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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WCK airstrike won't affect emergency pier mission: Pentagon

The U.S. military's emergency pier system to get humanitarian aid into Gaza is still en route, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday.

Ryder said that USAID continues to work with organizations to finalize a distribution plan for the aid once it's transferred by the system -- known as JLOTS -- to shore. He also acknowledged that the deadly Israeli strike that killed seven humanitarian aid workers this week "certainly doesn't make that job easier."

He added that it "has not deterred us from continuing to work with groups and NGOs to come up with solutions."

Ryder confirmed that Israel has committed to providing security on shore for the pier and port system.

"I know Israel's investigating in terms of the strike on World Central Kitchen and we trust that Israel will provide the security that we need on the shore," he said.

Ryder said the system is expected to be operational by the end of April or early May.

"We're not changing the mission. We've been tasked to provide a temporary pier. Everything is on track on schedule at this point," he said.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez


IDF suspends 2 military commanders after deadly airstrike: Israeli media

The Israel Defense Forces have suspended two military commanders after seven World Central Kitchen workers were killed in an IDF airstrike earlier this week, according to Israeli media.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman


Child in Gaza ate grass to survive, UNICEF spokesperson says

A UNICEF spokesperson on the ground in Gaza told ABC News Live she is "shocked" by the conditions she has seen in hospitals, including malnourished children.

The spokesperson, Tess Ingram, said she recently visited Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza and met a 7-year-old boy who was "eating grass."

"He was so sick and in so much pain," Ingram told ABC's Terry Moran Thursday. "Thankfully, the doctors there think he will make a full recovery, but he is one of hundreds of children they said that they're treating for malnutrition at the moment."

"This has to be unacceptable, particularly when the aid is just a few kilometers away, as is the nutrition treatments that we have that can save children's lives," she added.

Asked how to protect those providing humanitarian resources in Gaza, following the Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers earlier this week, Ingram said "it's called international humanitarian law."

"That is what we are calling on the parties to the conflict to respect," she said.

-ABC News' Luis Rodriguez, Isabella Meneses, Kiara Brantley-Jones and Robinson Perez


World Central Kitchen attack is part of pattern, NGOs operating in Gaza say

Officials from humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip stressed to reporters Thursday that they believe the Israeli airstrikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers on Monday is part of a pattern.

They said other humanitarian workers were targeted and killed before, including doctors, nurses and journalists, but they were Palestinians.

"The condemnation for the World Central Kitchen incident is right and just, but where is it for every other humanitarian worker, for every other hospital that is destroyed, for every attempt to manipulate the media?" said Christopher Lockyear, secretary general of Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières. "What happened to [World Central Kitchen] is part of a pattern. ... This is about impunity and total disregard of rules of war."

Asked if the World Central Kitchen attack will significantly decrease humanitarian work in Gaza, Lockyear responded, "We remain present in Gaza, but we are assessing the risks on a daily basis."

-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini and Ellie Kaufman


Congressional party leaders reach 'consensus' on aid to Israel and Ukraine, Schumer says

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that during a Sunday call between President Joe Biden and congressional leaders there was "consensus" that Congress needs to act quickly to send aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

Schumer said at a news conference in New York that "hopefully" something can be accomplished this coming week to aid both countries.

Earlier Sunday, Biden spoke to Senate Majority Leader Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Schumer said the best way to send aid to Israel and Ukraine is for the House to take up and pass the Senate-approved national security supplemental that includes aid to both countries. The Senate passed the $95 billion package in February, but Johnson has not brought it to the floor for a vote.

"The best way to help Israel rebuild its anti-missile and anti-drone capacity is by passing that supplemental immediately. As I said, Israel expended about over a billion dollars in defending itself and the security supplemental would replenish the kind of anti-missile and anti-drone defenses that are in the Arrow, in the David's Sling, and in the Iron Dome," Schumer said.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a statement Saturday that the House would change its legislative schedule this week to "consider legislation that supports our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable," but it's not yet clear what legislation that will be, or how drastically it might depart from the Senate-passed bill.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Rachel Scott