May 21, 2024 Israel-Hamas war, Iran president death news

Our live coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas has moved here.

The chief of staff for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has revealed new details about the hours after the presidential helicopter went missing.

Gholam Hossein Esmaili was in one of three helicopters returning from a dam inauguration ceremony on Iran’s border with the Azerbaijan, he said in an interview with IRINN state TV, and reported by Iran’s semi-official news agency Mehr News on Tuesday.

The helicopter carrying nine people ran into inclement weather on the way back and went missing, prompting an hours-long overnight search in the mountainous region.

On the return flight on Sunday, three helicopters took off at around 1 p.m. local time Sunday “while weather conditions in the area were normal,” Esmaili said, as cited by Mehr News.

He said the weather conditions in the mountainous region in Varzeghan — were the crash happened — were perfect at the start of the flight. 

Roughly 30 seconds into flying above the clouds, Esmaili said his pilot noticed the helicopter in the middle had disappeared. The pilot circled around to search for the president’s helicopter, he said.

Esmaili said several attempts were made to contact the president’s helicopter through radio devices before their helicopter continued its flight and landed at a nearby copper mine. Esmail said the pilot of the helicopter he was flying in was unable to decrease altitude because of the clouds. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and the head of the president’s protection unit, who were in the same chopper as Raisi, did not respond to repeated calls after the helicopter went missing, Esmaili said.

One person alive for three hours: Tabriz’s Friday prayer Imam, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Alehashem, was able to answer the deceased pilot’s phone and said the helicopter had crashed into a valley and he was in critical condition, Esmaili added.

Esmaili said after they found the location of the crashed helicopter, it was clear from the condition of the bodies of Raisi, Abdollahian and others that they “had died instantly.” 

Alehashem was alive for at least three hours after the crash and was able to speak to officials multiple times before he died, Esmaili said.  

Israeli officials presented their latest thinking about a potential Rafah incursion during a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in which the US side asked a lot of “hard questions,” according to a senior administration official.

The official noted that the two sides will continue those discussions, but that Israelis have been incorporating US feedback and concerns as they continue to work through those plans and that both sides share the joint goal of destroying Hamas.

As part of the US discussions with the Israelis, US officials also made a series of “specific requests” with regard to humanitarian aid that they have agreed to implement, according to the official.

One of these requests included helping facilitate aid distribution by getting the Israelis to agree to allow aid scanned in Cyprus to be sent directly to the Israeli port of Ashdod, bypassing Egypt.

Just today, over 370 pallets of aid were distributed in Gaza, according to the official.

Following the discussion, it’s also clear the process is “still very much underway” to reconcile what exactly the post-conflict, two-state phase looks like once the fighting is over as the US discusses these ideas with other Arab capitals and Israel, the official said.

In reference to the US-Saudi deal, the official said that they’re getting to the point where the “full package is very clear” but that the ongoing conflict in Gaza needs to recede to “open up space for this.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied allegations that he was starving Palestinians in Gaza as a method of war in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday, saying an arrest warrant application currently under review in the International Criminal Court (ICC) is based on a “pack of lies.”

The ICC’s application for warrants over the war in Gaza marked the first time the international court has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States.

The prime minister also reaffirmed his commitment to eradicating Hamas, which governs Gaza, before considering demilitarizing the Strip.

With more than 100 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, pressure has been growing for a deal that would see hostages released in exchange for a ceasefire.

But when asked about public polling showing that a majority of Israelis believe freeing hostages is a higher priority than military action, Netanyahu said you could not have one without the other.

Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Israel, where he is also facing an ongoing corruption trial. Critics have accused the prime minister of being beholden to members of his far-right coalition and prolonging the war to maintain his grip on power.

Speaking to Tapper, Netanyahu likened himself to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, claiming the arrest warrants were like putting Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on the docks alongside the American wartime president who oversaw the US’s mobilization during World War II.

Read more on Tapper’s interview with Netanyahu.

In these images taken from video, Israeli officials seize AP video equipment from an apartment block in Sderot, Southern Israel, on Tuesday, May 2.

The Associated Press on Tuesday said Israeli authorities had shut down its live camera feed showing Gaza and seized its equipment, in what the agency called an “abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcasters law.”

The White House urged Israel to reverse its decision, telling CNN that it had “concerns” over it. Press groups and Israel’s opposition leader also denounced the decision.

Israel later said it will return the camera equipment to the AP. The move to return the broadcasting equipment came after the White House expressed concerns, a White House official told CNN.

