Middle East crisis: threat of Iranian attack on Israel ‘still viable’, says White House – as it happened - The Guardian

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John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, has told reporters that the prospect of an Iranian attack on Israel is “still a viable threat”, after concerted efforts by Israel and the US to deter it.

“We are in constant communication with our Israeli counterparts about making sure that they can defend themselves against those kinds of attacks,” Kirby said.

He confirmed that the head of US Central Command, Gen Erik Kurilla, is in Israel talking with Israeli defence officials, about how Israel can be best prepared.

It is also likely Kurilla is there to influence and moderate any Israeli response. The Biden administration is very concerned about the possibility of out-of-control escalation.

It has just gone 6.46pm in Gaza and 7.46pm in Tel Aviv and Beirut. We will be pausing this blog, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.

Here is a recap of the latest developments:

• The White House warned on Friday that the prospect of an Iranian attack on Israel is “still a viable threat”. This comes as the US sought to deter Iran with concerted declarations of commitment to Israeli security, but also restricted the movements of its diplomats in Israel over security fears. “We are in constant communication with our Israeli counterparts about making sure that they can defend themselves against those kinds of attacks,” said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson.

• The first trucks carrying food aid have entered Gaza through the newly opened northern crossing point on Thursday, the Israeli military said on Friday. It said the trucks were inspected at the Kerem Shalom crossing point on the border with Egypt before moving north to cross.

• France on Friday warned its citizens to “imperatively refrain from travel in the coming days to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories”, the foreign minister’s entourage told Agence France-Presse (AFP). France’s foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, at a crisis meeting also asked that family members of French diplomats in Iran be evacuated, and no French civil servants be sent on missions to the listed countries.

• The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said on Friday she had spoken with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and urged his nation to “use its influence in the region to promote stability, not contribute to escalation”. “Australia is deeply concerned by indications Iran is preparing military action against Israel,” she said in a post on X. “Further conflict will only add to the devastation in the Middle East.” Wong also called on Iran to push Hamas towards an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and a hostage release.

• India advised its citizens on Friday against travelling to Iran and Israel until further notice in view of the “prevailing situation in the region”. India’s foreign ministry said its citizens in the two countries should observe “utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum”.

• Poland’s government on Friday called the killing of a Polish aid worker by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza “murder”, and said the case should be brought before an independent court in Israel. Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, said Poland is demanding compensation from Israel over the death of Polish volunteer Damian Soból, 35, who was killed along with six other workers of the World Central Kitchen charity in an Israeli airstrike.

• Germany will face a fresh call to revoke all arms sales to Israel on Thursday in a lawsuit that puts more pressure on Berlin amid a rising outcry about the scale of deaths and destruction in the war on Gaza. The lawsuit has been issued by four human rights groups on behalf of five named Palestinians who say they are in fear of their lives in Gaza, and are suffering a form of collective punishment by Israel.

• Residents reported heavy Israeli fire in central Gaza on Friday. Authorities reported dozens of new airstrikes in Gaza’s central region. The Hamas media office said 25 people were taken to hospital in Deir al-Balah city “as a result of an airstrike on a house of the al-Tabatibi family”. Israel’s military said its aircraft had struck more than 60 militant targets in Gaza over the previous day.

• Unicef spokesperson Tess Ingram says she was on an aid mission on Tuesday when the UN-marked, armoured Toyota LandCruiser she was in was shot, she told ABC News on Friday. Ingram, an Australian citizen, said the IDF and Hamas were aware of the convoy’s movements as part of the mission, but she did not see the source of the gunfire. “It appeared to come from the direction of the checkpoint towards civilians who then turned and ran in the other direction,” she said.

• Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians, including a member of the armed wing of Hamas, near Tubas in the occupied West Bank after a raid on the town earlier in the morning, the Israeli military said. It said Mohammad Omar Daraghmeh, whom it described as the head of Hamas infrastructure in the Tubas area of the Jordan valley, was killed during an exchange of fire with security forces. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli forces conducting a raid in Al-Fara refugee camp in Tubas. Hamas said it mourned the man’s death but did not claim him as a member.

• China urged the US to play “a constructive role” in the Middle East on Friday after its top diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke with his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, over the phone. Blinken used the call to ask Beijing to use its influence to dissuade Iran from striking Israel, the US Department of State said.

• Hundreds of ultra-orthodox men and boys clashed with Israeli police on Thursday evening at a demonstration in Jerusalem against plans to end the community’s sweeping exemption from military service. Thousands of men had arrived, many with young sons in tow, to say prayers and hear speeches under a banner reading “don’t touch the yeshivot [religious schools]” down the street from a conscription office.

• At least 33,634 Palestinians have been killed and 76,214 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas. This includes 89 Palestinians who were killed and 120 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

• Hamas has indicated it does not have 40 captives who are still alive who meet the “humanitarian” criteria for a proposed hostages-for-prisoners ceasefire agreement with Israel. A senior Israeli official confirmed claims made at the weekend by Hamas during talks in Cairo that it does not have 40 hostages in Gaza who meet the exchange criteria.

• An assessment conducted by a UN team in Khan Younis after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area has reported “widespread destruction”. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said: “Street and public spaces in Khan Younis are littered with unexploded ordnance posing a severe risk to civilians, especially for children. Our team found unexploded 1,000-pound bombs lying on the main intersection and inside schools.”

• A Turkish state television journalist was badly injured and another slightly hurt in Gaza on Friday, the TRT channel said, adding that the team had been targeted by an Israeli strike. “The vehicle of a team from TRT Arabi [TRT’s Arabic-language channel] that was preparing to broadcast from the Nuseirat camp … was targeted by an Israeli army strike,” the broadcaster said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). It called the attack “Israeli brutality” and said that Sami Shahada, a freelance cameraman, had “lost a foot and is currently in surgery”.

• The UK government’s continued refusal to suspend arms sales to Israel is inconsistent with previous wars and could make it complicit in war crimes, Oxfam has warned. Writing ahead of an open letter that the charity is delivering to ministers, Oxfam said: “The prime minister and the foreign secretary have repeatedly defended the UK’s decision to continue arms sales. Yet in every previous escalation of violence in Gaza and against Palestinians in the region, the UK has at least revoked some licenses or otherwise suspended arms transfers to Israel.”

• Scotland’s migration minister has urged the government to expand the number of Palestinian people who can join their family in the UK. In a letter to UK minister Tom Pursglove, Emma Roddick pushed for the Refugee Family Reunion scheme to include “immediate and extended family, including parents, children over 18, siblings and their children”. The current system allows only for partners and children under 18 to join family in the UK.

• The NGO Action for Humanity projected slogans calling for a ceasefire on to Tower Bridge in London, alongside the Save the Children charity, on Thursday evening. The projection read: “Over 14,000 children killed in Gaza. What are you waiting for? Stop arming Israel. Ceasefire now.”

Iran reportedly told other Arab countries last week that US bases in the region will be attacked if the US gets involved in any fighting concerning Iran and Israel, Axios first reported.

Three US officials told Axios that Iran communicated the message to other Arab nations and views the US as responsible for a previous Israeli attack that killed an Iranian general in Damascus.

Iran has thus threatened to attack US bases if the US further involves itself.

One US official told Axios:

The Iranian message was we will attack the forces that attack us, so don’t f--k with us and we won’t f--k with you …

In response, the US has reportedly asked Israel to have a say before any attacks are launched against Iran.

From Axios:

US officials say the Biden administration asked Israel to notify the US and for the US to have a say before decisions are made about any retaliation by Israel.

Read the full report here.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to meet with his war cabinet as the threat of an Iranian attack against Israel looms, BBC reports citing local media reports.

The meeting will feature top officials, including the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and top opposition figure Benny Gantz.

Here’s more from BBC on how the possibility of an attack from Iran is affecting Israel:

The possibility of an Iranian attack has led to concern and anxiety in Israel. But the government has not issued any new advice to the population on top of existing guidance to stock up on water, food for three days and essential medicine.

Israeli radio, however, reported local authorities had been told to prepare for the possibility of an attack, including by assessing the readiness of public shelters.

