Countries demand explanation from Israel over killing of aid workers

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The Israeli army on Wednesday acknowledged it had committed a "grave mistake" when it killed seven aid workers from a US charity in an air strike in Gaza.

"This incident was a grave mistake," army chief Herzi Halevi said in a video message on X, claiming it was "a misidentification -- at night during a war in very complex conditions".

"It shouldn't have happened," he added.

The Palestinians have officially revived their application to become a full member state in the United Nations, according to a letter from their UN envoy dated Tuesday.

The Palestinians, who have had observer status at the world body since 2012, have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour requested "upon instructions of the Palestinian leadership" that an application dating back to 2011 be reconsidered this month by the Security Council.

The letter has been transmitted to the council, according to the documents seen by AFP.

Mansour has repeatedly said in recent months that in the face of Israel's indiscriminate military campaign in the Gaza Strip, UN membership was a priority for the Palestinians.

Any request to become a UN member-state must first be recommended by the council, then endorsed by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly.

The 2011 application, launched by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, never came before the Security Council for a vote, and the General Assembly voted to grant the Palestinians observer status in November 2012.

Observers believe the Palestinian push for membership is unlikely to reach the assembly as the United States, Israel's closest ally, could use its Security Council veto power to derail the recommendation.

The League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement sent a letter to Guterres on Tuesday, also seen by AFP, supporting the bid by the Palestinians.

"We wish to bring to your attention that, as of this date, 140 Member States have recognized the state of Palestine," said the joint letter, which included a list of those countries.

Iran warned Israel on Tuesday that it will retaliate for an air strike that killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals, and destroyed its consular annex building in the Syrian capital.

Israel declined to comment on Monday's strike in Damascus, which fuelled Middle East tensions already inflamed by the Gaza war and Israel's clashes with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Iranian state media said 13 people were killed in the strike in which, according to Tehran's ambassador, Israeli F-35 fighter-jets fired six missiles that levelled the five-storey consular building adjacent to the embassy.

The building was reduced to a mountain of rubble by the blasts which blew out windows in nearby buildings and incinerated cars parked on the roadside in a leafy and upscale suburb of the city.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that Israel "will be punished at the hands of our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and the other ones."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the attack as a "clear violation of international regulations" which "will not go unanswered".

"After repeated defeats and failures against the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put blind assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself," Raisi said on his office's website.

Syria's ally Russia accused Israel of seeking to "fuel" conflict in the Middle East with the attack, with Moscow's envoy adding at a UN Security Council meeting that Israeli strikes on Syria are "unacceptable".

Iran's mission to the United Nations warned that the strike could "potentially ignite more conflict involving other nations" and called on the Security Council "to condemn this unjustified criminal act".

Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologised Tuesday for the air strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza.

Herzog said he spoke to Jose Andres, the US-based celebrity chef who heads the aid group World Central Kitchen, to express his "deep sorrow and sincere apologies over the tragic loss of life".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier stopped short of apologising for the deaths, which he described as a "tragic case" that would be investigated "right to the end".

AFPTV footage showed the roof of a white vehicle emblazoned with the group's logo punctured with a blackened hole, alongside the mangled wreckage of other vehicles.

World Central Kitchen had earlier said a "targeted attack" by Israeli forces on Monday had killed its staff, which included Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian citizens.

The charity, which has been delivering food aid to Gaza's starving population, said its convoy was clearly marked and it had coordinated with the Israeli military to avoid any danger.

Israel has waged a brutal war and imposed a near-complete siege on Gaza, with the United Nations accusing it of preventing deliveries of humanitarian assistance to the 2.4 million Palestinians in the devastated territory.

At least 32,916 people, mostly women and children, have been killed according to Gaza's health ministry.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned that northern Gaza is on the verge of famine, calling the situation a man-made crisis.

The United Arab Emirates is pausing humanitarian aid efforts through the maritime corridor pending further safety guarantees and a full investigation, a UAE official told Reuters.

An Israeli strike killed seven people working for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid group in Gaza on Monday.

The UAE has financed aid through a maritime corridor to Gaza and WCK had arranged the missions. 

The UAE normalised relations with Israel in 2020, in a controversial deal brokered by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

The UAE condemned the killing of the aid workers and held Israel responsible. calling for an “urgent, independent and transparent investigation.”

