Israel, Iran attacks continue into fifth day as dozens killed in Gaza

The New Arab's live blog on Israel and Iran war has now ended, and will resume at 0900am. Thank you for following.

Israel has reportedly targeted the Imam Hosseini University in east Tehran, linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that hypersonic missiles were used during the latest attack on Israel, as fighting between the archfoes entered a sixth day.

"The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles" was carried out, the Guards said in a statement carried by state television, claiming that Iranian forces "have gained complete control over the skies of the occupied territories".

The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it will close until Friday and directed government employees to shelter in place as Israel and Iran battle each other.

In a statement posted to its website, the embassy said Tuesday evening the closure was "a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran."

Israel has reportedly hit several areas in the Iranian capital city Tehran, with reports of smoke and flames seen.

US President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Axios reported, citing an unidentified Israeli official.

Iranian security forces on Tuesday arrested a "terrorist team" linked to Israel with explosives in a town southwest of the capital Tehran, Iranian state media reported.

A member of Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Al Jazeera Mubasher TV on Tuesday that the group will intervene to support Iran against Israel like it did in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi movement's political bureau, also reiterated to Al Jazeera Mubasher TV that the group is coordinating with Tehran during its ongoing military escalation with Israel.

The Houthis, which have been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza, said on Sunday that they targeted Israel in coordination with Iran, the first time an Iran-aligned group has publicly announced joint cooperation on attacks with Tehran.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday repudiated Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's assessment that Iran has not been building a nuclear weapon, publicly contradicting his spy chief for the first time during his second term.

In rejecting his top spy's judgment, Trump appeared to embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's justification for launching airstrikes last week on Iranian nuclear and military targets, saying he believed Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned early to Washington from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump was asked how close he believed Iran was to having a nuclear weapon.

"Very close," he responded.

When told that Gabbard testified to Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community continued to judge that Tehran was not working on a nuclear warhead, Trump replied, "I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one."

Trump's comments recalled his clashes with U.S. spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials.

Air raid sirens were activated briefly across a large swath of northern Israel on Tuesday warning of an incoming barrage of Iranian missiles, the military said.

"A short while ago, sirens sounded in several areas across Israel following the identification of missiles launched from Iran toward the State of Israel," the military said in the seventh such warning since midnight (2100 GMT on Monday).

Israeli authorities issued a statement around 15 minutes later saying residents could leave their shelters, with no reports of strikes published by officials.

Israeli media is subject to strict restrictions from the military censor.

The latest warning of the day came hours after a previous barrage from Iran targeted the coastal hub of Tel Aviv and the north.

Wall Street stocks fell Tuesday after President Donald Trump hardened his rhetoric on the fighting between Iran and Israel, sparking worries of a broadening conflict.

In social media posts, Trump appeared to demand Iran's "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" while hinting at a possible US intervention as the fighting moved into its fifth day.

"It's not going in the right direction," Art Hogan, chief market strategist of B. Riley Wealth, said of Tuesday's tone after markets had advanced Monday on hopes the conflict was contained.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.7 percent at 42,215.80.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.8 percent to 5,982.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.9 percent to 19,521.09.

Anxiety about Iran and Israel has emerged as the market's focal point at a time when investors are also watching the Federal Reserve, which opened a two-day monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady as it eschews interest rate cuts for now while monitoring the effects of Trump's tariffs on inflation.

On Wednesday, the Fed is also due to release its latest economic projections on growth, unemployment and inflation.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced continued Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal and said a solution to the conflict over Tehran's nuclear programme could only be found through diplomacy.

A ministry statement posted on Telegram noted Iran's "clear statements" on its commitment to adhere to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and its willingness to meet with US representatives.

The statement also said Moscow was waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to provide "unvarnished" assessments of the damage caused to Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli attacks.

Iran arrested on Tuesday a foreigner for filming "sensitive" areas near the country's Bushehr nuclear power plant for Israel, Iranian media reported.

The Iranian website eghtesadonline said the unnamed foreigner, whose nationality was not disclosed, resided illegally and filmed the power plant for Israel's spy agency Mossad.