Information on the attack is still forthcoming, but a US official who spoke to CBS News warned that Iran could launch more than 100 drones as well as dozens of missiles.

The attack could be aimed at military targets within Israel.

More on the White House’s warning on the “viable threat” of an impending attack by Iran on Israel:

Reporters pressed John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, on why the US does not release more detailed intelligence as it did in the run up to Russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said the White House was “comfortable” with the messaging it had put out. But he added:

“What we are not going to sit back and be comfortable on is knowing exactly what this is going to look like. And that’s why we are working so intensively to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself. And we have had conversations with others in the region too. Nobody’s sitting back and resting easy on this. It’s a serious threat. We’re taking it seriously and we believe that it’s best for those conversations to happen away from the public eye so that we can make sure Israel is as prepared as possible.”

The White House did not release any further details on the “viable threat” of an impending attack by Iran on Israel.

“I can’t speak to what the intelligence picture tells us in terms of the size, scale, scope of what that attack might look like, except to say that we’re taking this seriously,” said John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson.

US officials have said that Washington and Tehran have been exchanging messages in recent days, including a message from Iran warning the US to stay out of a Israel-Iran conflict, which elevated the level of alarm in the administration.

Kirby would not go into details about US messaging but said it included emphasis on America’s “iron clad” commitment to Israel’s security, the phrase used by Joe Biden earlier this week. Kirby added: “It has also been made clear that we will do what we have to do to protect our own people and our own facilities as appropriate. I think I just need to leave it at that.”

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, has told reporters that the prospect of an Iranian attack on Israel is “still a viable threat”, after concerted efforts by Israel and the US to deter it.

“We are in constant communication with our Israeli counterparts about making sure that they can defend themselves against those kinds of attacks,” Kirby said.

He confirmed that the head of US Central Command, Gen Erik Kurilla, is in Israel talking with Israeli defence officials, about how Israel can be best prepared.

It is also likely Kurilla is there to influence and moderate any Israeli response. The Biden administration is very concerned about the possibility of out-of-control escalation.

Poland’s government on Friday called the killing of a Polish aid worker by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza “murder”, and said the case should be brought before an independent court in Israel, the Associated Press is reporting.

In an address to parliament, Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, called the 1 April killings of Polish volunteer Damian Soból, 35, and six other works of the World Central Kitchen charity, were “shocking and disturbing”, and said that Poland expects Israel’s “full cooperation” in the murder investigation opened by Polish prosecutors in Przemyśl, Soból’s hometown.

Poland was working with other countries whose citizens were killed in the shelling — Australia, Britain, Canada and the US — to jointly press for a detailed investigation into how cars marked as humanitarian convoy could have become targets of repeated shelling by the Israeli army, Bartoszewski said.

The dismissals and disciplinary measures applied to the officers responsible for the killings were “inadequate”, he said, and demanded that the case be tried by an independent court in Israel.

He stressed that all international rule of defence were violated by that attack, and that Poland is demanding compensation to Soból’s family.

A number of countries have issued statements in recent days as a result of the threats being traded between Iran and Israel after the bombing of an Iranian consular building in Damascus.

Here is a round up of what countries, such as France, Australia, the US and Russia, have said and any travel advice they have announced so far:

• India advised its citizens on Friday against travelling to Iran and Israel until further notice in view of the “prevailing situation in the region”. India’s foreign ministry said its citizens in the two countries should observe “utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum”.

• France on Friday warned its citizens to “imperatively refrain from travel in the coming days to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories”, the foreign minister’s entourage told Agence France-Presse (AFP). France’s foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné at a crisis meeting also asked that family members of French diplomats in Iran be evacuated, and no French civil servants be sent on missions to the listed countries.

• Australia has urged Iran not to escalate tensions in the Middle East. Australian foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said on Friday she had spoken with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and urged his nation to “use its influence in the region to promote stability, not contribute to escalation”.“Australia is deeply concerned by indications Iran is preparing military action against Israel,” she said in a post on X. “Further conflict will only add to the devastation in the Middle East.”