Russia accused Israel Tuesday of seeking to "fuel" conflict in the Middle East, blaming it for an "unacceptable" strike on Iran's consulate in Syria that killed at least 13 people.

Slamming the "flagrant violation" of Syria's sovereignty, UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia told a Security Council meeting that Russia was "of the view that such aggressive actions by Israel are designed to further fuel the conflict. They are absolutely unacceptable and must stop."

The EU expressed concern on Tuesday after the Israeli parliament approved a new law giving the government the power to prevent foreign media channels from operating in Israel. The move is believed to be specifically targeting Al-Jazeera TV.

The bill was passed on Monday and allows Israel to ban the broadcast of content from foreign channels and the closing of their offices in the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to take "immediate action" to shut down Al-Jazeera in Israel once the bill was passed.

"The European Union is concerned by newly adopted legislation giving temporary powers to the Israeli government to prevent foreign media networks from operating in Israel," the EU's foreign affairs spokesman, Peter Stano, said.

"Press freedom has to be guaranteed everywhere including in war contexts," he added.

"Too many journalists have lost their lives and hundreds have been injured since the beginning of the Gaza conflict on 7 October. We firmly condemn journalists' killings and recall the need to ensure their access, safety and protection at all times," Stano said.

The statement contained no direct reference to Al Jazeera.

Israel in January accused an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an air strike in the Gaza Strip of being "terror operatives".

The channel has vehemently denied the claims and accuses Israel of systematically targeting its employees in Gaza.

 The White House said on Tuesday it was "outraged" by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen (WCK), and that President Joe Biden called the charity aid group's founder to share his condolences.

"We were outraged to learn of an IDF strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the World Central Kitchen," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing in Washington.

Asked whether the U.S. would condemn the Israeli airstrike, Kirby said of his use of the word "outraged": "I think you can fairly characterize that as condemning the strike itself."

Biden told WCK founder Jose Andres that he will make clear to Israel that aid workers must be protected, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told the same briefing.

The strike on the WCK convoy killed citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland as well as Palestinians and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier that the strike was tragic and unintended, and the Israeli military pledged an independent inquiry.

The Israelis have "already said this was on them," Kirby said. "There's accountability to be held here."

"There are issues of deconfliction that clearly need to be fleshed out and improved," Kirby said, adding that Washington would continue to make sure Israel can "defend itself".

There has been growing public disagreement between the US and Israel over the conduct of its war on Gaza, which has killed over 32,000 Palestinians and left the territory in ruins, but last week the US approved the transfer of more weapons to Israel

The United States had no involvement in an airstrike on Iran's consular annex building in the Syrian capital Damascus that Tehran blamed on Israel, the White House said Tuesday.

"We had nothing to do with the strike in Damascus, we weren't involved in any way whatsoever," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.

Kirby dismissed as "nonsense" comments by Iran's foreign minister that the United States, Israel's main backer, bore responsibility for the attack which killed seven Iranian revolutionary guards.

The killing of seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen charity in Gaza is "the inevitable result of the way this war is currently being conducted," United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

He said the UN  "yet again" calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long Israeli war on Gaza. 

"The multiplicity of such events is the inevitable result of the way this war is being conducted," Dujarric told reporters. "At least 196 humanitarians have been killed since October in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is one of the world's most dangerous and difficult places to work."

UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag met with the World Central Kitchen team in Gaza just hours before they were killed and was appalled by the attack, said Dujarric.

The UN has warned of a looming famine in Gaza and complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it.

"We have a deconfliction mechanism," Dujarric said on Tuesday. "We have noted it was not working properly. We keep delivering aid... on an opportunistic basis, which is no way to run a major aid operation."

Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Tuesday that Israel's military had "unintentionally" killed seven aid workers from a US charity in an air strike in Gaza.

World Central Kitchen had earlier said a "targeted attack" by Israeli forces on Monday had killed the group, which included Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian employees.

Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador to London to hear its "unequivocal condemnation" of the strike, with three of those killed British, and demanded "full accountability".

Netanyahu said it was a "tragic case" that would be investigated "right to the end".

AFPTV footage showed the roof of a vehicle emblazoned with the group's logo had been punctured, alongside the mangled wreck of other vehicles.

The White House was "heartbroken", US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said on X, stressing that aid workers "must be protected".

And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington urged "a swift, thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened".

