The Hamas militant group released the last living American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza on Monday as an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Gaza Strip killed about 16 people in the embattled enclave, mostly women and children.
Hamas said it released Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration to try to revive talks on ending the war. The Israeli military said Alexander was with the Red Cross and is now with Israeli forces, and had crossed into Israeli territory.
The release and the attack came as U.S. President Donald Trump heads to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week.
After ending a ceasefire two months ago, Israel has intensified the war in the Gaza Strip, where its 10-week blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is worsening a humanitarian crisis.
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The U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon reports that armed activities by Israeli forces north of the Blue Line – the U.N. drawn boundary – violate a Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in the latest incident a peacekeeping patrol reported that 10 Israeli soldiers crossed north of the Blue Line on Monday near Alma al-Shaab.
Dujarric said peacekeepers from the U.N. force known as UNIFIL also continue to discover unauthorized weapons and ammunition caches.
On Friday, he said, they found a suspected rocket launching site near the village of Kfar Hammam and reported it to the Lebanese army.
Since November’s cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militants, peacekeepers have detected about 240 sites with unauthorized weapons and ammunition, Dujarric said.
Asked by reporters about U.S. sidelining Israel, Danon said Monday that while the two countries remain strong, longtime allies, there have been recent instances where the two countries’ interests have not been “aligned.”
The remarks were in response to an apparent rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been increasingly bypassed in recent weeks as the U.S. has proposed or brokered deals with a number of regional players, including Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran, without consultation with Israel.
“We are partners and allies, but we are two independent countries,” Danon told reporters at the UN in New York. He added that while it is “legitimate for the U.S. to do what they think is good for the US,” it is also “legitimate for Israel to take action on things that are necessary to protect Israel.”
On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu’s office said Israel would carry on with plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza, but it won’t launch that plan until after Trump’s visit to the Middle East, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon confirmed to reporters Monday that Israel will be holding off the start of their operation in Gaza for a few days.
“Israel is preparing a major operation in Gaza, we are not hiding it. We have called up the reserves, and we have the troops ready. And if there will be no development in the negotiations, we will apply pressure, military pressure, in order to make sure that we bring back the hostages and then eliminate Hamas," Danon said. “It can be avoided ... if the framework that Ambassador Witkoff proposed will be accepted.”
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also alarmed that Gaza’s entire population is facing the risk of famine, and is especially alarmed that the vast majority of children are facing “extreme food deprivation,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.
The dire report on hunger in Gaza released earlier Monday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System shows that Israel’s 70-day ban on the entry of food and other supplies is “a human made catastrophe that the world should now allow,” Guterres’ spokesman said.
The U.N. and the secretary-general have repeatedly called on Israel to immediately open the border crossings and allow 116,000 metric tons of food assistance waiting on the other side to be delivered, Dujarric said, adding that this could feed one million people for four months
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges Israel and Hamas to build on his release and reach an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza that will ensure the unconditional release of all hostages, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.
He commends efforts by the mediators – Egypt, Qatar and the United States – to bring an end to the war in Gaza that followed Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Dujarric said.
Guterres also calls on all parties to ensure the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid, which is “not negotiable,” the spokesman said.
“I feel like I can finally breathe," said Agam Shalem, who went to high school and trained for the Israeli army in a unit with Alexander.
She recalled being on a kibbutz in southern Israel when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, hiding in bomb shelters and hearing after a couple days that an Israeli military officer had contacted Alexander’s parents to say that he had been taken hostage.
She called it as “an insane thing to hear, for the first time. I don’t think anyone ever, I never expected for my friend to be held hostage, not for a day, not for a week and certainly not for 580 days.”
There was no official comment from PA.
The PA imposed a ban on Al Jazeera in January, accusing it of incitement. The move came after Al Jazeera covered a rare crackdown on West Bank militants led by the PA’s security forces.
Israel banned Al Jazeera last year, accusing it of incitement and of serving as a mouthpiece of Hamas.
Al Jazeera has denied the allegations and accused both Israel and the PA of trying to silence critical coverage.
