Israel-Gaza updates: 22, including 18 children, reported dead in Rafah strikes

The IDF says it struck military targets of terrorist organizations in Gaza.

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.


What to know about Iran's attack on Israel

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.


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'War against humanity,' WCK founder Jose Andres tells ABC News

Chef José Andrés claimed Israel is committing a "war against humanity itself" during an exclusive sit-down interview with "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz, following the Israeli drone strike attack that killed seven of his World Central Kitchen workers.

Andrés, who founded the humanitarian organization in 2010, pushed back against the Israel Defense Forces' findings on the WCK convoy strike, telling Raddatz, "Every time something happens, we cannot just be bringing Hamas into the equation."

"This is not anymore about the seven men and women of World Central Kitchen that perished on this unfortunate event. This is happening for way too long. It's been six months of targeting anything that seems moves," Andrés said. "This doesn't seem a war against terror. This doesn't seem anymore a war about defending Israel. This really, at this point, seems it's a war against humanity itself."

The IDF findings released on Friday said there were three strikes on the convoy. It also said WCK workers hit in the first vehicle were hit again while moving to another vehicle in the convoy. The IDF confirmed that the aid group had coordinated their movements correctly with them in advance, but conceded that Israeli officials failed to update its brigade on the coordinated humanitarian operation.

Asked by Raddatz if he was satisfied with the report's findings, Andrés thanked the IDF for conducting "such a quick investigation" though called for a more thorough, independent one.

"I will say something so complicated, the investigation should be much more deeper," he said. "And I would say that the perpetrator cannot be investigating himself."

Watch the full interview with Andrés on "This Week" Sunday morning on ABC.

-ABC News' Meredith Deliso


Israel 'still unhealed' 6 months into war, UK prime minister says

Six months into Israel’s war with Hamas, Israel’s “wounds” caused by the terror attack on Oct. 7 remain “unhealed,” U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

And Palestinians, including children, in the Gaza Strip need a humanitarian pause “immediately,” as well as a sustainable long-term cease-fire, Sunak said in a statement on Saturday.

“After six months of war in Gaza, the toll on civilians continues to grow — hunger, desperation, loss of life on an awful scale,” he said.

The U.K. continues to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself and defeat Hamas, he said, but he also called for the “terrible” conflict to end. The hostages must be released and aid must “be flooded in” to Gaza, he said.

“But the whole of the U.K. is shocked by the bloodshed, and appalled by the killing of brave British heroes who were bringing food to those in need,” Sunak said, referring to World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in Israeli military strikes.


UN issues report on Al-Shifa Hospital, calling for cease-fire

The United Nations said it finally gained access to Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, following a days-long Israeli raid and found what the head of the World Health Organization called "an empty shell," with most buildings destroyed.

"The scale of devastation has left the facility completely non-functional, further reducing access to life-saving health care in Gaza. Restoring even minimal functionality in the short term seems implausible and will require substantial efforts to assess and clear the grounds for unexploded ordnance to ensure safety and accessibility for partners to bring in equipment and supplies," WHO said in a statement.

The WHO said its efforts to reach the hospital "to medically evacuate patients and staff and conduct an assessment were denied, delayed or impeded 6 times between 25 March and 1 April." According to the WHO at least 20 patients died due to lack of access to care.

The WHO said numerous shallow graves, and many partially buried bodies, were found just outside the emergency department after the Israeli siege.

"During the visit, WHO staff witnessed at least five bodies lying partially covered on the ground, exposed to the heat. The team reported a pungent smell of decomposing bodies engulfing the hospital compound. Safeguarding dignity, even in death, is an indispensable act of humanity," according to the WHO.

The destruction of Shifa and the main hospital in southern Gaza - Nasser - "has broken the backbone of the already ailing health system," the WHO said.


UN marks 'terrible milestone' as Gaza faces 'man-made famine'

The people of Gaza are facing the "immediate prospect of a shameful manmade famine," United Nations Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths said, as he called for an end to the war.

"We have arrived at a terrible milestone," Griffiths said in a statement marking six months of the Israel-Hamas war. He called the prospect of further escalation in Gaza "unconscionable."

"Rarely has there been such global outrage at the toll of conflict, with seemingly so little done to end it and instead so much impunity," Griffiths said.

-ABC News' Nadine Shubailat


Biden calls for cease-fire 'now' to get aid into Gaza in Univision interview

President Joe Biden called for an immediate cease-fire to get food and aid into Gaza in an interview airing Tuesday night on Univision.

"So I what I'm calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a cease-fire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country," Biden said in the interview with Univision's Enrique Acevedo. "I've spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They're prepared to move in. They're prepared to move this food in. And I think there's no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now."

Biden did not mention tying the cease-fire to a hostage deal, according to a transcript of the interview, which would be a shift for the administration. ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.

Last week, officials pushed back on suggestions that they were separating calls for a cease-fire from hostage negotiations in their readout of Biden's call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Our conviction remains that we need to see an immediate cease-fire to enable the release of hostages but also to enable a dramatic surge in humanitarian assistance, as well as obviously better protecting civilians," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on April 4.

In the Univision interview, Biden also called Netanyahu's approach in Gaza "a mistake" when asked if he believed the prime minister was "more concerned about his political survival than he is in the national interest of his people" as calls for Netanyahu's resignation have increased following the strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers.

"Well, I will tell you, I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach. I think it's outrageous that those four, three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway where it wasn't like it was along the shore, it wasn't like there was a convoy moving there, etc.," Biden said in the interview.

The hour-long interview, which is airing at 10 p.m. ET, was taped a day before Biden's call with Netanyahu on April 4.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle