UN warns of "growing hunger and desperation" in Gaza as Israeli troops advance. Here's what to know
From CNN staff
"Civil order" is deteriorating in Gaza after weeks of siege and bombardment, with people breaking into warehouses to take survival essentials, according to United Nations agencies.
The UN World Food Programme said some of its aid supplies were looted in Gaza and warned of "growing hunger and desperation" in a news release Sunday. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said earlier Sunday that "thousands" of people had broken into some of its warehouses and distribution centers in the central and southern areas of the strip, "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies."
Here's what you need to know:
Emergency meeting: The United Arab Emirates, the only Arab country with a seat in the UN Security Council, will seek a binding resolution from other members for an "immediate humanitarian pause" in the fighting in Gaza during an emergency meeting Monday, sources said. Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at the council that called for a humanitarian pause.
Hospital hit: Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at the Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Sunday, accusing Israel of “deliberately” launching the airstrikes next to Gaza City's second-largest hospital "with the aim of forcing the medical staff, displaced people, and patients to evacuate.” It also said it received a warning Sunday from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization has said would be "impossible" without endangering patients' lives.
Israeli advance: Israeli troops in a video taken Saturday, are seen putting an Israeli flag on a Gaza resort hotel's roof. CNN geolocated the video to an area just over 2 miles [about 3 kilometers] from the Gaza-Israel border. It's one of the first glimpses into where Israeli ground forces have been, and what they've been doing, during the expanded ground operations in Gaza. A communications blackout in the enclave has significantly hampered the flow of information out of it, though providers said service was gradually being restored Sunday.
Regional conflict fears: Israel has "crossed the red lines" in Gaza, which "may force everyone to take action," Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday, while US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of an "elevated risk" of a spillover conflict in the Middle East. Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region — like the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah — independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza continues to mount.
Aid trucks cross: The Palestinian Red Crescent said it received 10 aid trucks via the Rafah border crossing containing food supplies and medical necessities. The total number of received trucks so far has reached 94, while fuel has not been allowed to enter yet. Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders said it has sent 26 tons of medical supplies to Egypt to support the emergency medical response in Gaza.
Death toll mounts: The death toll in Gaza has risen to 7,960, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. More than 20,000 have been injured, the ministry said. Nearly three-quarters — 73% — of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women, and elderly individuals, according to the ministry report, which adds that the total killed includes 116 medical personnel.
Gaza connectivity: After phone and internet service was severed late last week, civilians, aid groups and journalists were left without any means of communicating with the outside world. Service appeared to be gradually restored on Sunday. "We do feel strongly that the restoration of that communications was a critical thing," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. "Because aid workers need to be able to communicate, civilians need to be able to communicate, and of course, journalists need to be able to document what is happening in Gaza to report it to the wider world."
1 hr 21 min ago
Anti-Israeli crowd storms Russian airport as Tel Aviv flight lands and global Gaza tensions spiral
From CNN's Josh Pennington, Pierre Meilhan, Maija Ehlinger and Hadas Gold
People crowd the tarmac at Makhachkala Uytash Airport in the southern Russian Republic of Dagestan on October 29. From Telegram
An angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.
Clashes left at least 10 people injured, including two people in critical condition, according to a statement by the Dagestan Health Ministry late Sunday.
According to Russian state media TASS, “those gathered oppose the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
The Makhachkala Uytash Airport (MCX) was temporarily closed and flights were diverted, according to a statement from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, saying “unknown persons” broke into the facility.
The Red Wing Airlines flight from Tel Aviv arrived Sunday at 7:17 p.m. local time, according to Flight Aware, and was quickly surrounded by protesters upon landing.
Multiple videos posted on social media showed a crowd of people inside the airport and on the runway, some waving the Palestinian flag, others forcing their way through closed doors in the international terminal.
In photos and videos verified by CNN, the crowd outside the airport held antisemetic signs that included slogans such as “We are against Jewish refugees,” and “There is no place for child-killers in Dagestan.”