The PA exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of supporters packed the streets of the 21-year-old Alexander's hometown, hugging, jumping and swaying to Israeli music blasting on speakers. They cheered the news of his release while watching a live news broadcast from Israel on a large videoscreen.
Shirly Zaifman, whose children went to school with Alexander, said his family is an important part of the town.
“People are here for him because he brings people together,” Zaifman said.
Carley Peven, of Teaneck, N.J. said “we are overjoyed, we could use some good news while we still have 58 other hostages, we’re going to take this moment to celebrate.”
Her heart, she said, is “overflowing. We’ve been fighting for this for over 500 days.”
The Israeli military says a hostage released in the Gaza Strip, Edan Alexander, was with the Red Cross and is now with Israeli forces.
Alexander was taken from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. His release would be the first since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March, unleashing fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds.
Hamas says it has released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a goodwill gesture toward the Trump administration to try to revive talks on ending the war.
There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.
The release comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week.
In Edan Alexander’s hometown of Tenafly, New Jersey people gathered in the streets around Huyler Park with yellow “welcome home” and “bring them home” signs and set up a large video screen with a live newsfeed from Israel. Supporters have gathered every Friday to march for the hostages’ release.
Shirly Zaifman, whose children went to school with Alexander, said the 21-year-old is funny, smart and athletic, and that his family is an important part of the town.
“We’re ecstatic, we’re nervous just because we know, you know, anything can happen last minute,” Zaifman said, draped in an American and Israel flag. “We’re hoping for the best, it looks like it’s happening, but it’s such a thrill.”
“We may want to take them off of Syria, because we want to give them a fresh start,” said Trump, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged him to do so.
The comments were striking change in tone from the president on Syria sanctions and the government of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
Al-Sharaa took power after his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led an offensive that toppled former President Bashar Assad in December.
The Trump administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, and HTS remains a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place.
Hawks in the White House and the Republican Party have been skeptical of al-Sharaa’s transformation and insist Syria remains a counter-terrorism issue.
Trump said that the U.S.-Israeli citizen was expected to be released by Hamas in the “next two hours” or “sometime today.”
“He’s coming home to his parents, which is really great news,” Trump told reporters at the White House shortly he was scheduled to depart for a whirlwind visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
Trump credited his special envoy Steve Witkoff in helping win the release of Alexander, 21.
The president said that Witkoff, a New York real estate developer turned diplomat, knew “very little about the subject matter” but learned quickly.
“He has a special way about him,” Trump said of Witkoff.
A senior United Nations official said Monday’s hunger report in Gaza is “extremely concerning” given that the strip’s roughly 2 million population continues to face “a very critical risk of famine.”
Beth Bechdol, deputy director of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said Gaza’s food system has collapsed since Israel reimposed its blockade.
“We are moving into a period where the entire population of the Gaza Strip … are continuing to face a very critical risk of famine and extreme hunger and malnutrition,” she said in an interview.
Mahmoud Alsaqqa, food security coordinator for the charity Oxfam, meanwhile, slammed Israel’s blockade, saying that thousands of aid trucks carrying aid were prevented from reaching desperate civilians.
“Gaza’s starvation is not incidental—it is deliberate, entirely engineered,” he said. “ It is unconscionable and is being allowed to happen.”
Dani Miran, the father of hostage Omri Miran, said he was happy for Edan Alexander’s expected release but “very sad that families of hostages need foreign passports to release their loved ones.” He said, “Does this country not know how to protect our citizens?”
Other relatives also expressed frustration over Israel’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones.
“We do not trust our government,” said Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen. “We need you, we need the United States, we need President Trump, we need special envoy Steve Witkoff to finish the job and free all the hostages.”
Einav Zangauker said her son, Matan, was held together with Edan Alexander and her “heart breaks from the knowledge that he will languish alone in captivity.”
Addressing Trump in English, she said, “Mr. President, sir, all of the Israeli people are behind you. End this war! Bring them all home!”
Food security experts said on Monday the Gaza Strip is at critical risk of famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, said outright famine is the most likely scenario unless conditions change.
Nearly half a million Palestinians are in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, meaning they face possible starvation, the report said, while another million are at “emergency” levels of hunger.