Here are other headlines you should know:

President Raisi funeral:

Developments on the ground

Ceasefire proposal

Humanitarian aid

Arrest warrants

Officials from Russia, India and Turkey plan to attend the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday. 

Here’s a current list of dignitaries attending the funeral:

Russia

Turkey

India

Afghanistan

CNN's Jake Tapper interviews Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, May 21.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has a “very clear plan” for the future in Gaza following the war there.

He told CNN’s Jake Tapper Tuesday that Israel’s first goal is to eliminate Hamas, before implementing “sustained demilitarization of Gaza” and finally reconstructing Gaza.

Resettling Gaza, however, was “never in the cards,” Netanyahu said.

Read more on Tapper’s interview with Netanyahu.

Palestinians grab aid from a truck that is being delivered into Gaza through a US-built pier, seen from central Gaza, on May 18.

None of the aid that has been unloaded from the temporary floating pier the US constructed off the coast of Gaza has been delivered to the broader Palestinian population, as the US works with the United Nations and Israel to identify safe delivery routes inside the enclave, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Several desperate Gazans intercepted trucks delivering aid from the pier over the weekend, leading the UN to suspend the delivery operations until the logistical challenges are resolved. CNN reported the group did not trust that the aid was actually meant for the Palestinian people. 

The US is working with Israel and the United Nations to establish “alternative routes” for the safe delivery of the 569 tons of aid transported to Gaza since last week, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday. 

Asked if any of the more than 569 tons of aid has been delivered to the people of Gaza, Ryder said “as of today, I do not believe so.” He added that aid had been held in an assembly area on shore, but as of Tuesday had begun getting moved to warehouses for distribution throughout Gaza as alternative routes have been established.  

A US official told CNN that the Defense Department and UN are still working to determine the capacity of the staging area inside Gaza, and how much aid can be held there at any given time.

The amount of aid getting to the Gaza shoreline from its initial staging area in Cyprus has also fallen short of initial Pentagon estimates. 

The last humanitarian air drop announced by US Central Command was conducted on May 9.

Read more on US aid and the pier.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, May 21.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blasted the charges brought by the International Criminal Court against himself and his defense minister as “beyond outrageous” in an interview Tuesday with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

The Israeli leader’s comments come after the chief prosecutor of the ICC on Monday announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday said the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”

Netanyahu described Khan as a ” rogue prosecutor that has put false charges, that are both dangerous and false.”

By applying for the arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in the same action, Khan received a ferocious reaction from Israel and sharp criticism from the US, a close ally. Rights groups have hailed the decision, however.

A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC.

Correction: This post has been edited to reflect that Khan’s request was filed in the International Criminal Court

Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has spearheaded the American efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. He was angry and embarrassed, the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasn’t in the loop or hadn’t informed the Israelis of the changes.

The soft-spoken and mild-mannered Burns “almost blew a gasket,” said the source.

A CIA spokesperson declined to comment.

The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.

One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said. 

But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.

The Egyptian government did not respond to a request for comment.

The Israeli government’s decision to return broadcasting equipment to the Associated Press on Tuesday came after the White House expressed concerns to the Netanyahu-led government, a White House official told CNN.

The Associated Press applauded the Israeli Ministry of Communications’ decision to return its equipment but said it remained concerned about the law at the center of the action.

CNN’s Jake Tapper is interviewing Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 4 p.m. ET.

Please check back for more details.

Israel has said it will return to the AP news agency camera equipment that it confiscated in Sderot earlier on Tuesday that showed live pictures of Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.

In a statement late Tuesday, Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that he has “now ordered to cancel the operation and return the equipment” to the AP news agency, because “Israel’s Ministry of Defense wishes to examine the matter of the broadcasts from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Karhi had accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.

Palestinians gather aid packages that were delivered into Gaza through a US-built pier, seen from central Gaza on May 18.

As of Tuesday, more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered through the US military’s temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said. 

Ryder later clarified that the aid had so far been delivered to the shore for movement into Gaza. It still needs to be distributed by humanitarian partners. 

He also said that the US, Israel, and UN had discussed “alternative routes” to ensure the safe transportation of the aid coming off the pier.

Ryder’s comments come just days after Gazans intercepted aid trucks from the floating pier, with some men expressing skepticism to CNN over whether the aid was actually going to the Palestinian people. 

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off of Gaza on May 19.

“[A]s we move forward on this, the safety and security of all the humanitarian assistance organizations is going to continue to be critical, and we’ll continue to work closely with the international community on that front,” Ryder said.

“Ultimately, the goal of course is to get this humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people who need it most.” 