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, has warned of "uncalculated and reckless steps" that could spill out beyond the borders of Iran and Israel, according to a statement by the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed in a phone call the Israeli strikes on Iran, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported later in the day.

The Emirati president said the Gulf country is conducting intensive talks with concerned parties to calm the situation, WAM said.

He also expressed solidarity with Iran and its people during the current circumstances, it added.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday warned any attempt to change the regime in Iran would result in "chaos" as US ally Israel traded fire with its arch foe.

Macron was speaking at a G7 summit in Canada shortly after President Donald Trump said the United States would not kill Iran's supreme leader "for now."

Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the country's public to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging the app — without offering specific evidence — gathered user information to send to Israel.

In a statement, WhatsApp said it was "concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most".

WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can’t read a message.

"We do not track your precise location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another," it added. "We do not provide bulk information to any government."

End-to-end encryption means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is a garble that can’t be unscrambled without the key.

WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being "the biggest threat" to the Middle East region, in a phone call with Qatar's emir on Tuesday, his office said.

Erdogan said that he "will continue his efforts to end the spiral of violence, and that Netanyahu has shown once again that he is the biggest threat to the security of the region," according to the presidency

Loud blasts were heard Tuesday across Tehran, AFP journalists reported, as intense fighting raged between Iran and Israel for the fifth consecutive day.

The blasts were heard in north, west and central Tehran, according to the journalists. It was not immediately clear whether the blasts were the result of incoming Israeli strikes or Iranian air defence fire.

US President Donald Trump is convening a meeting of his National Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the Iran-Israel war, a White House official said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting, which the official said had not yet started, comes after Trump stepped up his rhetoric against Iran's supreme leader, sparking questions about possible US military intervention.

Iran's armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi urged on Tuesday residents of the major Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv to evacuate, warning of imminent "punitive" attacks.

"Punitive operations will be carried out soon," Mousavi said in a video statement carried by state TV on the fifth day of the deadly confrontation triggered by Israeli air raid on Friday.

Referring to Israel, Mousavi said that "residents of the occupied territories, especially Tel Aviv and Haifa, are strongly urged to leave these areas for the sake of their lives".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they launched on Tuesday an attack targeting Israeli air bases from which they claim fighter jets have taken off to strike the Islamic republic.

"In the new wave of attacks, a large-scale missile operation was carried out against the air bases of the Zionist regime's army, which are the bases from which the regime's fighter jets take off towards our beloved country," the Guards said in a statement carried by state TV.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would not kill Iran's supreme leader "for now" but warned Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against further attacks, as he appeared to demand Tehran's unconditional surrender.

"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there -- We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump said on Truth Social.

"But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" said Trump, later posting a message saying: "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"

War risk insurance premiums for shipments to Israel are as much as three time higher than a week ago as the war between Israel and Iran entered its fifth day, industry sources said on Tuesday.

The cost of a seven-day voyage to Israeli ports was quoted between 0.7 percent to 1.0 percent of the value of a ship versus around 0.2 percent a week ago, they said.

Individual underwriters will price risk differently, but this will add tens of thousands of dollars per day for every voyage.

(Reuters)

The Palestinian Authority said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in central and southern Gaza on Tuesday as a result of damage to the territory's main fibre optic cable it blamed on Israel.

Its telecommunications ministry reported "a disruption in fixed internet services and landline communications in central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip due to a new outage on one of the main routes as a result of the ongoing (Israeli) aggression".

Laith Daraghmeh, CEO of the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, told AFP on Tuesday afternoon that "one hour ago, we got a new fibre cut, that's why right now we have no connectivity in south and central Gaza".

Daraghmeh recalled that internet services in the two areas had also been cut for six hours on Monday before teams were able to repair damaged fibre optic cables.

Internet and telecommunications were severed in all of the Gaza Strip for more than three days last week after telecoms workers were denied access to a damaged cable, the PA said.

The ministry blamed Israeli forces for the outage, a claim Israel has not commented on.

Iran launched a new wave of attacks targeting Israel on Tuesday, state TV reported, as fighting between the longtime foes raged for a fifth straight day.