Israeli strikes continued throughout the territory with the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza saying 71 people were killed between Monday and Tuesday.

The Israeli military on Monday ended a two-week attack around Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, which left the complex in ruins and killed hundreds.

The World Bank says the Gaza war has caused damage of around $18.5 billion to Gaza's critical infrastructure, according to a new report published Tuesday.

This is equivalent to 97 percent of the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022, the World Bank said in its interim damage assessment.

Turkey on Tuesday condemned what it called an Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus and warned that the incident could lead to a wider conflict in the region.

The foreign ministry said the attack was a violation of international law by Israel, of which it has been harshly critical of over its assault on Gaza. It called for restraint, common sense and respect for laws from all parties.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Tuesday a strike on an Iranian consular annex building in Syria one day earlier, his spokesman said, after the attack - which Tehran has blamed on Israel - killed at least 13 people.

"The Secretary-General reaffirms that the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected in all cases in accordance with international law," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne on Tuesday declined to address the deadly Israeli strikes on Iran's embassy annex in Syria a day earlier, but said the risk of escalating violence in the region was the responsibility of 'certain actors' in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, in reference to Iran-backed militias.

Germany on Tuesday urged Israel to carry out a full probe into a strike in the Gaza Strip that killed seven staff from US-based charity World Central Kitchen.

"The Israeli government must investigate this terrible incident quickly and thoroughly," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Humanitarian workers must be able to carry out their important work safely - around the world as well as in #Gaza. We are calling again on the Israeli government to assure functioning deconfliction measures. Incidents like this cannot be allowed to happen. 2/2

— Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) April 2, 2024

The UK on Tuesday summoned the Israeli ambassador over the deaths of aid workers in Gaza, the foreign ministry said.

Three of the workers were Britons.

Foreign Minister David Cameron described the attack as "completely unacceptable" in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Israel would open a joint situation room with international groups to enable coordination of aid distribution in Gaza with the military, following a strike that killed seven aid workers.

Canada condemned an Israeli strike that killed seven Gaza aid workers and is calling for a full investigation, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Tuesday.

"Canada expects full accountability for these killings and we will convey this to the Israeli government directly. Strikes on humanitarian personnel are absolutely unacceptable," she said in a post on the X social media network.

The United States on Tuesday urged an impartial investigation into an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip that killed seven staff of US-based charity World Central Kitchen, saying Israel should do more to protect civilians.

The US urges "a swift, thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Paris alongside French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne.

"What we have impressed upon the Israelis is to do more to protect innocent civilian lives, be they innocent Palestinian children or aid workers."

"We should not have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at great risk," said Blinken, adding humanitarian workers "have to be protected".

"Protecting humanitarian workers is a moral and legal imperative that everyone must adhere to," Sejourne said, adding that France "strongly condemns" the strike by Israel.

"Nothing justifies such a tragedy."

President Joe Biden is hosting a small group of Muslim American community leaders at the White House for a meeting on Tuesday followed by a scaled-down Iftar dinner, as he seeks to relieve tensions over his administration's staunch support for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be joined by Muslim staffers in the Democratic administration and senior national security aides, a White House official said, in the most high-profile engagement yet between the White House and the Muslim American community since the war began six months ago. Staffers will then join the president for a dinner to break the fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan .

The White House did not immediately name the community members who would join the meeting.

France on Tuesday "strongly" condemned an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip that killed seven staff of US-based charity World Central Kitchen.

"Protecting humanitarian workers is a moral and legal imperative that everyone must adhere to," French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Paris. "Nothing justifies such a tragedy."

A "suspicious aerial target" fell within Jordanian territory close to the border with Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said after local media reported the crash of a drone in an open area.

A military statement said the incident took place northeast of Israel's Red Sea port of Eilat, which has come under repeated drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels during the almost six-month-old Gaza war.

Additional images show the site of the drone impact in Jordan, close to Israel's Ramon Airport. pic.twitter.com/wsvnmyskP1

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 2, 2024

Israeli negotiators will return from talks in Cairo on Tuesday after a new proposal for a Gaza truce and hostage release was drafted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

"As part of the talks, with the helpful mediation of Egypt, the mediators formulated an up-to-date proposal to be addressed by Hamas," his office said.

It added that Israel expects the mediators to push Hamas harder in order to reach a deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Tuesday that its armed forces "unintentionally" killed seven aid workers in an airstrike in Gaza.

"Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip," he said as he left hospital in Jerusalem after a hernia operation.

"It happens in war, we will investigate it right to the end... We are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again."

The EU said Tuesday that it was "alarmed by the alleged Israeli strike" on the Iranian consulate in Syria's Damascus and warned against any escalation after Tehran vowed revenge.

"In this highly tense regional situation, it is really of utmost importance to show restraint because the further escalation in the region is in no one's interests," EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

Newborn mortality is rising sharply in the Gaza Strip, with babies being born underweight, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, citing medics on the ground.

"From different doctors, particularly in the maternity hospitals, they're reporting that they're seeing a big rise in children born with low birth weight, and just not surviving the neonatal period because they're born too small," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing in Geneva.

She said that at Kamal Adwan, the only paediatric hospital in northern Gaza, "at least 15 malnourished children are coming in per day, and the needs are just getting ever more severe".

The Israeli strike that killed seven employees of US-based aid organisation World Central Kitchen in Gaza was "a message sent by the Israeli army", a France-based NGO said on Tuesday.

The organisation "was supposed to put into practice American and European proposals for humanitarian corridors to try to limit the risk of famine", Jean-Francois Corty, vice-president at Medecins du Monde, told French broadcaster FranceInfo.

"We can clearly see that the Israeli army is sending a message, including to the Europeans and Americans, who are trying to limit the catastrophe through state aid," said Corty.

"We can see that health workers, civilians and humanitarian aid workers are falling victim to indiscriminate bombing," he added.

"Hundreds of thousands of people are being subjected to an air and land blockade that is creating famine and is indicative of genocidal intent."

Cyprus' president on Tuesday urged an immediate investigation into the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, saying the US-based charity they were members of was a "crucial partner" in efforts to get aid to the enclave by sea.

"We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza," Nikos Christodoulides said, after a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

"The Amalthea initiative will continue as long as the humanitarian needs are there," Christodoulides said, referring to the maritime route.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Tuesday that the UK had urged Israel to "provide a full, transparent explanation" about an air strike that killed seven aid workers, including at least one Briton, in Gaza.

"We have called on Israel to immediately investigate and provide a full, transparent explanation of what happened," Cameron said on social media, adding the UK was "urgently working to verify" details about the incident.

In his first response, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was "shocked and saddened" by the reported death of the British aid worker, adding "clearly there are questions that need to be answered".

32,916 people have been killed by Israel's war on Gaza since October 7, and 75,500 people have been wounded, Gaza's health ministry said on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza amounted to "ripping the heart out" of the health system of the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

"Destroying Al-Shifa means ripping the heart out of the health system," said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris.

"It was the place people go to for the kind of care that a really good health system provides, that we in all our societies expect to have should we be in need."

Today, we witness the total ISraeli destruction of the most important, 700 beds specialty hospital in Gaza, Al Shifa Medical Complex. It was established 78 years ago during the British Mandate, the name Shifa meaning 'The House of Healing'; now turned into a 'House of Death' by… pic.twitter.com/AQ5daMD1SU

— Dr. Mads Gilbert (@DrMadsGilbert) April 1, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks in Paris on Tuesday after a Washington-based NGO was struck by an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, adding pressure on the United States to toughen its stance in the war.

Blinken arrived in the French capital before heading to Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting on Wednesday.

France on Monday proposed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that seeks options for possible UN monitoring of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and proposals to help the Palestinian Authority assume responsibilities.

Dominic Allen, the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) covering Gaza, said he was "terrified" of what could happen if the war went on any longer.

He told AFP the situation was "beyond catastrophic" with gaunt and starving people spending their days searching for food, and medicine running desperately low.

The British-born official, who spent a week in the besieged Palestinian territory last month, said even when aid got through the border, there were still major problems getting it to those who need it most, particularly women and girls.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that an independent, professional expert body would investigate the deaths of seven people working for the World Central Kitchen in Gaza, which the NGO said was the result of an Israeli air strike.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the incident would be investigated in the "Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism", which his statement called an "independent, professional, and expert body" without giving details.

He said he had spoken to the WCK founder, Chef Jose Anders and expressed deepest condolences.

"We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need," he said in the statement.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday condemned an Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen in Gaza, and called for an inquiry.

"I condemn the attack and urge an investigation. Despite all the demands to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, we see new innocent casualties," Borrell wrote on X.

