live blog
The UN Security Council has rejected condemnation of the attack on the Iranian embassy compound. US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak on the phone today. All developments in the live blog.
According to the health authority there, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, 33,037 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. There are also 75,668 injured.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has called on Israel to take concrete steps to protect aid workers and Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. According to a statement from the US Department of Defense, Austin said in a phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant that coordination had repeatedly failed.
“Secretary Austin expressed outrage at the Israeli attack on a World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid convoy, which killed seven aid workers, including an American citizen,” a statement accompanying the conversation said. Austin also called on Galant to conduct a quick and transparent investigation, to publish the results of the investigation and to hold those responsible accountable.
The US military said US forces shot down an attacking anti-ship ballistic missile and two combat drones. These were launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia from Yemen towards the Red Sea. No injuries or damage were reported. “In addition, during this period, CENTCOM forces destroyed a mobile surface-to-air missile system in an area controlled by the Houthi militia,” the statement on Platform X said.
The UN Security Council failed to condemn an air strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria. The US, Britain and France rejected a UN Security Council statement drafted by Russia.
Diplomats reported that the United States said at a meeting on Tuesday that many of the facts about what happened on Monday in Damascus were still unclear. It has not yet been confirmed that the building hit was a diplomatic facility. France and Great Britain supported the USA.
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak by phone today. The AP news agency learned this from Washington government circles. The conversation is explosive given the White House’s growing frustration with Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip. Biden and Netanyahu last spoke to each other on March 18. The phone call is also likely to be about the Israeli air strike in which seven aid workers were killed – including an American citizen.
Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, is calling for new elections in September. The bodies of employees killed in an Israeli airstrike are said to have arrived in Egypt. All developments can be read in the live blog.