"The tenth wave of Operation Honest Promise 3 against the occupied territories (Israel) has begun," state TV said, with the Tasnim news agency reporting that the new barrage consisted of "drone and missile attacks" by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iranian media reported widespread internet disruption on Tuesday as Israel and Iran traded fire for a fifth straight day.

"Internet users in several provinces are reporting widespread internet disruption," the Ham Mihan newspaper reported. Other media carried similar reports.

It was not immediately clear what caused the disruption. Iran has imposed internet restrictions since Israel launched its unprecedented aerial campaign against Iranian military and nuclear facilities on Friday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday expressed strong support for Israel in its attacks on Iran, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.

"This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us. We are also victims of this regime. This mullah regime has brought death and destruction to the world," Merz said in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster.

Merz also said that the complete destruction of Iran's nuclear weapons programme could be on the agenda if Tehran does not back down and return to the negotiating table.

"The Israeli army is obviously unable to accomplish that. It lacks the necessary weapons. But the Americans have them."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump had not said anything to indicate that the United States was about to enter the conflict between Israel and Iran.

"There is nothing the President said that suggests he's about to get involved in this conflict, on the contrary, the G7 statement was about de-escalation," Starmer told reporters at a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada.

Israel's military lifted air raid warnings for the country's centre and north on Tuesday, saying it had intercepted "most" of a salvo of fresh missiles fired from Iran.

The military said in a statement that "several missiles" had been launched and "most of them were intercepted", while residents in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv and the north were told they could leave their shelters.

There appear to have been "direct impacts" on the underground part of Iran's Natanz nuclear site during Israel's attacks, the UN's atomic watchdog said on Tuesday.

"Based on continued analysis of high resolution satellite imagery collected after Friday's attacks, the IAEA has identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at Natanz," the International Atomic Energy Agency said on X, formerly Twitter.

Iranian media said several blasts were heard on Tuesday in the central city of Isfahan, which hosts multiple nuclear facilities, as Israel kept up its strikes for a fifth day.

"Several explosions were heard in the east and north of Isfahan and air defences were activated against the hostile targets," the Mehr news agency reported.

The Israeli military said Tuesday its forces struck several locations in western Iran, hitting "dozens" of missile launchers as the arch-foes traded fire for a fifth straight day.

"A short while ago, the Israeli air force completed a series of strikes in western Iran," a military statement said. "As part of the strikes, a number of sites and dozens of surface-to-surface missile launchers were struck."

The Israeli military said earlier Tuesday that it killed senior Iranian commander Ali Shadmani in an overnight strike on a "command centre in the heart of Tehran" - just four days after his predecessor, Gholam Ali Rashid, was killed in a similar Israeli raid.

It also said it had targeted multiple missile and drone sites in western Iran overnight, including infrastructure, launchers and storage facilities, with black-and-white footage showing some of them exploding.

Iranian media reported two explosions in the western city of Tabriz.

Despite mounting calls to de-escalate, neither side has backed off from the blitz that began Friday, when Israel launched an unprecedented aerial campaign targeting Iranian nuclear and military facilities.

Portugal is temporarily shutting its Tehran embassy because of the "gravity of the current situation", as Iran and Israel's conflict heats up, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Tuesday.

"This closure will be temporary. There will be a fallback to another country where we have an embassy. And, as soon as possible, the embassy (in Tehran) will reopen," Rangel told journalists in Lisbon.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday reaffirmed the need for an urgent de-escalation in the Middle East, where Iran and Israel have been firing missiles at each other since Friday, while also saying Tehran should not develop a nuclear bomb.

"We all agreed the urgent need for de-escalation, Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and diplomacy is the solution to prevent this and the EU will play its part," she told reporters after a meeting with EU foreign ministers.

"We cannot be lenient when Iran accelerates its nuclear programme."

Iran accused the Group of Seven nations on Tuesday of siding with Israel in a statement issued late on Monday.

"The G7 must give up its one-sided rhetoric and tackle the real source of the escalation - Israel's aggression," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.

At a G7 summit in Canada on Monday, leaders including US President Donald Trump had called for "de-escalation" of the conflict, but also stressed that Israel had the right to defend itself and labelled Iran "the principal source of regional instability and terror".

Residents in central Tehran have begun leaving their homes on Tuesday following a warning from the Israeli military ordering a partial evacuation of the Iranian capital.