University students are staging pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses across Italy. Brawls between students protesting their universities’ relations with Israeli universities and counter-protesters have broken out in several cities, according to Italian media reports and social media video.

At the State University of Milan, a group the university named as the Lotta Communista or Communist Struggles group sparred with pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up an encampment in front of the main university hall on May 10. It is the second time this week the protesters came under attack, according to the Young Palestinians group.

The university rector Elio Franzini called for calm in a statement to students, in which he condemned “the acts of vandalism and verbal aggression and the occupation of internal spaces of the university which is undermining the ordinary programming of institutional activities to the detriment of the entire university community.”

In Rome, pro-Palestinian groups set up encampments at both La Sapienza and Roma Tre campuses this week, according to both universities’ public affairs offices. So far no violence or counter attacks have been reported in Rome.

In Turin, encampments at three universities are now in their second week. All three university encampments have come under attack. At the University of Tornio, the Young Palestinian Italia group published a list of demands, saying they will stay until the university administrators hear them out.

“We have drawn up a document, together with the academic body, which consists in the termination of any agreement [of] the Israeli university with our university,” the group said.

University of Tornio has several research projects with Israeli universities, the students said. “The agreements of the University of Turin are an integral part of the Palestinian genocide. The academic boycott is the only one tool to avoid being complicit in the war crimes of the state of Israel.”

At the Polytechnic of Turin, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a career fair on Tuesday, which included many companies the protesters said had Israeli ties.

The Turin universities have all responded by moving most of the academic programs online.

In Trento, protesters have interrupted classes. University of Trento rector Flavio Deflorian condemned the protests. “It is not a way to promote a serious debate. The occupation, although it is an understandable manifestation of dissent, also involves costs borne by the university and is not acceptable,” he said in a statement.

Protests and encampments are being held at universities in Genova, Florence and Naples.

The White House on Tuesday urged Israel to reverse its decision to shut down and seize a live camera of Gaza belonging to the Associated Press, telling CNN that it had “concerns” over it.

“We’ve been engaging directly with the government of Israel to express our concerns over this action and to ask them to reverse it,” a White House spokesperson told CNN.

In a statement Tuesday, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accused the AP of violating its new law by providing the camera feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, in April.

The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday called on Israel to ease all restrictions on aid entering the Gaza Strip.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the primary route for vital medical aid to enter Gaza from Egypt had been cut off during an ongoing Israeli army operation on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

Tedros said although WHO and its partners had managed to deliver small amounts of fuel to hospitals in recent days, the amount of fuel brought in fell far short of the 60,000 liters (15,850 US gallons) that medical staff need each day for health operations in Gaza.

“What is needed now more than ever is a ceasefire and to get aid flowing into Gaza,” he added.

Some context: Israel has insisted there is “no limit” on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime on aid trucks has meant that only a tiny fraction of the amount of food and other supplies that used to enter Gaza daily before the war is getting into the enclave. Land crossings have also been closed or limited to supplies.

Press groups and Israel’s opposition leader are denouncing authorities’ decision to seize a live camera and broadcast equipment belonging to the Associated Press showing the northern Gaza Strip. 

The Foreign Press Association in a statement Tuesday said it is “alarmed” by Israel’s actions, calling it “the latest in a series of chilling steps by the Israeli government to stifle the media.”

“Today’s outrageous move also blocks AP from providing crucial images of northern Gaza to all other media outlets around the world,” the nonprofit group representing journalists said.

The group added: “Israel’s record on press freedom already has been dismal throughout the war. For the entire conflict, it has prevented independent access to Gaza for foreign journalists. Now it has taken another step backward away from the democratic ideals it claims to uphold.”

The Associated Press' video equipment is seen on the floor of an apartment block in Sderot, Israel, shortly before it was seized by Israeli officials on Tuesday.

Reporters Without Borders also condemned Israel’s decision to seize the AP’s equipment.

“After having banned Al Jazeera, Israel is lashing out at the AP,” it said in a statement. “RSF denounces the seizure of the news outlet’s camera and the interruption of the continuous feed that films Gaza under the pretext that these images are supplying, among others, Al Jazeera.”

Israel opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the seizure as “an act of madness.”

“This is not Al Jazeera, this is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes,” he said in a statement. “This government behaves as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be outcast all over the world. They went mad.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it will soon be up to Israel to decide whether it will agree to end the war in Gaza and take part in a “credible pathway to a Palestinian state” in order to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.

His comments come as the United States and the Saudis move towards finalizing the framework for a historic deal that would include multiple different elements.

“Israel will have to decide whether it wants to proceed and take advantage of the opportunity to achieve something that it has sought from its founding, which is normal relations with the countries and its region,” said Blinken at a Senate Foreign Relations hearing.

Blinken said that the US-Saudi bilateral part of the agreement would be worked out “relatively quickly given all the work that’s been done.”

However, Blinken said, “the Saudis have been very clear, that would require calm in Gaza, and it would require a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he would be open to work with the Senate Foreign Committee’s top Republican on legislation against the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its application for arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

“Given the events of yesterday, I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with again, what is a profoundly wrongheaded decision,” said Blinken at a hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Republican Senator James Risch of Idaho said he is working on legislation that “includes the question of the ICC sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent legitimate, democratic judicial system.”

“The devil’s in the details, so let’s see what you got, and we can take from there,” said Blinken in response to a question from Risch on whether Blinken would support such legislative action, adding that he wants to work with the committee “on a bipartisan basis.”

Smoke billows after an explosion during a raid by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on May 21.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say that an operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday was aimed at countering terrorism in the area, and involved the demolition of a house belonging to a man who had carried out a gun attack.

Earlier Tuesday the Palestinian Ministry of Health said seven Palestinians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli military operation in Jenin. The ministry identified one of the deaths as 50-year-old Dr. Usaid Kamal Jabarin, and said he was killed as he was heading to work.

The IDF said that its forces along with the Border Guard and the Shin Bet “launched an operation to counter terrorism in the Jenin area, following intelligence information from the Shin Bet indicating the activity of armed terrorists affiliated with the terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).” Security forces exchanged fire with “armed terrorists” during the operation, it added.

In response to an inquiry from CNN, the IDF said: “Hits to terrorists were identified. No IDF injuries were reported. During the exchanges of fire in the area, uninvolved individuals were reportedly hit. The IDF is reviewing the allegations.”

The IDF said that security forces had demolished the home of Ahmed Barkhat, who had carried out two shooting attacks, including one last year in which an Israeli civilian was killed. Barkhat was killed in March.

Released hostages Nili Margalit, left, and Sharon Aloni Cunio hold hands as they attend a press conference at the headquarters of the Hostages and Missing families forum in Tel Aviv, Israel, on February 7.

An Israeli nurse who was held as a hostage in Gaza for 55 days has told of how she medically helped fellow hostages – including using honey to dress wounds in the absence of medicine.

Nili Margalit told a conference in Israel: “I always questioned whether I was doing the right thing… Will it make their health better, will it make their health worse?”

She was kidnapped from the kibbutz of Nir Oz on October 7, the same day her father was killed. In Gaza, she said she was held with elderly people in an underground tunnel, where it was difficult to breathe, due to a lack of oxygen and high humidity.

Margalit, a pediatric ER nurse, said she had become worried as her fellow hostages’ wounds became infected and then wouldn’t heal due to a lack of adequate antibiotics.

The hardest part of the ordeal was psychological, she said. “I tried to be positive… to keep the faith that we were going to make it and we were going to survive… If someone was really, really down, or really in a bad situation, I tried to do some encouragement talks.”

Margalit also spoke about the ethical challenges as a nurse, and not having the authority to make decisions on medications: “So, being the one that has to decide all those questions without the tools… it was a really big dilemma.”

A team of 16 international medics stranded in Gaza’s European Hospital has finally been evacuated two weeks after Israel seized the Rafah crossing between the Egypt and the enclave, trapping them on site.

The group includes Adam Hamawy – an American citizen and former combat medic – known for saving the life of US Senator Tammy Duckworth in Iraq 20 years ago.

Hamawy previously turned down an evacuation offer, refusing to leave his non-US colleagues behind.

“We are glad that we are out and that we all left together. Our hearts are with the people who still have to endure and cannot leave,” he told CNN. 

The evacuation was arranged by Jordan and includes Australian, Egyptian, Irish and Omani nationals. The team reached Kerem Shalom crossing and were taken by the Jordanian military to the King Hussein Bridge.

On May 19, Hamawy wrote a letter to President Joe Biden urging him and the international community to allow free passage for medical personnel into Gaza, adding: “The children of Palestine are not safe. Civilians, population centers, are not safe. We, as humanitarian workers, are not safe. You have the power to end the invasion of Rafah and Gaza now.”

A truck carries humanitarian aid across Trident Pier on the Gaza coast, on May 19.

In a further indication of problems in distributing aid inside Gaza, the Israeli agency co-ordinating the movement of humanitarian aid said Tuesday that just 14 trucks had been transferred through the temporary floating pier since it began operating last week.

