Israel-Hamas War Day 195: What's going on in Gaza, Iran?

The US has approved a potential Israeli Rafah operation in exchange for the Jewish state not conducting counterstrikes on Iran, according to a Thursday report from the Qatari newspaper The New Arab.

A senior official told The New Arab that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to obtain American approval for a military operation in Rafah, in exchange for [Israel] refraining from carrying out a wide military operation against Iran in response to its recent attack."

He claimed that "discourse of an Israeli response to Iran contradicts  the desires of the American administration, and is not realistic, given the Israeli claims that the United States played the major role in repelling the Iranian attack and preventing its success."

The source noted that "the IDF carried out airstrikes [overnight on Thursday] on several areas adjacent to the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt," adding that "the relevant officials in Egypt were notified before the execution of some of these strikes, which came in the Philadelphi axis at a space adjacent to the border with Egypt.

The White House's message after announcing new sanctions and import controls on Iran was clear: the US is committed to Israel’s security and security of personnel and partners in the region. 

In a statement, President Biden said the US will not hesitate to take all necessary action to hold Iran accountable. 

Iran launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks the world has ever seen against Israel less than a week ago, Biden said, and together with allies and partners, the United States defended Israel. 

"We helped defeat this attack," Biden said. "And today, we are holding Iran accountable—imposing new sanctions and export controls on Iran."

Collective action against Iran

Matthew Miller, State Department spokesperson, said specifically sanctions will target several actions involved in Iran's unmanned aerial vehicle program, suppliers and customers of one of Iran's largest steel producers, and Iranian automobile companies with connections to US-designated entities Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL)

Iran could review its "nuclear doctrine" following Israeli threats, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Thursday, raising concerns about Tehran's nuclear program, which it has always said was strictly for peaceful purposes.

Israel has said it will retaliate against Iran's April 13 missile and drone attack, which Tehran says was carried out in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus earlier this month.

"The threats of the Zionist regime (Israel) against Iran's nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations," Ahmad Haghtalab, the Guards commander in charge of nuclear security, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last say on Tehran's nuclear program, which the West suspects has military purposes.

In 2021, Iran's then-intelligence minister said Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons, the development of which Khamenei banned in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s.

"Building and stockpiling nuclear bombs is wrong, and using it is haram (religiously forbidden) ... Although we have nuclear technology, Iran has firmly avoided it," Khamenei reiterated in 2019.

Nuclear tensions

An Iranian missile system is seen during an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, October 17, 2022. (credit: IRGC/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)

Iran's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said on Thursday that the terror organization did not withdraw from talks and that an impasse has not yet been reached, KAN reported.

Iran is currently preparing for a potential Israeli retaliation against its territory or proxies following Tehran's Sunday missile attack on Israel, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday. As part of these preparations, Iran has allegedly removed senior Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from Syria. 

This comes amid US and European pressure on Israel to respond in a way that prevents further escalation following Tehran's missile and drone attack over the weekend.

Iran is reportedly currently preparing both military and non-military assets for various scenarios of a possible Israeli strike. On Wednesday, Iran's navy escorted Iranian commercial vessels through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The IDF arrested an Islamic State (ISIS) operative overnight in the West Bank, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

The operative was reportedly planning to execute an attack in the near future.  

The IDF killed a senior Hamas intelligence officer in an overnight strike on a terrorist cell in the central Gaza Strip, the military reported on Thursday.

The terrorist killed, Yussef Rafik Ahmed Shabat, served as a security officer in the military intelligence wing of Hamas's Beit Hanoun Battalion.

Shabat was responsible for investigations in Hamas's Beit Hanoun Internal Security Department, the military added.  

Overnight into early Thursday, Israeli fighter jets targeted terror targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Khiam area of southern Lebanon, the IDF reported.

Two terrorists were killed in the strikes. Additionally, among the targets attacked were several terror infrastructures used by the organization alongside two additional Hezbollah structures, the military added.

Israeli media reported that Israel is not expected to attack Iran until after Passover, based on reports from a senior American official told ABC News Thursday morning.

The senior official also claimed that this statement depends on "upcoming events."

This is a developing story.

A man-made famine is "tightening its grip" across the Gaza Strip, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA warned on Wednesday as he accused Israel of blocking aid deliveries and seeking to end UNRWA's activities in the enclave.

"Today, an insidious campaign to end UNRWA's operations is underway, with serious implications for international peace and security," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member UN Security Council.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Since war erupted six months ago between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, top UN officials have described UNRWA as the backbone of aid operations.