U.K. urges Netanyahu to avoid Iran escalation as Israeli war cabinet session delayed (2024)

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday its forces successfully engaged two unmanned aerial (UAV) vehicles in areas controlled by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on April 16.

"There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships," CENTCOM said in a statement.

The U.S. is planning to impose new sanctions targeting Iran's missile and drone program in the coming days and expects its allies will be following suit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Tuesday.

"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," Sullivan's statement said. "In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's Defense Ministry."

Sullivan added that the U.S. "continue[s] to work through the Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command to further strengthen and expand the successful integration of air and missile defense and early warning systems across the Middle East to further erode the effectiveness of Iran's missile and UAV capabilities."

The United Nations is still struggling to prevent famine in the Gaza Strip and while there had been some improvement in coordination with Israel, aid deliveries in the enclave still faced difficulties, a senior UN aid official said on Tuesday.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said aid deliveries within Gaza were facing significant checkpoint delays and that last week 41 percent of UN requests to deliver aid to northern Gaza were denied.

"We're dealing with this dance where we do one step forward, two steps backward, or two steps forward, one step backward, which leaves us basically always at the same point," De Domenico told reporters. "For every new opportunity that we've been given, we will find yet another challenge to deal with," he said. "So it's really, really difficult for us to scale up to where we would like to be."

"There has been a steady increase of the number of trucks that have entered," said De Domenico, adding that the U.N. did not know how many private aid deliveries Israel had allowed into northern Gaza. But he said the focus also needed to be on improving aid access within Gaza.

"The problem is it's not just about food. The problem is that famine is much more complex ... it's much bigger than simply bringing in flour," he said. "Water, sanitation and health are fundamental to curb famine."

The U.S. State Department will ask Israel for more information about the January death of 6-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab in Gaza, spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday, calling for a full investigation into the matter after a Washington Post report cast doubt on Israel's earlier explanation.

The terrified girl trapped in a car in Gaza with her dead family had begged for help in a phone call to rescuers, in which gunfire could be heard as she described Israeli forces drawing near. Relatives found her body 12 days later along with those of her aunt, uncle and their three children in their car near an ambulance and two dead ambulance workers who had tried to save her.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that an investigation had found Israeli armored vehicles were present in the area, contrary to the Israeli Defense Forces' claim that a preliminary investigation had found its forces were not within firing range of the car in which she was trapped.

"We're going to go back to the government of Israel and ask them for further information," Miller said at a press briefing, calling Hind Rajab's death "an unspeakable tragedy, something that never should have occurred and never should occur."

"We would still welcome a full investigation into this matter and how it occurred in the first place," Miller added.

Israel's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to an announcement by U.S. State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken discuss Iran's attack on Israel with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

"The Secretary and the Prime Minster underscored the importance of a coordinated diplomatic response and the need to avoid further escalation. They also reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Qatar relationship and the importance of continuing to work closely together in the days ahead to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages," read the announcement.

Iran's attack against Israel with over 300 UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles was a formal declaration of a multi-front war against Israel that previously was fought hiding behind its proxies of terror in Gaza, the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Damascus, Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

Iran has been orchestrating these proxies for years and continued in parallel its nuclear enrichment program to its most advanced level. While an Iranian reprisal was expected in recent days and even openly touted by Tehran, the regime may have allowed its hubris to severely overplay its hand and confirm overnight several regional truths.

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Here are the updates from day 193 of the war:

■ The Knesset's Finance Committee discussed canceling tax benefits for UNRWA, about two months after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that he would end funding to the organization.

■ Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the international community should stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from "stealing" attention away from Gaza by escalating his confrontation with Iran.

■ German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel on Tuesday for discussions on how to prevent an escalation of tensions in the region following Iran's attack over the weekend, she said in Berlin.

■ Three wounded in explosions of two drones in northern Israel; no alarms triggered.

■ The European Union is "exploring how to expand sanctions already imposed on Iran," following their attack on Israel, according to a report by Bloomberg.

■ An Israeli drone struck a vehicle in southeast Lebanon, killing senior Hezbollah field commander Ismail Yosef Baz. According to IDF, Baz was a senior commander in Hezbollah's military wing, and his rank is that of an IDF division commander.

■ Hezbollah says it hit the Iron Dome battery in the Upper Galilee.

■ Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Vladimir Putin by telephone that Tehran's strikes on Israel were limited and that the Islamic Republic was not interested in escalating, the Kremlin said.

■ The Saudi foreign minister said that international efforts towards a Gaza cease-fire were wholly insufficient and called for de-escalation efforts, in a press conference with his Pakistani counterpart during a visit to Islamabad.

■ Three were killed and several wounded in attacks on two vehicles in the southern Lebanese village of Shehabiya, and that there was an attack in Yarine, according to reports. The IDF then confirmed it killed the Hezbollah's Special Forces missile and rockets unit commanders.

■ Seven policemen, including officers, were killed in an Israeli attack in the east of Gaza City, according to the Hamas interior ministry.

■ British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in a call that escalation in the Middle East was in no one's interest after Britain helped Israel repel a direct aerial attack by Iran on Saturday.