The warning applies to a densely populated area of the city housing more than 300,000 people, including the country’s state broadcaster, police headquarters, and three major hospitals.

The evacuation order came shortly after a social media post by former US President Donald Trump warning Iranians to leave Tehran.

"IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. 

Read the full report here. 

Israel has killed at least 61 Palestinians in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Hospitals across the besieged enclave also reported treating at least 397 people wounded overnight.

Since Israel's war on Gaza began, a total of 55,493 Palestinians have been killed and at least 129,320 wounded.

Jordan's King Abdullah II warned in an address to the European Parliament on Tuesday that Israel's "attacks" on Iran threatened to dangerously escalate tensions in the "region and beyond".

Speaking as the arch foes traded fire for a fifth day, Abdullah said that "with Israel's expansion of its offensive to include Iran, there is no telling where the boundaries of this battleground will end".

"And that, my friends, is a threat to people everywhere," he told lawmakers in Strasbourg.

Israel says its air campaign aims to prevent its sworn enemy from acquiring nuclear weapons, an ambition Tehran denies.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced that Israel's air force is planning "very significant" attacks in Tehran today. 

He said Israel is "on the verge of destroying" over 10 nuclear targets in the Iranian capital. 

The country's underground Fordow uranium enrichment facility is "an issue that will certainly be addressed," he said. 

China on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of "pouring oil" on the mounting conflict between Iran and Israel, after the US leader warned Tehran residents to "immediately evacuate".

"Fanning the flames, pouring oil, making threats and mounting pressure will not help to promote the de-escalation of the situation, but will only intensify and widen the conflict," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said when asked about Trump's remarks at a regular news conference.

Two loud explosions were heard from central and north Tehran on Tuesday, AFP correspondents reported, as the Iranian capital came under Israeli bombardment for a fifth straight day.

There was no immediate word on the cause or precise whereabouts of the twin blasts, which came after the Israeli military struck state television headquarters on Monday, causing significant damage and killing at least three people, the broadcaster said.

The Japanese government is looking into "various options" to evacuate Japanese nationals from areas affected by ongoing military conflicts between Israel and Iran, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday.

(Reuters)

Israel's air force has launched a new series of airstrikes on western Iran, according to The Times of Israel citing an Israeli official, as Iran's state media said air defences had been activated in western Tehran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck a centre of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, amid an escalating air war between the two foes.

In a statement aired on state television, the Guards said they "struck the military intelligence centre of the Zionist regime's army, Aman, and the Zionist regime's terrorist operations planning centre, the Mossad, in Tel Aviv", adding it was "currently on fire".

Flights carrying evacuees from Israel have arrived in Slovakia and the Czech Republic amid the war between Iran and Israel, authorities said on Tuesday, making these countries among the first to get their citizens out of the Middle East.

Slovak authorities said that the first evacuation flight with 73 people, including 25 Slovak tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats working in Tel Aviv, had arrived in the capital Bratislava late on Monday.

Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said Slovakia had also helped bring citizens of other countries to Europe, including 15 Poles, 14 Czechs, nine Austrians, two Slovenians and one citizen each of Estonia, Spain and Malaysia.

"Our partners are contacting us and we are preparing another flight on Tuesday, which should include citizens of the Slovak Republic, as well as citizens of the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Latvia, and France," Blanar said.

(Reuters)

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday he saw no sign of any de-escalation between Israel and Iran and called for a resumption of "negotiation on the nuclear file."

"Let's stop this exchange of missiles," he said on Bloomberg TV.

(Reuters)

The Israeli news site Ynet, citing unnamed regional officials, reported earlier on Tuesday morning that there has been "major progress" toward reaching a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, as well as an agreement on Gaza that could end the war.

One source said: "Both sides have made concessions, but they are wary of the fallout from the confrontation with Iran. The Israeli delegation has not yet departed for Doha out of concern that the talks could be delayed rather than accelerated."

In recent days, US officials have told the families of Israeli captives that there were "very positive signs of a breakthrough".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said he sees a "breakthrough" that could allow talks to advance. But a non-Israeli official told Ynet the issue is broader than hostage release: "It's about ending the war. Messages exchanged focus on the future of Gaza, not just retrieving 8 to 10 live hostages."