This shows that the #UNSC resolution asking for an immediate ceasefire, a full humanitarian access and a reinforced protection of civilians must be immediately implemented.

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 2, 2024

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday that he had asked the Israeli ambassador to Poland for "urgent explanations" after an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including a Polish citizen.

"I personally asked the Israeli ambassador Yacov Livne for urgent explanations," Sikorski said on social media, adding that he had offered "condolences to the family of our brave volunteer" and saying Poland would open its own inquiry into the aid worker's death.

Osobiście poprosiłem ambasadora Izraela @YacovLivne o pilne wyjaśnienia. Zapewnił mnie, że Polska wkrótce otrzyma wyniki badania tej tragedii. Nasze @MS_GOV_PL wszczyna śledztwo.
Przyłączam się do kondolencji wobec rodziny naszego dzielnego wolontariusza oraz wszystkich… https://t.co/GAzkanCApp

— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) April 2, 2024

Israel must clarify the circumstances surrounding the deaths of seven people working for Spanish celebrity chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday in Amman.

Poland's foreign ministry expressed condolences on Tuesday to the family of a Polish volunteer who was killed while providing aid in Gaza.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the family of the volunteer who was providing aid to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a post on social media platform X.

"Poland objects to the disregard for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers."

The president of the city of Przemysl, in southeastern Poland, identified the volunteer as Damian Sobol.

Polski wolontariusz Damian Soból, który został zabity w ataku Izraela na konwój World Central Kitchen. Zdjęcie z jego konta na Facebooku. pic.twitter.com/QlfDTG9Gjs

— Witold Repetowicz (@WitoldRPL) April 2, 2024

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid a U.S. push for progress toward normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

A U.S. official said Sullivan planned talks with the crown prince to check in on the issue but did not expect a major breakthrough.

A second U.S. official said Sullivan would consult broadly on a number of matters.

"He has not been to Saudi Arabia in some time and there’s lots to discuss," the second official said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday demanded accountability for the death of an Australian aid worker in the Israeli strike on Gaza, which killed more workers from the US-based charity.

Russia condemned an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria and called on Israel to cease such "completely unacceptable" actions.

"We strongly condemn this attack on the Iranian consular mission in Syria," Russia's foreign ministry said. "Such aggressive actions by Israel are absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped."

"We urge the Israeli leadership to abandon the practice of provocative military actions on the territory of Syria and other neighboring countries," it said.

Japan on Tuesday said it will lift its suspension of funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, (UNRWA) as the relief body works to regain trust after Israeli accusations that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel - claims the latter is yet to prove.

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who met UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo last week, said the agency's role in addressing the Gaza crisis was "indispensable" even as it works to improve governance and manage risks.

"Japan will lift the moratorium on its financial contributions to UNRWA and provide assistance while ensuring and confirming the appropriateness of Japan's funds," Kamikawa told reporters, adding that about $35 million of originally planned funding was ready to be released.

A senior foreign ministry official later told a press briefing that Japan could not comment on the veracity of Israel's allegations due to an ongoing investigation by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Spain will recognise Palestinian statehood by July, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told journalists during a Middle East tour, according to several reports published on Tuesday in Spanish media.

State news agency EFE and newspapers El Pais and La Vanguardia cited Sanchez as making the informal remarks to the travelling press corps late on Monday in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on the first day of visits to Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He expected Spain to extend recognition to the Palestinians by July, he said, adding that he believed there would soon be a "critical mass" within the European Union to push several member states to adopt the same position, according to EFE.

China on Tuesday said it condemned Israeli air strikes that destroyed the Iranian embassy's consular annex in Damascus, adding it opposed "any actions that lead to an escalation of tensions".

"China condemns the attack," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, adding: "the security of diplomatic institutions cannot be violated, and Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be respected".

Iran and one of its key proxies vowed Tuesday to respond to an Israeli strike that demolished Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus and killed seven, including two Iranian generals.

Iran's state TV reported Tuesday that the country's Supreme National Security Council met late Monday and decided on a "required" response to the strike. The report said the meeting was chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi, but provided no further details.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said Tuesday that Iran relayed an important message to the United States late Monday and that it called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The message to Washington was delivered through a Swiss envoy in Tehran; Switzerland looks after U.S. interests in Iran.

IRNA said Iran holds the United States, Israel's closest ally, responsible for the strike.