In one video, a pilot takes to the speaker of his aircraft to say: “It is not safe to open the doors” because “protesters are below our plane.”
The incident is the latest to illustrate huge global tensions and divides over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by a coordinated October 7 attack by the militant group that killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of more than 200 people.
Netanyahu deletes social media post accusing security chiefs of failing to warn about October 7 attack
From CNN's Lucas Lilieholm, Tamar Michaelis, Maija Ehlinger and Laura Paddison
Benjamin Netanyahu attends a meeting in Tel Aviv on October 12. Jacquelyn Martin/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received sharp criticism after he accused security chiefs in a now-deleted social media post of failing to warn him about the impending Hamas attack prior to October 7.
Amid a chorus of disapproval from opponents and allies, Netanyahu deleted the post on Sunday morning, issuing a rare apology and stating Israel’s security heads had his “full backing.”
But the incident has done little to quell increasing frustration and anger directed at Israel’s leader for failing to anticipate the brutal Hamas attacks, which saw the group kill at least 1,400 people and take more than 200 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Netanyahu’s tweet comes at a time when he is also under increasing pressure from the families of hostages for a “comprehensive deal” to ensure their release. These calls are becoming more urgent amid concerns for what Israel’s expanding ground operations could mean for the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.
In the now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, Netanyahu said, “At no point was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Hamas’s intention to start a war. On the contrary, all the defense officials, including the heads of the Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas was deterred.”
An outpouring of criticism swiftly followed Netanyahu’s post, following which, the prime minister deleted the post and apologized. “I was wrong. Things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” he wrote on X. Israel’s security chiefs had his “full backing,” he added.
But even in this apology, Netanyahu made no mention of his own responsibility for the failure to anticipate the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. By contrast, security chiefs Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, as well as chief of staff of the IDF Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have all taken responsibility to some extent for failures that led to the attacks.
4 min ago
"Fabric of society is starting to break down" in Gaza, UN agency warns
From CNN's Helena Geers, Rosanne Roobeek, Anna Gorzkowska, and Jessie Gretener
Palestinians check damage at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis on Sunday. Mohammed Salem/Reuters
The "fabric of society" in Gaza is starting to break down, an official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) told CNN — echoing warnings Sunday of a breakdown in civil order.
Thomas White, director of affairs for Gaza for UNRWA, said people were looting logistics and aid warehouses in the enclave in a "breakdown in civil order."
"We have been warning for a couple days now, that if essential public services and humanitarian aid would not be provided to the population in a sustained way we would see a breakdown in civil order. What we are seeing right now is the first stages of that, and that some of our logistic bases were looted by hundreds of young men. It's a very worrying sign that the fabric of society is starting to break down," White said.
White said he was concerned for the people of Gaza but also for UNRWA's ability to maintain operations there. He called for a humanitarian ceasefire, citing the urgent need to "get the assistance that people need and stabilize society in Gaza."
2 hr 28 min ago
Video shows Hamas launching weaponized drone from Gaza during October 7 attack
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Hamas launched at least one of its weaponized drones in the October 7 terror attack from a residential building in southern Gaza, video circulating on social media shows.
CNN geolocated the takeoff site in the video to the eastern outskirts of the town of Khuza'a.
It's the latest video to come to light from captured Hamas weaponry and body cameras that sheds new insight into how Hamas conducted its surprise assault on Israel.
The drone is seen rising in the video from the building, away from Khuza'a and toward the Gaza-Israel border. A second video, taken near an Israeli military outpost just east of Nir Oz, shows the drone flying.
It is suddenly heard losing propulsion and is then seen hitting the ground. It's unclear what caused the drone to crash, and it's unclear whether it dropped munitions before crashing.
2 hr 36 min ago
Here's what to know about Iran's role in the broader Middle East conflict
Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region — like the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah — independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza continues to mount.
“What connects all these groups to Iran is their anti-Israel policies,” said Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noting that while Iran has varying levels of influence over the groups, it doesn’t dictate all their actions.
