have been taken to distribute aid into Gaza after the United States, Egypt and the United Nations reached an agreement to close the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana crossings on Saturdays to allow the UN to distribute goods inside Gaza that day, a statement by COGAT said Sunday. 

COGAT announced in the update that the IDF would “pause operations in A-Sheikh Muhammad al-Yamini - west, in the town of Dier al Balah, Gaza, in order to enable movement of humanitarian aid” between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time on Sunday.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels say they “will meet escalation with escalation” after the US and UK struck at least 36 Houthi targets at several locations in Yemen on Saturday.

The strikes mark a second day of major US operations against Iran-linked militia groups in the Middle East.

Here’s what you need to know…

US and UK strikes

Saturday’s attack: The US and UK with the support of other countries “specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars,” according to a joint statement. They said their “aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea,” where the Houthis have been attacking shipping.

Houthis vow to retaliate: In response to the strikes, Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi Political Council, wrote on X Saturday that the “American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered,” adding that the Houthis’s “military operations against Israel will continue until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped.”

Houthis had “repeated warnings”: On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the strikes were carried out after “repeated warnings” were issued to the Houthis, whose attacks “must stop.” He added that their “reckless actions are putting innocent lives at risk, threatening the freedom of navigation and destabilising the region.”

Political solution “difficult”: The strikes in Yemen come a day after the US hit at least 85 targets associated with pro-Iranian militia groups in Iraq and Syria in response to a drone strike that killed three American soldiers in Jordan. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said recent strikes by the US in the Middle East, and its decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization, have “complicated the situation and made it more difficult to reach a political solution,” according to the state news agency, IRNA.

Gaza conflict

Palestinian death toll rises: Israeli attacks have killed at least 127 people and injured 178 others in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health in the strip said Sunday. It added that altogether 27,365 Palestinians had been killed and 66,630 injured in Gaza since October 7.

Biden not giving war “full backing”: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that US President Joe Biden is not giving Israel his “full backing” in its war against Hamas. Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and a member of Israel’s war cabinet, called his comments “irresponsible” and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “call (him) to order.”

Thousands protest in Israel: For the third weekend in a row, thousands of people took part in demonstrations in parts of Israel on Saturday to demand a change in government and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Some say the government’s actions show that “its citizens are not at the top of its mind,” as anger over Netanyahu’s handling of the hostage crisis rises.

Thousands of Hezbollah targets hit: The Israeli Defense Forces says it has attacked more than 3,400 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and more than 50 in Syria since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7. Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the aim is to stop Hezbollah’s “supply chain of ammunition and missiles” being smuggled from Iran to Syria and then to Lebanon.

Houthi tribesmen gather to show defiance after US and UK strikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen, on February 4.

The US and UK have conducted strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen with the support of several other countries, hitting at least 30 targets across at least 10 locations, according to officials.

The strikes in Yemen follow Houthi attacks on international shipping lanes and US warships in the Red Sea which the Houthis say are in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Here’s what you need to know about the group:

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), emerged in the 1990s and is one side of the Yemeni civil war that has raged for nearly a decade – a conflict that spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to beat back the Houthis.

Eight years later, the Houthis remain in control of much of Yemen, particularly in the north. .

The group are believed to have been funded, armed and trained by Iran, and form part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” – an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic.

The Shiite-Muslim Houthis are now seen in parts of the largely-Sunni Muslim world and beyond as champions of the Palestinian cause.

While the Palestinian cause has always been central to Houthi ideology, experts say their actions in the Red Sea come with other benefits, such as projecting their power beyond Yemen.

You can read more on the Houthis here.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 127 people and injured 178 others in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health in the strip said Sunday.

CNN cannot independently verify the number of casualties on the ground.

The health ministry added that altogether 27,365 Palestinians had been killed and 66,630 injured in Gaza since October 7.

As of January 8, according to Palestinian statistics, about one in every 100 people in Gaza had been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.

Israel believes that it has killed two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas militant in its intense campaign to eliminate the armed group from the Gaza Strip, a ratio an IDF spokesperson described to CNN last month as “tremendously positive.”

More than 1,200 people were killed and some 200 others were kidnapped in the October 7 terror attack in southern Israel. Some 130 hostages remain in Gaza.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron listens during a meeting at the Government's Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 1.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Sunday that the UK and US carried out strikes on Houthi military targets after “repeated warnings” to the Iran-backed group. 

“The UK and the US have carried out further strikes on Houthi military targets,” Cameron said in a statement posted on X, adding: “We have issued repeated warnings to the Houthis.”

“Their reckless actions are putting innocent lives at risk, threatening the freedom of navigation and destabilising the region,” Cameron continued.

“The Houthi attacks must stop,” he wrote. 

Saturday’s strikes in Yemen: The US and UK conducted strikes with the support of several other countries on at least 30 Houthi targets across 13 locations in Yemen from air and surface platforms, according to officials. 

In a joint statement with Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand released Saturday, they said: “Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea.”

Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a top member of the Houthi Political Council, warned on X Saturday that the Houthis “will meet escalation with escalation,” and will continue their military operations against Israel “until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped.”

US President Joe Biden speaks to the media in Washington, DC, on January 30.

US President Joe Biden is not fully supporting Israel’s goals in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told the Wall Street Journal.

“If Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different,” Ben Gvir, head of the nationalistic Jewish Power party, added.

Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and a member of Israel’s war cabinet, hit back at Ben Gvir, calling his comments “irresponsible” in a post on X and urging Netanyahu to “call (him) to order.”

“It is permissible to have disputes, even with our largest and most important ally (the United States), but they must be conducted in the relevant forums and not in irresponsible statements in the media, which harm the strategic relations of the State of Israel, the security of the state, and the war effort at this time,” he said.

Netanyahu is under pressure from all sides, as disputes in his coalition and war cabinet threaten to bring the government to a breaking point, and large rallies across the country are demanding he step down and send the country to an election.

Protesters gather to stage a demonstration demanding the resignation of the government and the holding of early elections in Tel Aviv, Israel on February 3.

Thousands of people protested in parts of Israel on Saturday to demand a change in government and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.

In the coastal town of Caesarea, protesters rallied in the rain before marching toward one of the private residences of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In Tel Aviv, protesters gathered at Habima Square to call for immediate elections in what was the third weekend in a row of demonstrations directly targeting Netanyahu and his government.

Many waved Israeli flags and held up signs with images of the Israeli hostages, calling on the government to “bring them home.”

“We will go out to demonstrate that our future depends only on us - we the people will determine our destiny!,” the said. 

Pressure mounts: With more protests scheduled for next Saturday, the demonstrations are becoming a regular occurrence.

Last Spring and Summer, mass weekly protests against Netanyahu and his government occurred over planned judicial reform, but were put on hold after the brutal October 7 attack. With the anger over Netanyahu’s handling of the hostage crisis rising, such demonstrations could soon be returning.

US-led coalition conducts airstrikes in Yemen in response to the Houthi aggression at the Red Sea on February 3.

The US and the United Kingdom have conducted strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen from air and surface platforms — including F/A-18s — on over 30 targets across 13 locations, according to officials.

The US and UK carried out the strikes with the support of several other countries, according to a joint statement on Saturday.

The Houthis said US and UK warplanes struck multiple provinces in Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa.

Two US destroyers fired Tomahawk missiles as part of the strikes, a US official told CNN. The USS Gravely and USS Carney fired the land-attack cruise missiles and F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier were also involved, officials said.

For context: Strikes on consecutive days come as President Joe Biden’s administration has vowed a “multi-tiered” response to a drone attack that killed three US service members and wounded more than 40 last weekend.

Seeking to avoid a regional war with Tehran, the US has not targeted Iran directly, instead going after some of its most powerful proxies in the region. It is an indirect way of trying to send a message to Iran’s leadership, which has grown increasingly nervous about the actions of some of the militant organizations it backs, CNN has reported. Iran funds, arms and supplies these groups to different degrees, but its leadership does not control them directly.

The strikes in Yemen are distinct from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping lanes and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is a retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.

CNN’s Eyad Kourdi contributed to this post.

US forces struck an additional Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen early Sunday local time, according to US Central Command.

The strike was conducted in “self defense” against a Houthi cruise missile “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea” at 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, US Central Command said in a statement. 

US forces determined the cruise missile presented an “imminent threat” to US Navy ships and other vessels in the region.

The strike is a part of the US military’s effort to deter the Houthis from further disrupting the global shipping lanes in the Red Sea. 

Israel’s military has attacked more than 3,400 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and more than 50 in Syria since the war in Gaza broke out 120 days ago, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

At a press briefing Saturday, Hagari said Israel has been trying to stop Hezbollah’s “supply chain of ammunition and missiles,” which he alleged were being smuggled from Iran to Syria and then to Lebanon.

Hagari also said the Israeli military has deployed three divisions along the Lebanese border since October 7 – instead of the usual single division to try to thwart Hezbollah’s capabilities and protect people in northern Israel.

Hezbollah on Saturday said it had launched at least eight attacks on Israeli positions.

The IDF acknowledged that “a number of launches” were identified crossing from Lebanon to northern Israel, but said no injuries were reported and that it struck the sources of the fire.

A building is seen destroyed following a US airstrike in al-Qaim, Iraq, on February 3.

Recent strikes by the US military in the Middle East make it difficult to reach a political solution in the region, Iran’s foreign minister told the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen on Saturday, according to Iran’s state-run news agency.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments prior to US officials confirming the latest strikes Saturday on Houthi targets. The attacks follow multiple joint US-UK airstrikes on the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen last month.

During their meeting in Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian told Special Envoy Hans Grundberg that the US strikes and its decision to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization have “complicated the situation and made it more difficult to reach a political solution,” the state news agency, IRNA, reported. 

Amir-Abdollahian also called US strikes “the continuation of Washington’s wrong and failed approach to resolve issues by force and through militarism,” IRNA reported. 

Remember: The US also conducted major airstrikes on 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. 

The strikes in Yemen are distinct from the attacks in Iraq and Syria: The former is a response to ongoing Houthi attacks on international shipping and US warships in the Red Sea, while the latter is a retaliation for the deadly attack on US troops. But both target Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.

A US-led coalition conducts airstrikes in Yemen on Saturday.

Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a top member of the Houthi Political Council, said the group will continue its military operations until the siege on Gaza is lifted and vowed to respond to the latest US and UK strikes in Yemen.

In the group’s first reaction to the latest wave of attacks, he warned: “We will meet escalation with escalation.”

Al Bukhaiti wrote on X: