March 26, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday to convene with Iranian officials and discuss "the ongoing war in Gaza," the militant group said in a statement.

Haniyeh and his delegation are scheduled to hold “a series of meetings and discussions with Iranian leadership, about political and on-the-ground developments" in the Gaza Strip, the statement said.

The Hamas chief, who is based in Qatar, is scheduled to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian among others, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Calls for a ceasefire: It comes a day after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Both Hamas and the Palestinian authority welcomed the resolution. The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, criticized members for passing a measure that called for a ceasefire “without conditioning it on the release of the hostages.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani said the move was a “positive yet insufficient step” in a statement on Tuesday, calling for “measures to put the resolution into practice,” IRNA reported.

Human rights groups: Following the UN vote on Monday, Amnesty International said Israeli authorities "must immediately halt their brutal bombing campaign in Gaza and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid." It added that, "Civilian hostages must be immediately released."

An Israeli airstrike late Sunday killed at least 21 Palestinians at Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, including six women and 10 children, according to the local Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Worshipers were performing nightly taraweeh prayers around that time, one eyewitness told CNN. 

“We prayed taraweeh together with the children. Suddenly, airstrikes started bombarding the area,” said Darwish Abu Al-Khair. "I am a pediatrician, and I came here with my family seeking safety. They said Deir al-Balah is safe. Where should we go? 

Phone torches lit up the black sky over Deir al-Balah, as dozens of Palestinians scoured for survivors following the airstrike in the rubble of a blown-out residential building. 

Further south, in the city of Rafah, a barrage of Israeli airstrikes killed at least 30 civilians, including 11 women and 10 children, according to the Palestine Center for Human Rights. Eight members of the Al Kurdi family were killed after their home in the Al Jeneina neighborhood was struck at iftar time – when worshipers break their fast at sundown. 

“People were eating,” one man at the local Abu Yousef Al Najjar hospital, where bodies of the dead had arrived, told CNN. “Look around, it’s children and young people. No one got the chance to break their fast."  

What the IDF says: Responding to CNN's questions about the attack on Deir al-Balah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is “operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.” CNN has reached out to the IDF regarding the attacks on civilian homes in Rafah and has not yet heard back. CNN is unable to independently verify the figures due to lack of access to the Gaza Strip. 

The Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza is "out of service" after the Israeli military forced medical staff to evacuate the facility, Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) warned on Tuesday.

At least 27 PRCS staff and six patients were evacuated from the hospital, with help from the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs. The bodies of two people who had been killed inside the hospital were included in the evacuation.

CNN cannot independently verify the IDF's statement.

Israeli forces wounded displaced people sheltering at the hospital, who later died, the PRCS said on Sunday.

Remember: Hospitals are protected civilian objects under international humanitarian law. It is illegal, with few exceptions, to attack hospitals. A hospital can lose its special protected status only if it is used by an armed group for acts that are “harmful to the enemy.”

But, even if a hospital loses its special status, the wounded and sick inside are still protected by the principle of proportionality. A warning must be given, and time for safe evacuation, before carrying out an attack.

The UK carried out its first solo airdrop into Gaza on Monday, dropping over 11 tons of food aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave. 

A Royal Air Force plane flew from Amman, in Jordan, to release the aid along the northern Gaza coastline "as part of the Jordanian-led international aid mission," the UK Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday. 

The UK stressed its commitment to ensuring that the food aid, including "water, rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned goods and baby formula," reaches those who "need it most." 

Aid distribution warnings: Humanitarian agencies have criticized airdrops as an inefficient and degrading way of getting aid to Gazans, urging Israeli authorities to lift controls on land crossings into the enclave.

There have been calls on allies of Israel, including the UK and the US, to put pressure on Israel to allow more relief into Gaza via land crossings.

British defense secretary Grant Shapps on Tuesday said Israel should "provide port access and open more land crossings in order to increase incoming aid deliveries to Gaza." 

The Israeli military launched attacks in northern and southern Gaza on Tuesday, despite a UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said "troops are operating in the area of Al Amal in Khan Yunis; the IDF and ISA are continuing to conduct precise operational activity in the Shifa Hospital."

Israel's Air Force claimed targets on 60 sites across the Gaza Strip over the past day. CNN cannot independently verify the IDF's statements.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz insisted that Israel "will not cease fire" after the UN Security Council on Monday passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the remaining weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza.

Katz added that Israel "will destroy Hamas and continue to fight until the last of the hostages returns home," in a statement on X.

Human rights warnings: Israel's military campaign in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has destroyed neighborhoods, wiped out families, and exposed the population of more than 2.2 million people to the risk of famine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to scrap a planned delegation to Washington — a trip President Joe Biden personally requested a week ago — amounts to a low point in the ever-deepening rift between the two men.

Netanyahu did not communicate directly with Biden over the decision, a US official said, and the president has no plans to phone the prime minister to discuss the matter.

The White House viewed the cancelation as an overreaction and the move has perplexed US officials.

The talks in Washington were set to occur at a crucial moment, not only for the trajectory of the conflict but for gauging Washington’s influence on its ally.

US officials had planned to offer the Israeli delegation alternative options for going after Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, hoping to forestall what the US believes would amount to a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel launched a full-scale ground invasion.

Netanyahu remains determined to push ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah, even without US support.

Read more on the rupture between the leaders.

When Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday, Gallant is expected to ask for more US weaponry and equipment to support Israel’s war in Gaza, US officials said.

It is an extremely delicate request because US weapons sales to Israel are under intense scrutiny by lawmakers and critics of President Joe Biden’s ongoing support for Israel.

It also comes as the US and Israel's relationship hit a new low point after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrapped a delegation's Washington visit with US officials to discuss Israel’s military plans for southern Gaza.

According to a senior administration official, Gallant will be told that the various cases of weapons sales are being worked on. “There is scrutiny, but no policy decision to deny” the provision of additional weapons to Israel, the official told CNN.

Some background: The Biden administration has been debating whether and how to condition certain forms of military assistance to Israel. Despite the heightened tensions, the growing weapons sales from the US remain top of mind for Israeli defense officials, who have been pushing their US counterparts for faster approval and progress on the weapons transfers.

Read the full story.

Tensions between the US and Israel were further exposed on Monday when Washington stood aside and allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The US decision to abstain from the vote prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a scheduled trip to the US by two of his top advisers, two Israeli officials said.

US and Israeli officials were expected to discuss alternatives to a planned Israeli military ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza.

Despite US pressure, Netanyahu is determined to launch a ground offensive into the Gazan city, where about 1.4 million people are sheltering in dire conditions.

Here are the latest developments in the conflict:

China welcomed the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Gaza and Israel that was approved on Monday, hailing it as "unequivocal and correct in its direction" in comparison to a resolution put forward by the US last week that did not pass.

Zhang also highlighted the "unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza, saying "this resolution, if fully and effectively implemented, could still bring long-awaited hope."

China also urged an end to civilian harm and called for humanitarian supplies to be able to enter Gaza "in sufficient quantities" to reach people in need. It hailed the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and urged all parties to fully restore funding, as well as welcomed efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the US "to promote the release of the hostages."

Last week, the US put forward a resolution calling for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire … in connection with the release of all remaining hostages,” which failed after China and Russia vetoed it. It came after the US vetoed prior UNSC resolutions citing concerns they would jeopardize sensitive negotiations.