Raisi's comments were not the first warning from an Iranian official of the potential for a broader conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has also warned that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza could have far-reaching consequences, saying that if Israel does not halt its airstrikes, “it is highly probable that many other fronts will be opened.”
“This option is not ruled out and this is becoming increasingly more probable,” he told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.
Last Monday, Abdollahian said the US has sent Iran two messages regarding escalation in the region.
“The first message said that the United States is not interested in expanding the war, and the second message asked Iran to have self-restraint and insisted that Iran should also ask other countries and other sides to have self-restraint,” Abdollahian said during a news conference in Tehran, without saying how and when the messages were delivered.
He added that while the US says it wants to de-escalate, it has contradicted itself by continuing to support Israel.
Trita Parsi, vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said there is no appetite or desire from either Iran, the US or Israel for a wider war, but that Washington’s failure to restrain Israel may inadvertently drive the region toward escalation.
Risk of expanding Middle East conflict is real, US national security adviser says
From CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Avery Lotz
The United States sees an "elevated risk" of a spillover conflict in the Middle East as Iranian proxies target American troops stationed in the region, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.
"We are vigilant, because we are seeing elevated threats against our forces throughout the region and an elevated risk of this conflict spreading to other parts of the region. We are doing everything in our power to deter and prevent that," Sullivan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The airstrikes against the facilities linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups did not result in any casualties, the US assessed.
Asked about US strikes on Iranian proxies in the region, Sullivan said on ABC, “If attacks continue, we will respond, and I think the Iranians understand our message.”
“We, of course, are taking every measure necessary to protect our forces, to increase our vigilance and to work with other countries in the region to try to keep this conflict that is currently in Israel and Gaza from spinning out into a regional conflict,” Sullivan said. “But the risk is real, and therefore, vigilance is high, and the steps that we are taking to deter that and prevent that are serious, systematic and ongoing.”
1 min ago
Aid warehouse break-ins show "growing hunger and desperation" in Gaza, UN food program says
From CNN's Zeena Saifi in Tel Aviv and Chris Liakos in Cairo
Palestinians storm a UN-run aid supply center, that distributes food to displaced families following Israel's call for more than one million residents in northern Gaza to move south for their safety, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on October 28. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
The United Nations World Food Programme said some of its aid supplies were looted in Gaza and warned of "growing hunger and desperation" in a news release Sunday.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said earlier Sunday that "thousands" of people had broken into some of its warehouses and distribution centers in the central and southern areas of the strip, "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies."
The food program said one of the warehouses was storing some of its food commodities, and supplies from humanitarian deliveries through Egypt.
"This is a sign of people losing hope and becoming more desperate by the minute. They are hungry, isolated, and have been suffering violence and immense distress for three weeks," said Samer Abdeljaber, a World Food Programme official for the region. "We need a humanitarian pause to be able to reach the people in need with food, water and basic necessities safely and effectively. Much more access is urgently needed, and the trickle of supplies needs to become a flow."
The food program pointed to the "harrowing 24-hour communication blackout" and "persistent access challenges" that brought all of its operations to a halt as a result of Israel's extensive airstrikes Saturday.
"WFP plans to provide food lifeline to over one million people who are going hungry now and needs a steady supply of food with at least 40 WFP trucks to cross daily into Gaza to be able to meet the escalating needs," the statement said. "So far emergency food and cash assistance has reached over 635,200 people in both Gaza and the West Bank."
2 hr 41 min ago
Israel has "crossed the red lines" in Gaza, Iranian President Raisi says
From CNN's Radina Gigova
Israel has "crossed the red lines" in Gaza, which "may force everyone to take action," Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday.
"Zionist regime’s crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action. Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel," Raisi said in a post on social media. "The US sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield."
Some context: Israel's fierce military campaign in Gaza has raised concerns that more fronts will open up. Iran is allied to Hamas as well as Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been involved in tit-for-tat exchanges of fire with Israel in recent weeks.
Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza mounts.
In the early days after the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel, questions were raised about Iran’s potential involvement in the killings. Tehran at the time commended the operation but was quick to deny any hand in it.
Initial US intelligence also suggested that Iranian officials were surprised by Hamas’ attack, and that Tehran was not directly involved in its planning, resourcing or approval, CNN has reported.
The UN warns "civil order" is deteriorating in Gaza after weeks of siege and bombardment, with people breaking into warehouses to take survival essentials.
Israel's offensive has "crossed the red lines," Iran's president said Sunday, as the US national security adviser warned of an "elevated risk" for the war expanding into a broader Middle East conflict.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday, where the United Arab Emirates will seek a resolution on a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting, sources tell CNN. The US has opposed previous calls for a ceasefire.
"Civil order" is deteriorating in Gaza after weeks of siege and bombardment, with people breaking into warehouses to take survival essentials, according to United Nations agencies.
The UN World Food Programme said some of its aid supplies were looted in Gaza and warned of "growing hunger and desperation" in a news release Sunday. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said earlier Sunday that "thousands" of people had broken into some of its warehouses and distribution centers in the central and southern areas of the strip, "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies."
Here's what you need to know:
Emergency meeting: The United Arab Emirates, the only Arab country with a seat in the UN Security Council, will seek a binding resolution from other members for an "immediate humanitarian pause" in the fighting in Gaza during an emergency meeting Monday, sources said. Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at the council that called for a humanitarian pause.
Hospital hit: Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at the Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Sunday, accusing Israel of “deliberately” launching the airstrikes next to Gaza City's second-largest hospital "with the aim of forcing the medical staff, displaced people, and patients to evacuate.” It also said it received a warning Sunday from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization has said would be "impossible" without endangering patients' lives.
Israeli advance: Israeli troops in a video taken Saturday, are seen putting an Israeli flag on a Gaza resort hotel's roof. CNN geolocated the video to an area just over 2 miles [about 3 kilometers] from the Gaza-Israel border. It's one of the first glimpses into where Israeli ground forces have been, and what they've been doing, during the expanded ground operations in Gaza. A communications blackout in the enclave has significantly hampered the flow of information out of it, though providers said service was gradually being restored Sunday.
Regional conflict fears: Israel has "crossed the red lines" in Gaza, which "may force everyone to take action," Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday, while US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of an "elevated risk" of a spillover conflict in the Middle East. Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region — like the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah — independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza continues to mount.
Aid trucks cross: The Palestinian Red Crescent said it received 10 aid trucks via the Rafah border crossing containing food supplies and medical necessities. The total number of received trucks so far has reached 94, while fuel has not been allowed to enter yet. Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders said it has sent 26 tons of medical supplies to Egypt to support the emergency medical response in Gaza.
Death toll mounts: The death toll in Gaza has risen to 7,960, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. More than 20,000 have been injured, the ministry said. Nearly three-quarters — 73% — of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women, and elderly individuals, according to the ministry report, which adds that the total killed includes 116 medical personnel.
Gaza connectivity: After phone and internet service was severed late last week, civilians, aid groups and journalists were left without any means of communicating with the outside world. Service appeared to be gradually restored on Sunday. "We do feel strongly that the restoration of that communications was a critical thing," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. "Because aid workers need to be able to communicate, civilians need to be able to communicate, and of course, journalists need to be able to document what is happening in Gaza to report it to the wider world."
People crowd the tarmac at Makhachkala Uytash Airport in the southern Russian Republic of Dagestan on October 29. From Telegram
An angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.
Clashes left at least 10 people injured, including two people in critical condition, according to a statement by the Dagestan Health Ministry late Sunday.
According to Russian state media TASS, “those gathered oppose the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
The Makhachkala Uytash Airport (MCX) was temporarily closed and flights were diverted, according to a statement from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, saying “unknown persons” broke into the facility.