US officials had hoped that in the early stages of its operation, the pier would process some 90 trucks of aid a day, rising to 150. UN officials have said security and logistics concerns have meant that little of the aid arriving at the pier is being further distributed. 

The Israeli agency, COGAT, said that a total of 403 aid trucks were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on Monday, including 40 through Erez West, one of the crossings in the north.

It said that 40 trucks of flour were coordinated via the Ashdod port program.

UN officials say that there is still a significant shortfall in the volumes needed to avert widespread hunger in Gaza, and there are multiple difficulties in getting aid in volume distributed to where it’s needed.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on May 5.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is “not concerned” about traveling abroad after the chief prosector of the International Criminal Court announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the leader and his defense minister, as well as three Hamas leaders.

The prosecutor, Karim Khan, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday that he was seeking the warrants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“No, I’m not concerned about traveling. I think I’m not concerned at all about our status,” Netanyahu said in a Tuesday interview with ABC’s Good Morning America. 

“I think that the prosecutor should be concerned about his status because he’s really turning the ICC into a pariah institution,” he said. Netanyahu added, “People are just not going to take it seriously; they see it as a politicized thing.” 

The Israeli leader also said he was “very glad” to see US President Joe Biden call the prosecutor’s move as “outrageous.” “I think serious countries are not taking them serious(ly),” Netanyahu told Good Morning America. 

In a statement Monday, Biden denounced the ICC’s efforts to seek arrest warrants, saying the court’s efforts puts Hamas and top US ally Israel on an equivalent footing. 

Smoke rises to the sky after an explosion in Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, on May 21.

The Associated Press on Tuesday said Israeli authorities had shut down its live camera feed showing Gaza and seized its equipment, in what the agency called an “abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcasters law.”

“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government,” the non-profit news collective said in a statement.

“We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”

The Israeli military regularly classifies areas around Gaza as “closed military zones,” restricting movement there.

The AP’s live feed provided a view of actions in Gaza. Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on entry to the strip have made it difficult for international media to report from the ground.

The Associated Press and Foreign Press Association did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.

The move comes weeks after Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country, raiding the news outlet’s offices and seizing its communication equipment, prompting swift condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s moves to restrict press freedoms. 

Full story:

The director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza says that Israel is seeking to close the hospital by targeting it directly during its ongoing military operations in the area.

Hussam Abu Saifya told CNN there had been three strikes in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.

“We were working calmly, then the Israeli occupation directly targeted the emergency and reception,” he said outside the hospital.

“They want to force us out of this hospital,” Abu Safiya said. “This hospital is the last one providing medical services in northern Gaza.”

“I can’t enter the hospital. We tried to enter, they targeted us, then we tried again and then they targeted us for a third time.”

“We went out and can’t return,” Abu Saifya said. “I’m standing here and I don’t the fate of the patients or the medical staff still inside.”

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on its operations in the area.

A shell landed at the reception and emergency area of the main functioning hospital in northern Gaza, a CNN stringer reported, amid ongoing Israeli military operations there.

Some patients and medical staff have been evacuated from the Kamal Adwan hospital, but crews have been unable to move a number of patients, the stringer said.

CNN is seeking a comment from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on its operations in the hospital’s area.

If Kamal Adwan ceases to function, there will be only one partially working hospital in northern Gaza, Al-Ahli Baptist.

There was heavy artillery fire earlier in the area, with tanks firing close to the hospital’s northern entrance, according to the stringer.

The main hospital in northern Gaza, Al-Shifa, has been out of service since March 18, when an Israeli military incursion heavily damaged much of the complex.

Many of the injured in Jabalya, where Israeli ground forces have been operating for more than a week, had been using the Kamal Adwan hospital.

The Israeli military operation continued Tuesday in the area. The IDF said that over the past day, “troops eliminated several terrorists.”

“During one of the activities, a terrorist cell fired at IDF troops, who directed an IAF aircraft that struck and eliminated the cell,” the IDF said.

It added that troops continue operations in Rafah in southern Gaza and had “identified a terrorist shooting mortar shells at IDF troops,” who was subsequently targeted by an aircraft.

CNN video shows that the streets of central Rafah were deserted Tuesday morning.

Some 800,000 people are estimated to have left the area as Israeli military operations expand in the south of Gaza. 

Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The application for arrest warrants against the leaders of Hamas and Israel, made by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, is a “crucial step towards justice,” rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.  

“This move by the ICC prosecutor sends an important message to all parties to the conflict in Gaza and beyond that they will be held accountable for the devastation they have waged on the peoples of Gaza and Israel,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, on Monday applied for the arrest warrants to be issued against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri — better known as Mohammed Deif — as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Those “who are suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law” should face “trial and accountability, no matter how powerful or how high-ranking they are,” Callamard said. 