The Palestinian Health Ministry also said Monday hospitals received 94 wounded. The dead included four bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, it said.
The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has now reached 52,862, the ministry said, while 119,648 have been wounded.
It said the tally includes 2,749 dead and 7,607 wounded since Israel resumed the war in March, shattering a nearly 2-month ceasefire.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
Israel has filed a request with the International Criminal Court to have arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, revoked after an appeal last month ordered a pretrial panel to reconsider jurisdiction but did not suspend the warrants.
In a filing made public over the weekend.
Israel says the court did not have the legal authority to issue arrest warrants in November.
The warrants allege that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for crimes against humanity in the Gaza war. Israel, which is not a member of the court and rejects its jurisdiction, strongly refutes the allegations.
A Palestinian girl struggles to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ward Nar, left, reacts as she speaks with the photographer after returning empty-handed from attempting to receive donated food for her family, including her husband Mohammed Zaharna (center right) and their children, Sally (right) and Raed, at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians struggle to obtain donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israel's ongoing attacks on Iranian nuclear sites killed 78 people and wounded more that 320 on Friday, said Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. The strikes killed generals and scientists, but the ambassador told the U.N. Security Council that “the overwhelming majority” of victims were civilians.
Iran retaliated with two waves of long-range missiles targeting Israel's commercial capital, Tel Aviv, Medics said the first wave wounded at least 34 people and the second injured seven more.
Israel launched the attacks on Iran amid simmering tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. For years, Israel had threatened such a strike and successive American administrations had sought to prevent it, fearing it would ignite a wider conflict across the Middle East and possibly be ineffective at destroying Iran’s dispersed and hardened nuclear program.
As Iranian projectiles and Israeli interceptor rockets left trails of smoke and flame across the night sky on Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed not to let Israel “escape safely from this great crime.”
Here's the latest:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Iran to halt their attacks on one another, while calling for diplomacy.
“Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Guterres wrote on X on Saturday.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency is reporting a fire at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, posting a video on X of a column of smoke and orange flames rising from what the outlet said was the airport.
Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv said it has treated seven people hurt by the second Iranian barrage; six had light injuries and the seventh was moderately wounded.
Sirens and the boom of explosions, possibly from Israeli interceptors, could be heard in the sky over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv early Saturday.
AP journalists in Tel Aviv could see what appeared to be at least two Iranian missiles hit the ground, but there was no immediate word of casualties.
The Israeli military said another long-range Iranian missile attack was taking place and urged civilians, already rattled by the first wave of projectiles, to head to shelter. Around three dozen people were wounded by that first wave.
The Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close links with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said a fresh wave was being launched.
The sound of explosions and Iranian air defense systems firing at targets was echoing across the center of the capital, Tehran, shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Additionally, an Associated Press reporter could hear air raid sirens near their home.
Although roughly equal in the number of troops, the two militaries bring strikingly different tactics and firepower.
Iran boasts a large standing force but also relies on proxies and undercover operations that have been severely disabled in recent months by U.S. and Israeli actions.
Israel, meanwhile, relies on both subterfuge and robust regular ground and air forces that are apparently unmatched in the region.
It’s unclear how long Iran could keep up firing hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. However, according to Israeli media reports, the cost of a single Iron Dome interception is about $50,000, while the other systems can run more than $2 million per missile.
▶ Read more about Israel and Iran’s militaries
Iran’s long-range missile attack was a stiff challenge for Israel’s air-defense system, which has intercepted projectiles fired from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023.
Those have ranged from short-range rockets to medium-range missiles to attack drones to ballistic missiles like those fired Friday night.
Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.
▶ Read more about Israel’s air-defense system
In Ramat Gan, rescuers were trying to get out 15 people from a house they were trapped in after it was hit by a missile. The city is east of Tel Aviv.
Yossi Griver from Israel’s home front command said authorities were trying to free them. He said people were eating Friday night dinner when their house was struck, and many are older adults.
The area was badly hit Friday night. The AP saw at least three damaged houses, one where the front was nearly entirely torn off, as well as burnt out cars.