The Red Wing Airlines flight from Tel Aviv arrived Sunday at 7:17 p.m. local time, according to Flight Aware, and was quickly surrounded by protesters upon landing.
Multiple videos posted on social media showed a crowd of people inside the airport and on the runway, some waving the Palestinian flag, others forcing their way through closed doors in the international terminal.
In photos and videos verified by CNN, the crowd outside the airport held antisemetic signs that included slogans such as “We are against Jewish refugees,” and “There is no place for child-killers in Dagestan.”
In one video, a pilot takes to the speaker of his aircraft to say: “It is not safe to open the doors” because “protesters are below our plane.”
The incident is the latest to illustrate huge global tensions and divides over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by a coordinated October 7 attack by the militant group that killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of more than 200 people.
Benjamin Netanyahu attends a meeting in Tel Aviv on October 12. Jacquelyn Martin/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received sharp criticism after he accused security chiefs in a now-deleted social media post of failing to warn him about the impending Hamas attack prior to October 7.
Amid a chorus of disapproval from opponents and allies, Netanyahu deleted the post on Sunday morning, issuing a rare apology and stating Israel’s security heads had his “full backing.”
But the incident has done little to quell increasing frustration and anger directed at Israel’s leader for failing to anticipate the brutal Hamas attacks, which saw the group kill at least 1,400 people and take more than 200 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Netanyahu’s tweet comes at a time when he is also under increasing pressure from the families of hostages for a “comprehensive deal” to ensure their release. These calls are becoming more urgent amid concerns for what Israel’s expanding ground operations could mean for the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.
In the now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, Netanyahu said, “At no point was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Hamas’s intention to start a war. On the contrary, all the defense officials, including the heads of the Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas was deterred.”
An outpouring of criticism swiftly followed Netanyahu’s post, following which, the prime minister deleted the post and apologized. “I was wrong. Things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” he wrote on X. Israel’s security chiefs had his “full backing,” he added.
But even in this apology, Netanyahu made no mention of his own responsibility for the failure to anticipate the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. By contrast, security chiefs Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, as well as chief of staff of the IDF Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have all taken responsibility to some extent for failures that led to the attacks.
Palestinians check damage at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis on Sunday. Mohammed Salem/Reuters
The "fabric of society" in Gaza is starting to break down, an official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) told CNN — echoing warnings Sunday of a breakdown in civil order.
Thomas White, director of affairs for Gaza for UNRWA, said people were looting logistics and aid warehouses in the enclave in a "breakdown in civil order."
"We have been warning for a couple days now, that if essential public services and humanitarian aid would not be provided to the population in a sustained way we would see a breakdown in civil order. What we are seeing right now is the first stages of that, and that some of our logistic bases were looted by hundreds of young men. It's a very worrying sign that the fabric of society is starting to break down," White said.
White said he was concerned for the people of Gaza but also for UNRWA's ability to maintain operations there. He called for a humanitarian ceasefire, citing the urgent need to "get the assistance that people need and stabilize society in Gaza."
Hamas launched at least one of its weaponized drones in the October 7 terror attack from a residential building in southern Gaza, video circulating on social media shows.
CNN geolocated the takeoff site in the video to the eastern outskirts of the town of Khuza'a.
It's the latest video to come to light from captured Hamas weaponry and body cameras that sheds new insight into how Hamas conducted its surprise assault on Israel.
The drone is seen rising in the video from the building, away from Khuza'a and toward the Gaza-Israel border. A second video, taken near an Israeli military outpost just east of Nir Oz, shows the drone flying.
It is suddenly heard losing propulsion and is then seen hitting the ground. It's unclear what caused the drone to crash, and it's unclear whether it dropped munitions before crashing.
Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region — like the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah — independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza continues to mount.
“What connects all these groups to Iran is their anti-Israel policies,” said Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noting that while Iran has varying levels of influence over the groups, it doesn’t dictate all their actions.
