Our live coverage of Israel's war in Gaza has moved here.
March 11, 2024 Israel-Hamas war
By Kathleen Magramo, Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury and Aditi Sangal, CNN
Updated 12:17 a.m. ET, March 12, 2024
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US destroys anti-ship missiles in Houthi-controlled Yemen
From CNN's Colin McCullough
US strikes destroyed an uncrewed underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles on Monday in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to US Central Command.
The Houthis have been targeting ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since shortly after Israel's war with Hamas began, with the group trying to pressure Israel and its allies to stop its offensive in Gaza.
CENTCOM said Monday that it struck after determining that the Houthi weapons “presented a threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships,” according to a statement.
Earlier on Monday, Houthis fired two anti-ship missiles toward a Singaporean-owned, Liberian-flagged merchant vessel named Pinocchio, CENTCOM said. The ship was not hit and there were no injuries reported.
Last week, a ballistic missile by the Iran-backed militant group struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three crew members in its first fatal attack since October.
There have never been UN Security Council meetings on sexual assaults against Palestinians, ambassador says
From CNN Staff
The United Nations Security Council has never convened to discuss sexual violence against Palestinian men and women, said Dr. Riyad H. Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN.
During a briefing on sexual violence on Monday, Mansour said for years and decades, "reports and investigations regarding sexual assault against Palestinian women and men, boys and girls, have not led to the convening of a single council meeting on the matter."
In the briefing, Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence, discussed her report where her team found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. The team also received reports of violence against Palestinian men and women in the occupied West Bank.
“We hope that this meeting marks a change in this attitude and that more attention will be given by this council on the issue in an unbiased matter,” the ambassador said.
WHO team delivers aid to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza
From CNN's Mitchell McCluskey
A World Health Organization (WHO) team and its partners reached Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a Monday post on X.
The team delivered food, 24,050 liters of fuel and medical supplies for 42,000 patients, which included anesthetic drugs, surgical materials and medicine, Ghebreyesus' post read.
"The hospital continues to be minimally functional, with an urgent need for specialized health workers," he said.
The team also reached Al-Helou hospital, which has limited services and dire needs, the WHO chief said. "The hospital urgently needs medical staff, fuel, surgical equipment, food," he said.
Israel strikes targets deep in Lebanon following Hezbollah attacks
From CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey and Charbel Mallo
Israeli fighter jets struck two Hezbollah compounds in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in response to aircraft attacks launched toward the Golan Heights in recent days, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.
“The sites belong to Hezbollah’s aerial forces that planned and carried out various attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement.
Bachir Khodr, the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, said the strikes hit the towns of Duris, Taraya, and Shmustar.
In a post on X, Khodr said there is “no accurate information so far” regarding casualties from the strikes.
The Bekaa Valley, which is considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, was last targeted by the IDF on February 26. The valley is located more than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon border — the farthest north Israel has struck in the country since October 7.
US ambassador urges Security Council to avoid drawing "false equivalency" between actions of Hamas and Israel
From CNN's Richard Roth
The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday urged UN Security Council members to avoid “drawing false equivalency” between allegations of sexual assaults by Hamas on October 7 and claims of sexual violence against Palestinians detained by Israel.
“Let me be clear, these two things are not the same,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
All parties to “this conflict must uphold their obligations under international law” regarding the treatment of detainees, the ambassador said at a Security Council meeting. “We expect Israel to hold all of those who have committed these acts accountable for such acts.”
Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence, briefed the council on her team's report that found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” during Hamas’ attack on October 7, as well as reports of Israeli violence against Palestinian men and women in the occupied West Bank.
Thomas-Greenfield thanked Patten for her report and asked why the council won’t “finally condemn Hamas’ sexual violence.”
Biden says he has no plans right now to meet Netanyahu or address the Israeli parliament
From CNN's Donald Judd
US President Joe Biden said Monday there are no plans "at this moment" for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or for him to address the Israeli parliament.
Biden was caught on a hot mic during Thursday’s State of the Union telling Sen. Michael Bennet that he told the Israeli prime minister: “You and I are gonna have a come to Jesus meeting.”
On Saturday, Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart he was open to addressing Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, but declined to offer more details on if he’d do so at the invitation of Netanyahu or Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Pressed Monday on if he plans to meet with Netanyahu, Biden left the door open, telling reporters “we’ll see what happens.”