• The Australian government’s Smartraveller website has urged Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, with updated warnings citing the potential for airspace closures, flight cancellations and diversions

• China urged the US to play “a constructive role” in the Middle East on Friday after its top diplomat Wang Yi spoke with his US counterpart Antony Blinken over the phone. According to the report by AFP, Blinken used the call to ask Beijing to use its influence to dissuade Iran from striking Israel, the US Department of State said.

• US president Joe Biden has vowed that US commitment to defend Israel against Iran was “ironclad” as concerns rose in Washington that a “significant” Iranian strike could happen within days. US and allied officials fear that a strike is imminent and could come in the form of a direct missile launch from Iran, rather than an attack through a proxy like Hezbollah in Lebanon.

• The US have restricted the movements of its diplomats in Israel over security fears, the embassy said. “Out of an abundance of caution, US government employees and their family members are restricted from personal travel” outside the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheeva areas “until further notice”, an embassy notice on Thursday said.

• The US envoy to the Middle East reportedly called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq asking them to deliver a message to Tehran to lower tensions with Israel.

• The UK prime minister said Iran’s threats of an attack were “unacceptable”. Rishi Sunak’s office said he reaffirmed British support for Tel Aviv’s right to defend itself. Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday, Sunak said: “We, like the Americans, fully support Israel’s right to defend itself against that.” The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, said on Thursday he had made clear to Amirabdollahian that Iran should not draw the Middle East into a wider conflict. “I am deeply concerned about the potential for miscalculation leading to further violence,” Cameron said on X.

• Germany’s foreign minister called her Iranian counterpart to urge “maximum restraint” to avoid further escalation.

• German airline Lufthansa extended a suspension of its flights to Tehran. Lufthansa said on Wednesday it had suspended flights to Tehran due to the situation in the Middle East. On Thursday, the airline said this had been extended until probably 13 April.

• Austrian Airlines said it was still planning to fly on Thursday but was adjusting timings to avoid crew having to disembark for an overnight layover.

• Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday advised against travel to the Middle East, especially to Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Also on Thursday, the Kremlin urged all Middle East countries to show restraint and prevent the region slipping into chaos. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus was a violation of all the principles of international law.

India advised its citizens on Friday against travelling to Iran and Israel until further notice in view of the “prevailing situation in the region”, reports Reuters.

The advisory from the foreign ministry came amid Iran’s threats to retaliate against a suspected Israeli airstrike on its embassy in Syria this month.

Countries including the US and Russia have issued similar travel advisories for their staff and citizens in the region.

According to Reuters, India’s foreign ministry said its citizens in the two countries should observe “utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to the minimum”.

A Turkish state television journalist was badly wounded and another slightly hurt in Gaza on Friday, the TRT channel said, adding that the team had been targeted by an Israeli strike.

“The vehicle of a team from TRT Arabi [TRT’s Arabic-language channel] that was preparing to broadcast from the Nuseirat camp … was targeted by an Israeli army strike,” the broadcaster said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“Sami Shahada, a freelance cameraman, was badly wounded,” it added.

TRT’s chief Zahid Sobaci said Shahada had “lost a foot and is currently in surgery”, calling the attack “Israeli brutality”. The channel reported that other journalists were wounded in the central Gaza refugee camp.

A tally from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) numbers at 95 the number of media workers killed in fighting since 7 October, 90 of them Palestinians At least 16 more have been injured.

Germany will face a fresh call to revoke all arms sales to Israel on Thursday in a lawsuit that puts more pressure on Berlin amid a rising outcry about the scale of deaths and destruction in the war on Gaza.

A lawsuit in the German domestic courts will ask judges to urgently direct the government to revoke all arms licences to Israel issued since 7 October, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel.

Germany is widely seen as the second largest arms exporter to Israel behind the US, and is certainly a more significant provider of arms than the UK.

The lawsuit has been issued by four human rights groups on behalf of five named Palestinians who say they are in fear of their lives in Gaza, and are suffering a form of collective punishment by Israel.

The legal action is directed against the Green party-led federal ministry for economic affairs and climate action, the department responsible for export licences under the weapons of war control act.

You can read more on this story by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, here:

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