She added: “All states must respect the legitimacy of the court, they must refrain from any attempts to intimidate or pressure the court to allow the judges to conduct their work with full independence and impartiality.”

Israeli ministers and politicians have condemned the ICC prosecutor’s decision.

President Isaac Herzog described it as “beyond outrageous” on Monday, while Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it is a “scandalous decision.”  

In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, army members carry the flag-draped coffin of President Ebrahim Raisi during a funeral ceremony at Mehrabad airport in Tehran, Iran, on May 21.

The body of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Tehran as part of funeral ceremonies scheduled to run over several days, according to state-run news agency IRNA. 

A video broadcast by state media shows the presidential plane arriving at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, carrying Raisi’s coffin. Government and military officials lined a red carpet, and many could be seen publicly weeping as a military escort carried the coffin. 

According to images published by state media, a seat on the presidential plane was left empty, covered only in black cloth and a picture of Raisi laid upon it. 

The funeral procession will continue to the holy Shiite city of Qom on Tuesday afternoon, where prayers are scheduled at the Fatima Masumeh shrine. 

Earlier on Tuesday, funeral ceremonies began in the northwestern city of Tabriz, where large crowds dressed in black were seen lining Martyr’s Square and surrounding streets in the rain. 

A large truck, adorned with flowers and draped in the Iranian flag, carried the coffins of Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the others killed in Sunday’s helicopter crash through the crowds, the state media images show.

In a speech in Tabriz on Tuesday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian “set a model for brave service and diplomacy,” pointing to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. 

“Who can forget Raisi’s heartfelt speeches in defense of Gaza?” Vahidi said, IRNA reported.

After the ceremonies in Qom, the bodies of Raisi and the others killed will be transported back to Tehran for more planned funeral ceremonies on Wednesday. 

Raisi is scheduled to be buried on Thursday night at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad. 

The Kuwait hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza says it has received the bodies of five people killed by aerial strikes Tuesday.

The hospital said three of those killed were children, who had been killed in a drone strike on a group of citizens in the Yabna camp in central Rafah. Two were sixteen years old, and one was fourteen.

The bodies of two men were also brought to the hospital after Israeli aircraft targeted a group of citizens next to the Supply Center in central Rafah, the hospital said.

For context: Rafah has become the central focus of Israel’s war in Gaza, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to launch a full-scale ground operation in the city to destroy Hamas, while the more moderate wing has urged him to prioritize securing a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant attends a joint press conference in Berlin, Germany, on September 28, 2023.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said efforts by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring arrest warrants against him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity will not succeed, describing them as “despicable.”

The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

Gallant reiterated comments he has made at numerous stages during the war on Tuesday, saying the Israeli military was fighting in accordance with international law “while taking unprecedented measures to facilitate humanitarian aid.”

Gallant took aim at Khan, saying “the parallel he has drawn between the Hamas terrorist organization and the State of Israel is despicable.”

He also noted that Israel was not a signatory to the court’s jurisdiction and therefore didn’t recognize its authority.

Not enough aid: While Gallant said Israeli authorities have taken “unprecedented measures to facilitate humanitarian aid,” Israel’s months-long siege of the Palestinian enclave has pulverized large parts of Gaza and drastically diminished critical supplies, exposing the entire population to the risk of famine.

Palestinians form queues to receive clean water distributed by aid organizations in Gaza on May 20.

There is growing alarm among UN officials about the difficulty of transferring aid safely within Gaza as Israeli military operations bombard areas in the north, center and south of the enclave — and the Rafah crossing remains closed.

A senior official with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Edem Wosornu, told the UN Security Council on Monday that there were insufficient supplies and fuel to provide any meaningful level of support to the people of Gaza.

Wosornu said that the crossing at Kerem Shalom – which has been the main entry point for critical aid – remains open in principle “but extremely difficult for aid organizations to access from the Gaza side due to hostilities, challenging logistical conditions, and complex coordination procedures.” 

The closure of the Rafah crossing from Egypt had stopped the delivery of at least 82,000 metric tons of supplies, she added.

Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said Monday that there was no substitute for the “full and increased operation of existing land crossings.”

He said that ongoing fighting was impeding the UN’s ability to collect and deliver goods at scale. Essentially, he said, aid was getting stuck after being delivered to entry points due to fighting.

His remarks may help explain the divergence between the UN perspective and figures from the Israeli agency co-ordinating the arrival of aid in Gaza — COGAT.

COGAT said that 402 aid trucks were transferred to Gaza on Monday, after a total of 422 on Sunday. But much of that aid is not getting delivered to where it is needed.

International Criminal Court building in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 30, 2016.

The International Criminal Court’s seeking of arrest warrants for leaders of both Hamas and Israel has “created the incorrect impression of an equation,” Germany’s foreign office said late Monday in a statement. 

Germany’s statement did not reference Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 people and wounded nearly 80,000, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.  

The German press release did not name any of the men in the ICC statement. 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during an event to mark Israel's annual Memorial Day, in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 13.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog says that a normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia could be a historic “game-changer” in the Middle East.

Speaking at the Israel Democracy Institute, Herzog said that he had discussed the possibility with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday.

Herzog said that “empire” was more than Hamas, and that Israel’s enemies were trying to destroy its international connections.

Reaction to ICC move: Herzog said the ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was “ostensibly a legal frontline, but it is a strategic frontline, and it has implications across all sectors: military, diplomatic, and economic.”

Palestinians gather on the side of a main street in front of closed shops during an Israeli army raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank on May 21.

Seven Palestinians were killed and nine others wounded during an Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The ministry identified one of those killed as 50-year-old Dr. Usaid Kamal Jabarin and said he was killed by Israeli gunfire as he was heading to work.

Jabarin had been working as a surgery specialist at Jenin Government Hospital for 17 years, the ministry said.

A student from Al-Karamah School was also killed, and elderly citizens were wounded on their way to work, Wissam Bakr, the director of Jenin Government Hospital, told CNN.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that its security forces had started an operation to “eliminate terror activity in Jenin,” and “hits on armed [terrorists] were detected.”

The Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said on Monday its militants were “engaged in violent clashes” with Israeli forces “on all fronts of the advance” in Jenin.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the reported civilian casualties.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Hamas, violence has increasingly spilled over into the West Bank with settler attacks and clashes that have killed Palestinians.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan speaks during a special session of the UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on May 10.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, has criticized the UN Security Council for holding a moment of silence for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday.

Erdan said that the council, “which has done nothing, nothing to advance the release of our hostages, commemorates the man responsible for their suffering.”

Raisi brutally quashed a youth-led uprising over repressive laws, such as the compulsory headscarf for women, and continued to stamp out dissent in its aftermath.

Some context: Raisi’s death comes amid flaring tensions across the Middle East as Israel wages war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is an Iranian ally.

Iranian proxy groups — including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon — have also been involved in escalating skirmishes in the region.

In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue team members work at the scene of a crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran on May 20.

Funeral ceremonies will begin today for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash, as authorities investigate what caused the crash on a remote mountainside during foggy weather on Sunday morning.

Raisi’s death, alongside the foreign minister and other officials, has left the Islamic Republic’s hardline establishment facing an uncertain future as it navigates rising regional tensions — including Israel’s war against its ally Hamas — and domestic discontent.

Iran’s government has arranged multiple days of mourning culminating in a funeral this week for the 63-year-old ultraconservative cleric who had once been seen as a potential successor to current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Tuesday will begin with funeral prayers and a procession in the city of Tabriz, the largest city in the northwestern region of Iran where the chopper crashed, according to Mohsen Mansouri, the head of the funeral planning committee and Iran’s vice president of executive affairs.

Later that day, the bodies of the victims will be transferred to the holy Shiite city of Qom, where many of the clerics who make up Iran’s theocratic elite are trained, before then heading to the capital Tehran.

Large ceremonies are planned in Tehran’s Grand Mosallah Mosque on Wednesday. Mansouri announced a public holiday and the closure of offices all over the country that day so that processions could take place.

Raisi’s body will then be moved to the historic Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad where Ayatollah Khamenei will conduct prayers, according to Mehr News.

There is no indication of what might have caused the crash – and why so many senior Iranian government officials were traveling in a single, decades-old helicopter.

Read the full story.

An exterior view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on December 6, 2022.

US President Joe Biden slammed the International Criminal Court’s efforts to seek arrest warrants on charges of war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders.

US House Republican leaders are looking at sanctions in response to the ICC’s move.

The ICC’s prosecutor Karim Khan rejected accusations by Israel and some of its allies that questioned its independence, saying the request “is not a witch hunt, this is not some kind of emotional reaction to noise. It’s a forensic process.”

France broke from its Western allies — including the US, UK and Italy — to express support for the ICC.

Here are the latest developments in the region:

Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on May 6 as they leave Rafah following an evacuation order.

More than 900,000 people, approximately 40% of Gaza’s population, have been displaced in the past two weeks as Israeli bombardment continues across much of the enclave, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

The Israeli bombardment has been accompanied by ground incursions and intense fighting, particularly in eastern Rafah and Jabalya, he added.

He said that, of the displaced Palestinians, 812,000 are from Rafah and over 100,000 from northern Gaza.

He added that the large-scale displacement has resulted in dire living conditions due to a severe shortage of shelters, with no tents and very few shelter items available for distribution.

Displaced individuals are seeking refuge in open spaces, damaged buildings, and agricultural lands in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. 

Leading human rights lawyer Amal Clooney attends an event in Cape Town, South Africa on November 16, 2023.

Human rights attorney Amal Clooney is among a group of legal experts who advised the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to seek arrest warrants against the top leaders of Israel and Hamas.

The panel was convened by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan and tasked to review the evidence and legal analysis underpinning his application for warrants against three Hamas leaders and two Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It issued a detailed legal report on Monday, which said the panel found “reasonable grounds to believe” that the individuals named in the arrest warrants have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Clooney, who has represented victims of mass atrocities, faced online criticism prior to her announcement for not speaking about Israel’s siege on Gaza. In a statement shared on her Clooney Foundation for Justice website on Monday, she explained how she had found herself advising Khan.

She said the panel’s findings were “unanimous” despite their diverse backgrounds.

Read the full story.

A floating pier installed by the US military to deliver aid to Gaza is seen offshore the Mediterranean Sea, on May 17.

Nearly 570 metric tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered across a temporary pier built off Gaza’s coast, according to the US Central Command.

The aid will be distributed by humanitarian partners, CENTCOM said in a statement. 

The pier was anchored to a beach in Gaza last week to funnel aid from various countries into the enclave, with most border crossings closed and a catastrophic humanitarian disaster unfolding inside.

France broke away from its Western allies and expressed support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court announced its decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and Hamas leaders.

Paris also said it has been warning “for many months” the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian laws and “in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and the lack of humanitarian access.”

France’s move marks a major split between its position and that of its Western allies, including the UK, Italy, and US — where President Joe Biden called the decision “outrageous.”

France has been one of the few Western countries willing to take a tougher stance on Israel, including criticizing the US decision to veto ceasefire resolutions in the UN Security Council early on and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Joe Biden speaks during a Jewish American Heritage Month reception in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

US President Joe Biden offered a full-throated rejection of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant requests for Israeli leaders amid the ongoing war against Hamas.  

Biden also acknowledged “the trauma” of October 7 and reiterated his “ironclad” commitment to Israel’s safety and security. And he promised not to rest until the hostages being held by Hamas are released.

The president also pledged his commitment to a two-state solution.

Biden and his top officials have said the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

Read the full story.

A view of the site, after an Israeli strike on a house in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on May 20.

At least 12 Palestinians were killed Monday in an Israeli military bombardment of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, according to local health officials.

The strikes also wounded 10 people, a spokesperson at Kamal Adwan Hospital told CNN. Residents and rescue workers say about 10 other people were trapped under the rubble of buildings that were flattened in the attack.

CNN video of the aftermath shows the concrete skeleton of destroyed buildings, with entire walls ripped through on several floors. Stone slabs and metal rods spill from the roof of the building as Palestinian men, women and children crowd near the site. Some hold their heads in their hands, while others search the debris for survivors. 

Ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) could be seen slowly moving along demolished roads, in footage filmed for CNN. Rescue workers and citizens dug through smashed pieces of broken concrete. In one scene, emergency crews resorted to using a rope to pull up the body of a woman wrapped in a blanket. 

Israel’s war in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has drained critical supplies and destroyed main highways.

Fares Afana, the ambulance and emergency director for northern Gaza told CNN that emergency operations are “very difficult due to dwindling equipment.” 

One man who spoke to CNN from the scene said there were children trapped under the destroyed home of the Kahlout family. 

In recent days, the Israeli military has intensified attacks on several locations, saying its soldiers “eliminated more than 200 terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructure, and destroyed underground tunnels both from the ground and from the air” in northern Gaza.  

Mike Johnson speaks to reporters at the Capitol, in Washington DC, on May 16.

US House Republican leaders are looking at sanctions in response to the International Criminal Court’s decision to move ahead with arrest warrants, including for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, House Speaker Mike Johnson has confirmed. 

“In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next,” Johnson said Monday. 

Some background: The warrants against the Israeli politicians are the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States.

Israel and the US are not members of the ICC. But the ICC claims to have jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.