U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Israeli strikes destroyed the above-ground section of Iran’s main nuclear facility at Natanz.
He said all the electrical infrastructure and emergency power generators were destroyed as well as a section of the facility where uranium was enriched up to 60%.
The main centrifuge facility underground did not appear to have been hit, but the loss of power could have damaged the infrastructure there, he said.
The U.S. official did not say how the U.S. provided assistance, however both U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft and destroyer-based missile defenses have intercepted missiles in previous attacks.
The U.S. has been moving assets nearer to Israel to assist in missile intercepts and to provide better protection of U.S. bases in the region.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
In Ramat Gan, rescuers were trying to get out 15 people from a house they were trapped in after it was hit by a missile. Yossi Griver from Israel’s home front command said authorities were trying to free them. He said people were eating Friday night dinner when their house was struck, many are elderly people.
The area was badly hit Friday night. The AP saw at least three damaged houses, one where the front was nearly entirely torn off, as well as burnt out cars.
Iranian missiles could be seen from as far away as Beirut, leaving behind yellow streaks like comets as they descended on Israel.
And in other videos posted on social media, the missiles burned fast through the air above Jerusalem’s Old City.
Associated Press journalists reported the rumbling of explosions sounded like a thunderstorm.
Video taken by AP journalists shows multiple Israeli interceptor rockets slicing through the night sky over Tel Aviv, trailing columns of smoke and occasionally exploding in balls of yellow fire. Some of the Iranian rockets hurtled downward in a straight line, and a few could be seen impacting in flashes of orange that lit up the glittering skyline of Israel’s commercial hub.
In a recorded message to the nation broadcast as Iranian missiles flew toward Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the military was prepared to counterattack.
“Don’t think that they (Israel) hit and it’s over. No. They started the work and started the war. We will not allow them to escape safely from this great crime they committed,” he said.
The rumble of explosions could be heard throughout Jerusalem, and Israeli TV stations showed plumes of smoke rising in Tel Aviv after an apparent missile strike. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The army said dozens of missiles were launched.
The army has ordered residents across the country to move into bomb shelters.
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command has instructed people to move into shelters ahead of an expected Iranian missile attack.
The army says Iran has launched missiles, and the safety order applies to the entire country.
Israel’s Channel 13 TV says the missiles are expected to take about 10 minutes to arrive.
Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that despite Israel’s attack, “Iran has capability to hurt Israel’s civilian front in a meaningful way.”
Defrin’s briefing was cut short. An Israeli military official says this was due to an incoming Iranian attack on central Israel. The official spoke on condition pending a formal announcement.
The facility in Isfahan, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists. It also is home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country’s atomic program.
French President Emmanuel Macron says a top-level U.N. conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians has been postponed because of renewed tensions in the Mideast.
France and Saudi Arabia were due to co-host the conference in New York next week, and Macron had been scheduled to attend.
Macron said Friday it was postponed for logistical and security reasons and because some Palestinian representatives couldn’t come to the event.
American fighter jets are patrolling the sky in the Middle East to protect personnel and installations, according to a U.S. official. The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
It comes at the same time as the Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean. A second destroyer also has begun moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House.
The Fordo nuclear enrichment facility is buried hundreds of meters underground.
Nour News, which is close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that two explosions were heard from the area nearby.
Separately, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that a radar site near Tabriz was attacked, according to an official in the East Azerbaijan province.
Majid Farshi told IRNA that 11 military sites in East Azerbaijan province have been attacked, and that 18 people were killed, including one Red Crescent aid worker.
Israelis are on high alert bracing for a larger response from Iran, which has already launched over 100 drones toward Israel in retaliation for Friday's attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or fallen shrapnel in Israel. A loud boom could be heard in the Holy City, possibly from Israeli interceptor fire.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen did not immediately claim the attack.
Civilian witnesses told The Associated Press they heard what sounded like loud explosions in neighborhoods in the capital’s east, west and center, while an AP journalist in the city’s north also heard a blast.
Air defense systems were heard going off Friday night in Tehran. There was no immediate acknowledgement from authorities.
