Israel launched a retaliatory strike against Iran early Friday morning local time, a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
The strike followed Iran's attack on Saturday, when Tehran sent a volley of more than 300 drones and missiles toward targets in Israel, according to Israeli military officials. All but a few were intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the United States, officials said.
Iran's weekend attack came more than six months after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, after which the Israeli military began its bombardment of Gaza.
Israeli officials said the country's Iron Dome defense system endured a big test from Iran's attack on Saturday, intercepting 99% of the 300 "threats of various types" thrown at it.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari, launched 170 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more than 120 ballistic missiles and more than 30 cruise missiles in the attack.
Hagari said "99% of the threats launched towards Israeli territory were intercepted -- a very significant strategic achievement."
Hagari said the attack resulted in only one known Israeli casualty, a 7-year-old girl who was severely injured when she was struck by shrapnel apparently from an intercepted missile.
Apr 08, 2024, 12:39 PM EDT
White House still reviewing IDF report on WCK strike, Kirby says
The White House is still reviewing the Israel Defense Force’s investigation of the Israeli strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
Officials are "still working our way through it," Kirby told reporters Monday. He didn’t provide any update on when that assessment will be done.
A Palestinian man rides a bicycle past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Apr. 2, 2024.
Ahmed Zakot/Reuters
Kirby also said the postponed visit by the Israeli delegation to the White House to discuss the IDF’s presence in Rafah in southern Gaza will likely be delayed again.
"I'm not sure that it's going to actually happen this week," he said. "I think folks are really sort of circling around sometime next week."
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 07, 2024, 4:58 PM EDT
Egypt to dramatically increase number of aid trucks through Rafah crossing
Egypt has decided to increase the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip through its Rafah border crossing to 300 trucks per day, Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt's State Information Service, said Sunday.
The average number of trucks entering the crossing daily since the beginning of April has been 55, Egyptian officials said.
A total of 322 trucks entered North Gaza via Rafah during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Rashwan said.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, more than 19,000 relief trucks have entered the Gaza Strip through Rafah, Rashwan said.
Rashwan also said 66,759 foreign passport holders and dual nationals exited Gaza into Egypt through Rafah since the war began. Some 3,764 wounded Palestinians and patients, along with 6,191 relatives have also left Gaza into Egypt, according to Rashwan.
-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy
Apr 07, 2024, 3:48 PM EDT
Talks to resume Sunday in Egypt, Israeli source says
An Israeli delegation has arrived in Cairo, Egypt, for a new round of cease-fire and hostage release talks, an Israeli source confirmed Sunday to ABC News.
-ABC News Jordana Miller
Apr 07, 2024, 2:49 PM EDT
Troop withdrawal was to prepare for missions, including in Rafah, Israeli defense minister says
The withdrawal Sunday of Israeli troops from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip was done to prepare forces for future missions, including in Rafah, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“The withdrawal of troops from Khan Younis was carried out once Hamas ceased to exist as a military framework in the city," Gallant said Sunday. "Our forces left the area in order to prepare for their future missions, including their mission in Rafah.”
This picture taken on April 7, 2024 shows a view of a partially-collapsed building in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, six months into the devastating war sparked by the October 7 attacks.
AFP via Getty Images
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Israel Defense Forces' southern command, Gallant said, "We saw examples of such missions in Shifaa, and [will see] such missions in the Rafah area. We will reach a point when Hamas no longer controls the Gaza Strip and does not function as a military framework that poses a threat to the citizens of the State of Israel."
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi also confirmed Sunday that "the war in Gaza continues" and Israel is "far from stopping."
Senior Hamas officials are still hiding in the southern Gaza Strip area, Halevi said in a statement.
"We will get to them sooner or later," Halevi said, adding that the IDF "will know how to return to fighting in the event of a truce as part of a hostage deal and that returning the hostages is a more urgent matter than other goals."
Halevi also said Israel is preparing to defend itself from a possible strike from Iran, which has vowed to retaliate against an airstrike allegedly carried out by Israel in Syria last week that killed a top Iranian commander.
Halevi said the IDF is fully prepared to deal with Tehran "in attack and defense."
