First aid shipment to Gaza through Ashdod Port enters the Gaza Strip
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown
The first shipment of aid to the Gaza Strip to be delivered into Ashdod Port was transferred to Gaza Wednesday, according to the Israeli military.
The Israel Defense Forces said eight World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour entered via the Kerem Shalom Crossing after being inspected at Ashdod.
Israel earlier this month announced its decision to facilitate aid deliveries via the port.
At the time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the development but said the “real test” would be to see whether aid was “effectively reaching people who it needed throughout Gaza.”
CNN has reached out to the WFP for comment.
Israeli military says it killed and arrested militants during operation in northern Gaza
From CNN's Benjamin Brown
The Israeli military claims to have killed and arrested several militants during an operation in the civilian area of Beit Hanoun in the northeastern Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had raided a building complex that included two schools after receiving "intelligence that terrorists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists organizations were located in the building and using civilians present there as human shields."
CNN is not able to independently confirm the claims made by the IDF.
The IDF said it told civilians to leave the building before entering during its joint operation with the Israel Security Agency, Israel's domestic security agency, also known as Shin Bet or Shabak.
What Gazans told CNN: People living in the area said Israeli military vehicles began an operation there on Monday afternoon, firing shots and rounds of artillery shelling. Local residents said that Israeli forces had surrounded three schools early Tuesday morning, including one where hundreds of people had been sheltering. They ordered people to leave the schools and detained dozens of men, including some elderly people and teenagers over the age of 15, according to residents. An elderly woman who had been sheltering in one of the schools said Israeli soldiers came in the middle of the night and arrested several men and women.
Nearly 14,000 children killed in Gaza since war began, according to UNICEF
From CNN's Hande Atay Alam
More than 13,800 children have been killed in Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7, according to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell.
"Thousands have been injured and thousands more are on the brink of famine," she said during a news conference in New York, according to a statement from her organization.
In a separate statement, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Womensaid that "one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes" in Gaza. The statement added that more than 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and 6,000 of them left 19,000 orphaned children behind.
UNICEF communication specialist Tess Ingram, who recently visited Gaza, said during a news conference in Genevaon Tuesday that what struck her was the number of wounded children she saw.
"Not just in the hospitals, but on the streets, in their makeshift shelters, going about their now permanently altered lives," she said.
CNN cannot independently verify death numbers due to lack of access to the strip.
German airline says it will avoid Iranian airspace following weekend attacks on Israel
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown
Germany’s Lufthansa airline has announced it will extend its suspension of flights to the capitals of Iran and Lebanon due to the security situation in the region.
Flights to Tehran and Beirut will remain canceled up to and including April 30, Lufthansa said in a statement Wednesday. The airline also said it would continue not to use Iranian airspace until the end of the month.
“The Lufthansa Group is continuously monitoring and assessing the security situation in the Middle East and is in close contact with the authorities,” the airline said.
Lufthansa first suspended flights to the Iranian capital of Tehran last week and had already once extended its suspension.
French president calls for widening sanctions against Iran
From CNN’s Joseph Ataman
French President Emmanuel Macron called for widening sanctions against Iran that can also target industries supporting missiles and drones production.
“Our duty is to broaden these sanctions,” he said Wednesday while in Brussels for a meeting between European leaders.
His comments comes after more than 300 projectiles – including around 170 drones and over 120 ballistic missiles – were fired toward Israel in a retaliatory aerial attack by Iran on Saturday.
Iranian drones have been widely used in other conflicts, including by Russia against Ukrainian infrastructure targets.
Hardline Israeli minister calls for "disproportionate" response to Iranian attack that will "rock Tehran"
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London and Tamar Michaelis in Jerusalem
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Israel’s response to Iran’s attack should inflict a “disproportionate toll” and “rock Tehran” to deter Iran from future strikes.
Smotrich said Israel’s response to Iran’s missile and drone attack should make Tehran “regret the moment they even thought about firing” and be “fierce, severe and inflict a disproportionate toll.”
Smotrich, who is technically also a minister in Israel’s defense ministry due to a deal struck in coalition agreements, told Israel’s Army Radio(GLZ)that the nature of Israel’s response would “shape [Israel’s] position in the Middle East.
