Blinken: US is "coordinating a diplomatic response to seek to prevent escalation" after Iran strike on Israel (2024)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday the US has spent the past 36 hours “coordinating a diplomatic response to seek to prevent escalation” following a retaliatory Iranian attack on Israel this weekend.

“Strength and wisdom need to be different sides of the same coin,” Blinken said in a seemingly implicit call for Israel to exercise restraint in its response. Blinken noted he has been in contact with counterparts in the region “and will continue to do so in the hours and days ahead.”

As CNN reported, President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would not participate in offensive moves against Iran.

But, he added that "what this weekend demonstrated is that Israel did not have to and does not have to defend itself alone when it is the victim of aggression, the victim of an attack."

An Israeli official has confirmed to CNN that the war cabinet meeting is over.

The official said that at this stage they had no details on what was discussed or decided.

The war cabinet met to deliberate over the timing and scope of a response to Iran's attack on Israel, the officials said. In addition to a potential military response, the war cabinet is alsomulling diplomatic optionsto further isolate Iran on the world stage.

Israeli gunfire killed one person and critically wounded another in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on Monday, the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said the other person had a critical chest injury "due to occupation forces' gunfire in Nablus."

For their part, Israeli police say that security forces killed what they described as a “terrorist” in Nablus in the occupied West Bank during an operation to arrest a wanted man. It said border police, together with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered Nablus to arrest a wanted person in a statement Monday. As the arrest was made, “violent disturbances against the forces began” and a man who threw an explosive device at the Israeli forces was shot dead.

“In addition to this, another person who disrupted order was shot in the leg after endangering the security of the forces.”

Security forces also opened fire on a “suspicious vehicle” that drove toward the forces at speed and did not respond to their calls, resulting in the injury of the driver of the vehicle.

Israel was set to take its first steps toward a ground offensive in Rafah this week, but has delayed those plans as it mulls a response to Iran’s attack, two Israeli sources tell CNN.

Iran launched 300 missiles and drones toward Israel overnight Sunday, bringing a new phase of tension, uncertainty and confrontation in the Middle East.

The attack has prompted Israel to delay its plans for an offensive in Rafah, where more than a million people are currently sheltering. The Israeli Air Force had planned on dropping leaflets on parts of the city on Monday, the sources said. One Israeli official said Israel remains determined to carry out a ground offensive in the southern city, although the timing of civilian evacuations and the coming ground offensive remains unclear at the moment. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed the importance of invading Rafah in order to dismantle Hamas’s remaining battalions, despite significant pressure from the United States to call off an all-out ground offensive. The future of the war in Gaza and a coming ground offensive in Rafah are also factoring into the war cabinet’s debate about a potential response to Iran’s attack.

A military response that risks escalating the conflict with Iran further would pull the military’s attention and resources away from Gaza, where Israel’s government has vowed to hand Hamas a total defeat.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated Monday morning that President Joe Biden is focused on preventing Iran’s attack against Israel from spiraling into a wider regional conflict.

Pressed on whether it’s the White House position that Israel should not retaliate, Kirby said that’s ultimately up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government but that the US wants to see tensions de-escalate.

“We respect their sovereign decision-making process. What we want to see is de-escalation of the tensions. We don't want to see a wider war," Kirby said.

As chaos ensued after thousands of Palestinians were turned away from returning to their homes in northern Gaza on Sunday, a 5-year-old girl was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, her mother said.

Video shows a man carrying a 5-year-old girl named Sally Abu Laila, who was bleeding from her head, with people crowding around her in panic trying to cover her wound.

Her mother Sabreen told CNN her daughter was in her arms when Israeli soldiers shot at her. Sabreen, alongside her four children, was trying to cross through the checkpoint, when two young men squeezed in between her and other women waiting in line, prompting Israeli soldiers to fire at them.

Eventually, she said she managed to get to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital where her daughter is undergoing treatment. She told CNN she is still in intensive care. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on reports that its soldiers fired shots at civilians trying to head up north, but has not received a response.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said reports that people could return to their homes in northern Gaza were false. “The northern Gaza Strip continues to be an active war zone and return to the area is not currently permitted,” IDF said.

Read more about what happened to thousands ofPalestinians as they attempted to return homehere.

Israel’s war cabinet has been engaged in a heated debate about how and when to respond to Iran’s weekend attack on their country, two Israeli officials familiar with the deliberations tell CNN.

The war cabinet remains determined to respond to Iran’s attack, but as it convenes Monday afternoon, its members continue to debate the timing and scope of such a response, the officials said. In addition to a potential military response, the war cabinet is also mulling diplomatic options to further isolate Iran on the world stage.

Benny Gantz, a key member of the war cabinet, has pushed for a swifter response to Iran’s attack, two Israeli officials said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far pumped the brakes on making a decision. Gantz believes that the longer Israel delays its response to Iran’s attack, the harder it will be to garner international support for such an attack, one of the sources said. Multiple countries are already cautioning Israel against escalating the situation further with a military response.

Israel’s government is aware that the country is currently enjoying international support and goodwill from its allies and does not want to squander that. At the same time, the government recognizes that it cannot allow Iran’s first attack on Israeli soil to go unanswered.

Among the military options that are being considered, the war cabinet is considering an attack on an Iranian facility that would send a message, but would avoid causing casualties, one Israeli official said. But Israeli officials recognize that will be a difficult needle to thread, hence the ongoing debate. The timing of a decision remains unclear.

Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi told CNN Monday he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using the fight with Iran to take attention away from the war on Gaza.

"The Israeli Prime Minister has always wanted to invoke some sort of confrontation with Iran. Now, as the international pressure on Israel to stop the aggression on Gaza continues, invoking a fight with Iran is something that, we believe, he thinks could dilute that pressure, and could take attention away from Gaza," Safadi told CNN’s Becky Anderson.

More on Iran's attack: Safadi said Jordan will do whatever is within its means to protect the kingdom, explaining why the country intercepted some of the drones and missiles that entered its airspace Saturday night.

“What we did was consistent with our long-standing policy and any projectiles, drones, whatever that enters our space historically and we'll continue to deal with it because it poses a threat to Jordan,” Safadi said. “We are in the range of fire and any missiles or projectile that could fall in Jordan would cause harm to Jordan. So we did what we have to do and let me be very clear. We will do the same regardless of where those drones are from. From Israel, from Iran, from anybody else,” he added.

The Israeli government agency that coordinates the delivery of aid into Gaza says that a new crossing in the north has again been used to deliver food aid.

COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) said Monday that “just last night 102 food aid trucks coordinated to northern Gaza. A food aid convoy entered northern Gaza via the new northern crossing. We will continue expanding our efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid into and across of Gaza.”

Earlier, the organization said on Sunday316 aid trucks had been inspected and transferred to Gaza, of which 65 food aid trucks were coordinated to northern Gaza.

The Israeli government approved earlier this month the temporary opening of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian aid. However, the Israel Defense Forces has not specified the exact location of the new northern crossing.