In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel told the U.S. about its plans to attack Iran in advance. “They knew about the attack. What will they do now? I leave that to President Trump.”
Netanyahu said he ordered an attack plan in November 2024, shortly after the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — one if Iran’s strongest proxies. That’s when Israel forecasted Iran would start rapidly advancing its nuclear program.
In a video statement circulated to journalists Friday evening, Netanyahu said the attack was supposed to happen in April but was postponed.
Since Tehran and Washington don’t have diplomatic relations, Switzerland has looked out for America’s interests in Iran since the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency says Isa Kameli, an assistant to foreign minister, told the Swiss ambassador that Friday’s Israeli attacks were a crime and said, “It is not possible to imagine that invasion acts by the Zionist regime have taken place without cooperation and coordination and at least green light from the U.S.”
The military said it was calling up reservists from different military units as “part of preparations for defense and offense” as its attack on Iran continues.
The move comes as Israel braces for further counterattacks from Iran or Iranian proxy groups on Israel’s borders.
Israel’s targeted killings of officials and scientists were “clear instances of state terrorism,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council requesting an emergency meeting.
In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, he said Iran affirms its right to self defense under the U.N. Charter.
“This right is non-negotiable,” Araghchi said. “Israel will come to deeply regret this reckless aggression and the grave strategic miscalculation it has made.”
The Iranian minister urged the Security Council, which will meet at 3 p.m. in New York, to “take urgent and concrete measures to hold the Israeli regime fully accountable for its crimes.”
Israel closed all checkpoints to the Israeli-occupied West Bank Friday as the country attacked Iran, a military official said Friday. The move sealed off entry and exit to the territory, meaning that Palestinians could not leave without special coordination.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military recommendations.
Around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under Israeli military rule. With the world’s attention focused on Gaza, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have grown in size, frequency and intensity.
The crackdown has also left tens of thousands of Palestinians unemployed, as they can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages.
Many Israelis are hunkered down close to home in Tel Aviv, the country’s economic hub on the Mediterranean coast.
Shops were open but the streets, beaches, and parks were mostly deserted. Earlier Friday, many people had rushed to supermarkets to buy bottled water and other supplies.
The city canceled its annual Pride Parade, which normally draws tens of thousands of people for a march and street party.
Internet usage in Iran dramatically declined Friday after Iranian authorities restricted access in the country following the Israeli attacks, according to internet-access advocacy group Net Blocks.org.
The group shared the information in a graph posted to X Friday, saying their data corroborated “user reports of poor service.”
Iran’s current capabilities are potentially “more threatening to the U.S. military than to Israel,” said Fabian Hinz, an air warfare expert at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.
That’s because there are multiple U.S. military bases in the region and Iran has a “huge arsenal” of shorter range missiles developed specifically to target U.S. bases as well as “lots of anti-ship capabilities,” Hinz said.
While Iran fired around 300 ballistic missiles at Israel last year, Hinz said, Tehran did not fire any of their short range missiles which could be used to attack U.S. bases.
“Think of the Iranian shipping threat as similar in quality to the Houthi threat, but much larger in quantity,” Hinz said.
Two U.S. officials said Friday that the Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner to begin sailing toward the Eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward, so it can be available if requested by the White House.
President Donald Trump is meeting with his National Security Council principals to discuss the situation. The two U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.
The Hudner is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that is capable of defending against ballistic missiles.
On Oct. 1, 2024, U.S. Navy destroyers fired about a dozen interceptors in defense of Israel as the country came under attack by more than 200 missiles fired by Iran.
Iran’s U.N. Mission said it has asked for an emergency meeting of the Security Council following the Israeli attacks.
The emergency session is likely to take place Friday afternoon, the mission said.
Israel told the Trump administration that large-scale attacks were coming and expected Iranian retaliation would be severe, U.S. officials said, leading the United States to order the evacuations of some nonessential embassy staffers and authorize the voluntary departure of military dependents in the region.
The officials were speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic discussions.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff still plans to go to Oman this weekend for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, but it’s not clear if the Iranians would participate, officials said.
The political office for Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran, saying that Iran has the “right to defend itself and develop its nuclear program.”
“Israel is an aggressive entity that threatens not only Palestine but also the security and stability of the region and the entire nation,” a statement read.
“Israel’s claims about the Iranian nuclear program are baseless, and it has no right to be the region’s policeman, given its nuclear arsenal.”
“We declare our solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of the brutal Zionist aggression, which primarily stems from Iran’s support for the Palestinian people and its significant backing of their honorable resistance fighters,” said Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing.
He also mourned the deaths of senior Iranian leaders and others killed in the strike, condemning the attack as “cowardly.”
In an interview with ABC News, U.S. President Donald Trump called the Israeli strikes on Iran “excellent” and previewed more attacks.
“I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it,” Trump told ABC on Friday morning. “They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come, a lot more.”
In a further post on the Truth Social platform, Trump added: “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’”
“They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!” he wrote Friday.
Iran has confirmed that Israel killed Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s missile program.
Iranian state television made the acknowledgment Friday afternoon. The confirmation came a short time after Israel said its strikes killed Hajizadeh.
The Israeli military said military jets hit a site where Revolutionary Guard officials had “assembled in an underground command center,” allegedly “to prepare for an attack on the state of Israel,” and killed Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh along with two other senior officials.
It did not offer details or information to support the claim.
“Hajizadeh publicly declared his commitment to Israel’s destruction at various events in recent years and played a central role in developing the Iranian regime’s plan for Israel’s destruction,” the Israelis said.
It also linked those killed to an attack on Saudi Arabia in 2019.
Israel claimed Friday it killed Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's missile program in Iran.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge his death officially, though rumors of his death had been circulating for some time online.
Hajizadeh is a major commander within the Guard, overseeing its ballistic missile arsenal.
Museums in Iran are taking the extraordinary step of closing down until further notice after attacks by Israel, and were transferring valuable items to secure vaults, officials announced Friday.
The state-affiliated Borna news agency reported the order by Ali Darabi, Iran’s deputy minister and cultural heritage chief.
Such moves have been done only in extraordinary circumstances in Iran, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and the coronavirus outbreak.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has replaced two top military commanders killed in a wave of Israeli strikes on Friday.
State TV said he tapped Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi as the new head of the armed forces, replacing Gen. Mohammad Bagheri. Mousavi was previously the top army commander.
Khamenei chose Mohammad Pakpour to lead the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, replacing Gen. Hossein Salami.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, is one of the main power centers within the country’s theocracy.
Israeli security officials say the country’s Mossad spy agency smuggled weapons into Iran ahead of Friday’s strikes that were used to target its defenses from within.
Two security officials spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday to discuss the highly secretive missions. It was not possible to independently confirm their claims. There was no official comment.
The officials said a base for launching explosive drones was established inside Iran and that the drones were activated during Friday’s attack to target missile launchers at an Iranian base near Tehran.
They said Israel had also smuggled precision weapons into central Iran and positioned them near surface-to-air missile systems. They said it also deployed strike systems on vehicles. Both were activated as the strikes began, in order to target Iran’s defenses, the officials said.
--By Josef Federman and Julia Frankel
Smoke rises after a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
An explosion is seen during a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Tomer Neuberg)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A view of Jerusalem's Old City, with the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, closed to worshippers after Israel's Homefront Command banned public gatherings following an Israeli military strike on Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
FILE - Missiles are carried on a truck as an Iranian army band leader conducts the music band during Army Day parade at a military base in northern Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Smoke rises after a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport is empty of passengers following an Israeli military strike on Iran, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Iranian protester holds up an anti-U.S. placard and a poster of the late revolutionary guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. attack in Iraq in 2020, in an anti-Israeli gathering in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A firefighter calls out his colleagues at the scene of an explosion in a residence compound in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Firefighters work the scene of an explosion at a residence compound in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Residents watch a damaged apartment in Tehran, Iran, early Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Debris from an apartment building is seen on top of parked cars after a strike in Tehran, Iran, early Friday, June 13, 2025. Israel attacked Iran's capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises up after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises up to the sky, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