The response, he said, “should rock Tehran, so everyone there will realize they shouldn’t mess with us,” he said, adding that “this is the language spoken in the Middle East.” The minister, who is head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, also said that Israel should maintain its strategic ties with the United States and other partners but must prevent itself from finding itself in a “bear-hug, which will limit and make us incapable.”
Key context: Smotrich is not a member of Israel’s war cabinet, which the security cabinet has authorized to decide on how to respond to the Iranian attack.
As tensions in the region intensify, many world leaders have urged restraint as Israel weighs the size and scope of its response to Iran.
Israeli fighter jets target southern Lebanon after Hezbollah strikes
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London
Israeli fighter jets have struck alleged Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after 18 Israelis were injured when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group attacked a village in northern Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they struck Hezbollah military compounds and terror infrastructure in the areas of Naqoura and Yarine in southern Lebanon in response hours after Wednesday’s attack.
The IDF said that three civilians were among the 18 people injured in the attack, the rest being soldiers.
As Israel weighs its response to Iran, foreign leaders want restraint. Here's what to know
From CNN staff
Israel is weighing up how to respond to Iran's unprecedented strikes on the country during the weekend, as the British and German foreign ministers visited the country to urge restraint.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog both met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday.
Their meeting happened as 18 people were injured by a Hezbollah strike in northern Lebanon, according to a hospital in the region. Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday that its missiles and drones hit the military headquarters in northern Israel in response to deaths of its fighters on Tuesday.
Here's what to know if you're just joining us:
- International pressure: The UK's Cameron reinforced international pressure on Israelto not escalate tensions with Iran. He also urged the G7 — the world’s largest economies — to coordinate sanctions against Iran to show a “united front.”
- Iran warning: Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi warned Wednesday that the “slightest” attack by Israel on Iran will be “dealt with fiercely and severely."
- Gaza death toll: The health ministry in Gaza said in a statement onWednesday that 56 people were killed and 89 were injured in the strip over the past 24 hours as a result of Israeli operations.The ministry said that 33,899 people have been killed and 76,664 injured since October 7. CNN cannot verifythefigures,andtheministrydoes not provide a breakdown of civiliansandfighters amongthecasualties.
- Escalation warnings: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also urged his government not to respond militarily to Iran's weekend attacks, saying that Israel had already punished Iran "in a humiliating and powerful way."
- Aid guarantees: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged governments to do everything they can “to halt the increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” by guaranteeing international aid. He also urged international action for what he calls the “rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank.”
- Beit Hanoun operation: People living in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza said Israeli military vehicles began an operation there on Monday afternoon, firing shots and rounds of artillery shelling. Residents told CNN that Israeli forces surrounded three schools, including one early Tuesday morning where hundreds of people have been sheltering.
- UN aid: The UN and Israel continue to disagree on the delivery of aid across Gaza. Israel is blaming the UN for failing to distribute the aid, while the UN says Israel is being obstructive and denying 41% of requests.
- US boat fire: A US Navy ship en route to the eastern Mediterranean to help the US military set up a pier for aid to Gaza had to turn back last week after experiencing a fire, a Navy spokesperson told CNN.
Israel accuses UN commission of antisemitic statements after UN says Israel is obstructing October 7 probe
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London and Tamar Michaelis in Jerusalem
Israel has accused members of a United Nations fact-finding commission into war crimes in the region of having "a track record of antisemitic and anti-Israel statements" after a UN commissioner accused Israel of actively obstructing efforts to collect evidence from victims and firsthand witnesses of Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
“The 1200 people murdered (in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7), the women and girls raped, the hostages taken into Gaza, know too well that they will never get any justice or the dignified treatment they deserve from the Commission of Inquiry and its members, who have a track record of antisemitic and anti-Israel statements,” Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva told CNN.
The Israeli mission to the UN did not provide any evidence or further information to support its claims.
Accusations of obstruction: The UN Commission of Inquiry has been collecting evidence of war crimes committed by all sides since October 7.
Its commissioner, Chris Sidoti, said Tuesday that the Israeli government was actively obstructing “efforts to receive evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims to the events that occurred in southern Israel.”
Israel’s UN mission told CNN that Israel had been conducting “thorough internal investigations” into the crimes committed by Hamas during its attack on Israel and that it was “meticulously collecting evidence and testimonies in order to render justice to the victims.”
“Moreover, independent mechanisms and institutions, including United Nations Representatives, have been to Israel and met with survivors and victims of the terrorist attack,” Israel’s UN mission added.