Some background: Divisions between Biden and Netanyahu burst out into the open over the weekend as the two traded barbs in interviews over Israel’s war against Hamas.
In the MSNBC interview, Biden also said Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in his war on Gaza, adding that he wants “to see a ceasefire” in the context of a deal that also brings back Israeli hostages held there by Hamas.
US intelligence says Netanyahu's leadership may be in jeopardy as devastation in Gaza continues. Catch up here
From CNN staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “viability as a leader” is “in jeopardy,” according to an annual unclassified threat assessment from the US intelligence community.
“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,” according to the report released today. “A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”
This comes as Netanyahu said he would push ahead with a military offensive in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. But multiple Israel officials said the offensive is not imminent.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues. Here's what to know:
- Overnight Israeli airstrikes: In Rafah, as people gathered at 3:30 a.m. local time for the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan, an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Jeneina neighborhood killed at least three people, journalist Ahmad Hijazi told CNN. Separately, at least 21 people were killed in Gaza City, and dozens of others injured in Israeli strikes on a residential neighborhood, said Amjad Alaiwa, the head of the Emergency Department at the Shifa Medical Complex. In each area, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that the people it killed were terrorists.
- 2 more babies die due to malnutrition and dehydration: The number of children dying due to malnutrition and dehydration is increasing. Two newborn baby girls died due to malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza on Monday, said Dr. Samer Libd, a pediatrician at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
- UN investigator arrives in Israel: Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign affairs minister, has arrived in Israel to investigate the country's allegations that 13 members of the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — the main aid agency in Gaza — were directly involved in the October 7 attack on Israel, and hundreds more are connected to Hamas. Neither Israel nor UNRWA have specified the nature of the alleged involvement.
- US airdrops aid in Gaza: The US military airdropped more than "27,600 US meal equivalents" and about 25,900 water bottles in northern Gaza, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Monday, adding that it continues to "plan follow-on aerial deliveries."
- Airdropped aid falls short: Cindy McCain, UN World Food Programme head, has said airdropped aid does not meet required volume of aid needed for northern Gaza. "Road access and the use of existing ports and crossings is the only way to get aid into Gaza at the scale that is now required,” said McCain, adding that 300 trucks of food are needed to enter every single day.
- Aid from Cyprus to Gaza delayed: A ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza that was expected to depart Sunday from Larnaca, Cyprus, was delayed due to “practical issues,” the Cypriot government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a briefing Monday.
- Calls for ceasefire during Ramadan: The head of the UN called for ceasefire in Gaza and for the removal of all obstacles to ensure aid deliveries into the enclave, in honor of the month of Ramadan. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also called for a longer-lasting ceasefire in the Gaza war "ideally during Ramadan.”
- US has not seen Israel's plan for Rafah: Israel has not presented the US with a humanitarian or military plan for Rafah, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, adding that the US has made it clear to Israel in public and private conversations “that it is our judgment that they cannot or should not go into Rafah without a humanitarian assistance plan that is credible.”
- Jordan's Queen Rania condemns Israeli war tactics: Queen Rania of Jordan on Monday condemned Israel’s war tactics, and said there is still an urgent need to help vulnerable people who are trying to survive the “Israeli-made” strategy of enforcing what she described as “deprivation by design.”
Israeli foreign minister blasts UN secretary-general over "unacceptable" response to Hamas' actions
From CNN's Duarte Mendonça
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz blasted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres over his ”unacceptable” response to Hamas’ actions against the Israeli people.
In a letter shared by the Israeli foreign ministry, Katz criticized Guterres for "dismissing" the October 7 terror attack in the latest UN reports.
“Your response to the atrocities committed by Hamas is unacceptable. Your dismissal of the heinous acts as documented in the recent UN report – acts which are still being perpetrated —is not only inadequate but also offensive. The world has been waiting five months for your actions,” Katz wrote.
Katz said that rather than declaring Hamas a terrorist group and focusing efforts on imposing “severe sanctions similar to those placed on Al Qaeda and Daesh, [ISIS]” the United Nations was instead fixated on condemning Israel.
Katz claimed Guterres' office ensured UN organizations didn't provide the right medicare care to the hostages, as well as deliberately burying Hamas’ terrible deeds in a UN report.
“Your tenure at the UN is set to be remembered for diminishing the organization's stature to an all-time low, allowing it to become an epicenter of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel incitement,” Katz wrote.