Families of captives said they were told an Israeli delegation may head to Doha soon. Netanyahu confirmed progress.

President Donald Trump said he wanted a "real end" to the nuclear problem with Iran, with Iran "giving up entirely" on nuclear weapons, according to comments that were posted by a CBS News reporter on social media platform X.

Trump made the comments during his midnight departure from Canada, where he attended the Group of Seven nations summit on Monday, the CBS News reporter said early on Tuesday.

Trump predicted that Israel would not be slowing its attacks on Iran. "You're going to find out over the next two days. You're going to find out. Nobody's slowed up so far," the CBS journalist quoted Trump as saying on Air Force One.

Trump said "I may", on the prospect of sending US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet with Iran. However, he added that "it depends what happens when I get back", according to the CBS reporter. Washington has said Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed Iran's top military commander, Ali Shadmani, in an overnight strike, calling him the closest figure to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In a statement, the military said following "a sudden opportunity overnight, the (Israeli air force) struck a staffed command centre in the heart of Tehran and eliminated Ali Shadmani, the war-time Chief of Staff, the most senior military commander, and the closest figure to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei".

The Israeli military said Shadmani had commanded both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian armed forces.

Iran said it destroyed strategic targets in Israel overnight using drones, as intense strikes between the arch-foes raged for a fifth day on Tuesday.

"Various types of destructive drones, equipped with precise destruction and targeting capabilities, destroyed strategic positions of the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv and Haifa," General Kioumars Heidari, commander of the army's ground forces, was quoted as saying by state television.

An Israeli strike on Iran's state TV headquarters has triggered sharp condemnation across the region, with Arab and Muslim-majority countries denouncing the move as a dangerous escalation.

The attack, which interrupted a live broadcast and forced an anchor off air mid-sentence, was condemned by 21 Arab and Muslim-majority states in a joint statement rejecting what they called Israel's ongoing aggression against Iran.

Iran-aligned groups were among the most vocal, with Yemen's Houthi-run government calling the strike a "desperate attempt to silence the free and independent Iranian people," and Hezbollah describing it as "systematic terrorism aimed at silencing the free voice of the resistance."

Qatar's Press Center accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and media infrastructure, while the Saudi-based OIC States Broadcasting Union said the attack constituted a "clear violation of international law" and an assault on sovereign media institutions.

Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 45 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory's health ministry said, adding that dozens of others were wounded.

Medics said residents said Israeli tanks fired shells against crowds of desperate Palestinians awaiting aid trucks along the main eastern road in Khan Younis, expecting the number of fatalities to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.

A ministry statement added that the Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were rushed to, had been overwhelmed by the number of deaths and injuries.

There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on the incident.

(Reuters)

India on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave Tehran, while some nationals have already fled across the Iranian border as the country comes under Israeli bombardment.

With Israel vowing to keep up its attacks four days after launching its assault on Iran, which has launched retaliatory strikes, New Delhi said Indian students have already left Tehran.

"Residents who are self sufficient in terms of transport have also been advised to move out of the city in view of the developing situation," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The warning came after Israel's ally US President Donald Trump said "everyone" should "immediately" leave the Iranian capital, which is home to nearly 10 million.

New Delhi said "some Indians have been facilitated to leave Iran through the border with Armenia", hundreds of kilometres (miles) northwest of Tehran.

The foreign ministry did not detail how many of its citizens have been affected in Iran, where there are around 10,000 Indians according to government data last year.

Thousands of Indians are also in Israel, and New Delhi has issued warnings for its citizens there to "stay vigilant".

The US disabled Iraqi radar systems to allow Israeli aircraft to cross Iraqi airspace en route to attacking Iran, according to Abu Alaa al-Walaei, head of the Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada armed group. 

In a Telegram post on Wednesday morning, Walaei demanded the removal of the US representative from Iraq's joint operations room and called on the government to install advanced anti-aircraft defences to prevent what he described as repeated airspace violations.

On 12 June, Walaei threatened to unleash "hundreds of suicide bombers" against US interests if Washington intervened on Israel's behalf.