Raisi's comments were not the first warning from an Iranian official of the potential for a broader conflict.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has also warned that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza could have far-reaching consequences, saying that if Israel does not halt its airstrikes, “it is highly probable that many other fronts will be opened.”
“This option is not ruled out and this is becoming increasingly more probable,” he told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.
Last Monday, Abdollahian said the US has sent Iran two messages regarding escalation in the region.
“The first message said that the United States is not interested in expanding the war, and the second message asked Iran to have self-restraint and insisted that Iran should also ask other countries and other sides to have self-restraint,” Abdollahian said during a news conference in Tehran, without saying how and when the messages were delivered.
He added that while the US says it wants to de-escalate, it has contradicted itself by continuing to support Israel.
Trita Parsi, vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said there is no appetite or desire from either Iran, the US or Israel for a wider war, but that Washington’s failure to restrain Israel may inadvertently drive the region toward escalation.
The United States sees an "elevated risk" of a spillover conflict in the Middle East as Iranian proxies target American troops stationed in the region, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday.
"We are vigilant, because we are seeing elevated threats against our forces throughout the region and an elevated risk of this conflict spreading to other parts of the region. We are doing everything in our power to deter and prevent that," Sullivan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The airstrikes against the facilities linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups did not result in any casualties, the US assessed.
Asked about US strikes on Iranian proxies in the region, Sullivan said on ABC, “If attacks continue, we will respond, and I think the Iranians understand our message.”
“We, of course, are taking every measure necessary to protect our forces, to increase our vigilance and to work with other countries in the region to try to keep this conflict that is currently in Israel and Gaza from spinning out into a regional conflict,” Sullivan said. “But the risk is real, and therefore, vigilance is high, and the steps that we are taking to deter that and prevent that are serious, systematic and ongoing.”
Palestinians storm a UN-run aid supply center, that distributes food to displaced families following Israel's call for more than one million residents in northern Gaza to move south for their safety, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on October 28. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
The United Nations World Food Programme said some of its aid supplies were looted in Gaza and warned of "growing hunger and desperation" in a news release Sunday.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said earlier Sunday that "thousands" of people had broken into some of its warehouses and distribution centers in the central and southern areas of the strip, "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies."
The food program said one of the warehouses was storing some of its food commodities, and supplies from humanitarian deliveries through Egypt.
"This is a sign of people losing hope and becoming more desperate by the minute. They are hungry, isolated, and have been suffering violence and immense distress for three weeks," said Samer Abdeljaber, a World Food Programme official for the region. "We need a humanitarian pause to be able to reach the people in need with food, water and basic necessities safely and effectively. Much more access is urgently needed, and the trickle of supplies needs to become a flow."
The food program pointed to the "harrowing 24-hour communication blackout" and "persistent access challenges" that brought all of its operations to a halt as a result of Israel's extensive airstrikes Saturday.
"WFP plans to provide food lifeline to over one million people who are going hungry now and needs a steady supply of food with at least 40 WFP trucks to cross daily into Gaza to be able to meet the escalating needs," the statement said. "So far emergency food and cash assistance has reached over 635,200 people in both Gaza and the West Bank."
Israel has "crossed the red lines" in Gaza, which "may force everyone to take action," Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday.
"Zionist regime’s crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action. Washington asks us to not do anything, but they keep giving widespread support to Israel," Raisi said in a post on social media. "The US sent messages to the Axis of Resistance but received a clear response on the battlefield."
Some context: Israel's fierce military campaign in Gaza has raised concerns that more fronts will open up. Iran is allied to Hamas as well as Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been involved in tit-for-tat exchanges of fire with Israel in recent weeks.
Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza mounts.
In the early days after the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel, questions were raised about Iran’s potential involvement in the killings. Tehran at the time commended the operation but was quick to deny any hand in it.
Initial US intelligence also suggested that Iranian officials were surprised by Hamas’ attack, and that Tehran was not directly involved in its planning, resourcing or approval, CNN has reported.
