KEY POINTS
- Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan blames Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu for escalated tensions in the Middle East
- Iranian Navy reportedly escorting Iran merchant ships to Red Sea
- European Summit draft reportedly calls for maximum restraint in the Middle East
The war in Gaza has entered Day 194 – British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said it's "clear" that the Israeli government is making a decision to "act" following Iran's first direct attacks toward Israel during the weekend.
Tensions are also high in the Israel-Lebanon border as a building was struck by a drone launched from Lebanese territory Wednesday, resulting in several people injured. Arab media reported that there were Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in the targeted facility.
- Netanyahu reiterates to UK, Germany that Israel will maintain its right to self-defense
- Israel strikes Hezbollah compound after drone hits northern Israeli community facility
- Israel slams UN for huge loads of aid still waiting to be distributed by UN agencies
- Hezbollah claims drone strike that injured over a dozen people in northern Israel
- 18 injured, one critically in Hezbollah drone strike at Galilee's Arab Al-Aramshe
- Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin's mother on TIME's 100 Most Influential list
- Israel strikes Hezbollah infrastructure in 2 southern Lebanon villages
In the Red Sea, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces engaged drones in areas of Yemen held by Iranian-backed Yemeni rebel Houthis.
Talks for a ceasefire are at an impasse, but Qatar, a key mediator alongside Egypt, said it was trying its best to get Israel and Hamas to achieve a truce agreement to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and free the remaining hostages.
Back in war-torn Gaza, the death toll from more than six months of fighting is nearing 34,000, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. U.S. Army vessels that sailed to build a temporary humanitarian aid port in Gaza's shores have arrived in Crete.
Hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the current escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran stems from decades of violence in the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that reached its climax during Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.
The live update has ended.
Israel strikes Hezbollah buildings in southern Lebanon
Israeli warplanes on Wednesday afternoon struck several "military buildings and terrorist infrastructure" belonging to Hezbollah in the southern Lebanon villages of Naquora and Yarine, the IDF said.
מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר מבנים צבאיים ותשתית טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים א-נקורה ויארין שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/WzvpF23Rdr
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) April 17, 2024
