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.
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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.
'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
Iran 'not the power it purports to be,' White House adviser says
Israel on Saturday demonstrated its "military superiority" against Iran while also showcasing its partnership with military allies, including the United States, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said Monday.
Israel said Sunday about 99% of the missiles and drones launched by Iran were intercepted by Israel and its allies, a defense that Kirby called a "tremendous success."
"I think it did show, did demonstrate that Iran is not the power that it purports to be, that it doesn't have that same military superiority," Kirby said on "Good Morning America."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected on Monday to reconvene his war cabinet, a body that met on Sunday without deciding on a response to Iran's attack. And President Joe Biden and his G7 counterparts on Sunday released a statement urging Iran to cease its attacks.
"With its actions, Iran has further stepped toward the destabilization of the region and risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation," the G7 leaders' statement said. "This must be avoided."
The United States would not participate in an Israeli response, if the country decides to strike back against Iran, U.S. defense and security officials said on Sunday.
But the final decision on whether Israel strikes back will fall to Netanyahu, Kirby said Monday.
"The president was also clear, as he has been throughout, that we do not seek a wider war in the region and we don't seek conflict with Iran," he said.
-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey