3 day tour from amman to jerusalem

Jerusalem Day Trip From Amman

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Important details.

Our Jerusalem Day Trip from Amman is the perfect way for anyone in Jordan to experience the highlights of the eternal city in just one day. As the holiest city in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Jerusalem is a must-see destination. Our walking tour is specially designed to take you through the most incredible landmarks of Jerusalem’s Old and New City. After crossing to Israel through the Allenby border and driving through the breathtaking Judean hills, you’ll begin your ascent to Jerusalem, just as people have been doing for thousands of years. On this day trip you’ll visit all four quarters of the Old City, where you’ll see sights such as the Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Via Dolorosa, and much more. All the while, you’ll absorb  the unique atmosphere of this ancient and mystical place as you wander the narrow Jerusalem stone streets. 

After exploring the Old City, you’ll delve into the new one. Make your way through the bustling and quaint modern town of Jerusalem to Machane Yehuda, one of Israel’s best outdoor markets, where you’ll taste mind-blowing and mouth-watering treats and delicacies. As the sun sets, you’ll journey back to Jordan, with drop-off available both at the Dead Sea and back in Amman. This Jerusalem Day Trip from Amman runs every Sunday and Thursday with guaranteed departures, and is not to be missed. Reserve your spot today!

Jerusalem Day Trip From Amman Highlights

• Drive through the Judean Desert, passing the Inn of the Good Samaritan (the same route that was used throughout history to access Jerusalem from the east)
• Enter Jerusalem’s Old City, famed around the world, and enjoy a guided tour from a local expert
• Visit the Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Western Wall, Byzantine Cardo, Arab Souq, and more, walking in the footsteps of historic and Biblical figures

Jerusalem Day Trip From Amman Itinerary

• Cross the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing into Israel
• Pick up Jerusalem travelers on the way
• Guided tour of Jerusalem’s Old City. Tour its four quarters:
• The Western Wall and Byzantine Cardo in the Jewish quarter, with a viewpoint of the Dome of the Rock
• The famous Arab Souq (market) of the Muslim Quarter, with a bustling and cozy Middle Eastern atmosphere
• The Armenian Quarter's beautiful monasteries, stores, and cobblestone streets
• The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site in Christianity, home of the Cavalry (Golgotha), and the Via Dolorosa in the Christian Quarter
• Eat lunch at the Old City

If you have any questions about our Jerusalem Day Trip From Amman, please contact us. Our team is standing by and will be happy to help

Dates marked below in green are still available for booking. Clicking on a date will start your booking process.

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DAY 1: Amman – Border Crossing – Jerusalem: Mt of Olives & Old City Tour

Pick up from your door in Amman (or elsewhere in Jordan), and transfer to King Hussein / Allenby Bridge Israeli Terminal.

From the border crossing, drive to the Mount of Olives for a wonderful view over Jerusalem.

Continue to the Church of the Pater Noster, where the Lord’s Prayer is displayed on local-style pottery panels in over 100 different languages and dialects.

The traditional Palm Sunday route takes you then past the vast Jewish Cemetery and several other churches and monasteries. At the foot of the mountain, you can stroll through the Garden of Gethsemane with its beautiful ancient olive trees.

Enter the Old City through the Dung gate to visit the Wailing (or Western) Wall, and view the Haram Al Sharif with the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Walk the Via Dolorosa with its Stations of the Cross till you arrive at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus was crucified and buried, and then rose again.

Take some time to explore the bazaars, and leave then the Old City to the west by Jaffa Gate. If time is permitting, you can drive through West Jerusalem and view various landmarks.

 Overnight in Jerusalem.

DAY 2: Jerusalem – Bethlehem – Shepherd’s Field – West Jerusalem

Depart from your hotel to Bethlehem, crossing into the West Bank and stopping at the Separation Wall.

Continue into today’s modern city of Bethlehem to see the Church of the Nativity, believed to be located at the birthplace of Jesus.

Drive to the Shepherd’s Fields in Beit Sahour, which is the place where according to some tradition the angels first announced Jesus’ birth.

After that, return to Jerusalem. If there is time, you can visit a site in the western part of the city, such as the Mahane Yehuda Market, Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial), or the Israel Museum (where you can see the Dead Sea Scrolls). Please discuss your preference with your driver or guide, and note that museums may close early on some days.

 Overnight in Jerusalem

DAY 3: Jerusalem – Sea of Galilee: Caparnaum, Mt of Beatitudes & Tabgha – Nazareth – Border Crossing – Amman

After breakfast, we will take you North to the Sea of Galilee. Your first stop there is Capernaum, where you can see the remains of the once prosperous fishing village that became the home base of Jesus and his disciples.

Continue to Tabgha, where the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 is said to have happened. Also stop at the Church of the Primacy where Peter was told by Jesus that to continue his work.

Finally drive up to the Mount of Beatitudes, site of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Don’t miss out the monastery’s beautiful gardens.

After enjoying the fantastic views over the lake for a minute, head on to Nazareth. The boyhood village of Jesus is now a bustling city, and at the Church of the Annunciation you will see visitors from all corners of the world. This is also reflected in the décor of the modern building.

There, your tour comes to an end, and we will take you back to the border crossing and then to Amman (or elsewhere in Jordan), where we will drop you off at your preferred location. 

Please check the "Pricing" and "View full pricing" which is under "General Section" in order to check the rates .

✓ INCLUSIONS

• -Transport by experienced driver in air-conditioned vehicle.
• -Transport between different sights in Jerusalem (please note that cars aren’t allowed to enter the Old City).
• Government Licensed English speaking tour guide on days of sightseeing (guided option).
• Two nights at a 3 star hotel in Jerusalem stars on BB basis in twin share
• All Entrance fees to all sited to visited

☓ EXCLUSIONS:

• -Exit tax out of Jordan.
• -Exit tax out of Israel / Palestine (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
• -Transfers between border terminals & optional VIP Crossing Service ( cost 170 USD per person per way) .
• -All tips to guide & driver.
• -Everything not mentioned in the inclusions.
• -The guided tour option (In case if you want to add the guide) , costs 300 USD per day.
• -Lunch & any meals not specified.
• All tips to guide & driver
• -Personal items

NOTES : 1- The Jordan Departure Taxt is 10 JD per person / $ 15 USD per person (SUBJECT TO CHANGE ) 2- Exit tax out of Israel / Palestine is $ 57 USD per person (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) 3- Transfers between border terminals & optional VIP Crossing Service is $ 170 USD per person per way (SUBJECT TO CHANGE ) 4-The guided tour option (English Speaking guide) , the guide costs $ 300 USD per day for all , this means that if you want to include the English speaking guide this costs for all of you $ 300 USD per day divided by number of travelers (i.e 300 / 2 travelers = $ 250 USD per person is the supplement for the guide and so on) , the rate $ 300 USD per day for all , for 02 days $ 500 x2 = $ 1000 USD and so on .) The other guided tours for other languages are upon request and subject to availability and the rate will be advised upon request and the rate might be more . 5-The above prices may vary according to season, and are not valid during Christian or Jewish holidays 6-Fridays and Saturdays are not possible for this day tours as the border closes by 13.00 hrs

*Disclaimer – Please be aware that: 1- Border regulations may change rapidly, and individual experiences can vary. While we make every effort to provide up-to-date information, we cannot guarantee 2- The accuracy or permanence of the details outlined above. 3- We strongly recommend maintaining flexible travel plans and allowing for additional time to account for any unforeseen complications.

FAQs & General Information

 1-Exit Taxes :

At either side of the border, an exit tax has to be paid when leaving the country.

(IL) = Israeli-Controlled Terminal

   2-Standard Shuttle :

At Allenby/ King Hussein Bridge, as well as at the Jordan River/ Sheikh Hussein Crossing, you have to take a shuttle bus to cross the space between the two border terminals.

  3-Can I drive a rental car across the border ?

It’s not possible to travel in a rental car from Jordan to Palestine/Israel and back. However, you can park a rental car in the paid parking lots on either side of the border.

  4-Will the Israeli Authorities Stamp My Passport ?

The Israeli Authorities current policy is to not stamp passports for tourist visas. Instead, travellers are issued with a personalized printed card . You should make sure to keep this card with you throughout the duration of your stay in Israel. Do not lose it.

 5-Visa Information for Israel/Palestine : The entry and exit procedures for Israel/Palestine are governed by Israeli state authorities. Here’s what you need to know: -Citizens from most Western countries can obtain a visa upon arrival at several entry points, including Ben Gurion Airport, Eilat Airport, King Hussein/Allenby Bridge, Sheikh Hussein/Jordan River Crossing, or Wadi Araba/Yitzhak Rabin Crossing. If, however, you require a visa in advance, the application process should be initiated at an Israeli Embassy, typically the one in your home country. Check your eligibility for a visa upon arrival or the need for an advance application here. -Visas obtained on arrival are typically valid for a period of three months.  -Important Note: On certain occasions, Israel has denied entry to travellers of Arab ethnicity or Muslim religion, as well as those perceived as activists supporting Palestinian causes. If you fall into any of these categories, anticipate potential delays at the border, and be prepared for extensive questioning.

 6-Visa Information for Jordan (Jordan Pass) -JORDAN PASS : We recommend you purchase the Jordan Pass – the combined ticket that includes your tourist visa and entrance fees to most tourist sites – it’s the cheapest and easiest option for traveling around Jordan. -Note: For this option, you must stay in Jordan for a minimum of 3 nights. If you go with this option, you should buy the Jordan Pass online before entering the country. Basic Tourist Visa (Non-Jordan Pass)- Fees : Single Entry Visa (valid 1 month): 40 JOD (~$56 USD). -Entry Requirements : Passports must be valid for a minimum of 6 months upon arrival to Jordan.

7- BORDERS & ENTRY REFUSAL We have no control over the procedures of borders authorities, so we can’t guarantee your entry at the borders, as JHT team we make sure that you have all the information you need prior to your trip starting. If a customer is denied entry at any of borders by the border authorities for any reason, Jordan Horizons Tours (JHT) assumes no responsibility for refusing order, hence the cancellation & no show procedure would be applicable.

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• Israel Travel Guide | All You Need to Know

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• DAY & MULTI DAYS TOURS TO JERUSALEM, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
• JORDAN AND ISRAEL/ PALESTINE TOURS
• TRANSFERS BETWEEN JORDAN AND ISRAEL/ PALESTINE
• CROSSING THE BORDERS
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Visit Israel and Jerusalem from Jordan

Sightseeing Tours, Transfers & Travel Advice

We provide sightseeing tours and door to door transfers for ـIsrael, Jordan and Palestine. In addition, we also assist travelers with all information they need for crossing the borders.

We are more than an agency, we’re a team of professionals who strive to create the perfect travel experience for you. All of our tours are private and will be perfectly customized to your flight details; however, you are able to design or modify and existing tour according to your specific needs. Feel free to ask for a customized tour, designed just for you.

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Travel Info & Advice

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19374 Ain al- Basha St. Amman

Tel. +962 6 534 4996

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Day Trips & Sightseeing Tours to Israel & Palestine

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One Day Tour to Jerusalem

This tour starts at  07:00 am from you hotel in Amman or Dead Sea & drive to King Hussein Bridge (Allenby)

After crossing Jordan – Israeli border, you will be met by your guide at the Israeli side and start your day tour with a panoramic view from The Mount of Olives which is part of the route from Jerusalem to Bethany and the place where Jesus stood when he wept over Jerusalem (an event known as Flevit super illam in Latin).

You will visit the holy sites of the three monotheistic religions, represented in Jerusalem starting from Wailing Wall – the surviving part of the defensive structure built by Herod the Great next to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Once near this place stood the Second Jerusalem Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Wailing Wall was not part of the temple, and therefore, after the fall of the religious building, it turned into a shrine for the Jewish people, the significance of which increased from year to year.

Today, like many centuries ago, this place serves as a center of pilgrimage for believers and anyone can leave a message to the Lord here, regardless of nationality and religious beliefs.

Twice a year, religious ministers get messages from people, perform a special ceremony and bury them on the Mount of Olives.

If open to visitors, we will lead you in the footsteps of Adam to visit the construction of the temple of King Solomon, touch eternity and become a little closer to God – every stone here is saturated with history and holiness.

You will take a look at the third most important shrine of Islam – the Al Aqsa Mosque, consisting of 7 galleries and a majestic dome, as well as the Dome of the Rock hiding beautiful ornaments and patterns underneath.

It is believed that Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount is the cornerstone of the universe, from which the creation of the world began.

Inside the temple, you can see the footprint of Prophet Muhammad and his three hairs. Among all the monuments of Islamic architecture, the Dome of the Rock is called one of the most ancient and beautiful.

We will be taken through Arab Market (“Souq”) and walk along the Path of Sorrow (Via Dolorosa), which has become the main sanctuary for millions of Christians all over the world. It was on this rocky road that Jesus Christ made his last earthly journey, carrying his cross to the place of crucifixion to today’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Next, you will visit the tomb of King David, considered a holy place by Jews, Christians and Muslims and located on the ground floor and under the Last Supper room on Mount Zion.

 We will ascend to the upper Room of Zion or the Hall of the Last Supper where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ spent the last Easter supper with his disciples on the night before being captured by the Romans and later crucified.

If time permits, we will take you to the Western part of Jerusalem to visit the famous “Menorah” (Candelabra) situated outside the Israel’s parliament “Knesset”. The “Menorah” shows us the history of the Jewish people from biblical times and until this day. Late afternoon drive to Allenby bridge to cross to Jordanian side where the driver will pick you up & drive you to your hotel in Amman or Dead Sea.

Rate per person in a group of:

Tour highlifgts:.

King Hussein Bridge (Allenby), The Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Wailing Wall, Temple Mount, King Solomon, Al Aqsa Mosque, Arab Market (“Souq”), Path of Sorrow (Via Dolorosa), Church of the Holy Sepulcher, King David, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Last Supper, Mount Zion, Christ, Romans, “Menorah” (Candelabra), Amman.

Tour Highlights:

Amman Citadel, Roman Theatre, Rainbow Street, Jerash. Jerusalem, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Via Dolorosa, Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Garden of Gethsemane, Church of All Nations, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

The program includes:

• Transfer by comfortable vehicle from Amman or Dead Sea hotels to King Hussein Bridge (Allenby) & back.
• Transportation in Israel: 2 – 5 pax by driving guide, 6-18 pax by minibus – by16 – 20 seaters, 19 pax and more – by 35 – 55 seaters.
• English-speaking guide border to border.
• Parking fee

The program does not include:

• Tips of any kind.
• Border taxes.
• Visa to Israel for restricted nationalities.
• Personal expenses & travelers’ insurance, drinks etc.
• Extra costs due to unanticipated changes in the itinerary for reasons beyond our control are not included.
• Government Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), or compulsory charges introduced after publication,
• Any item not listed as “included”.

Tour options:

• Optional activities are subject to availability.
• Optional private or onsite local guides.
• Guides in languages other than English are available upon request and subject to availability.
• Optional special private vehicles are available upon request

Dress Code:

There is no strict dress code when visiting the temples of Jerusalem, as they are open to Christians of all faiths who have different traditions. For example, Catholic and Protestant women do not cover their heads in church. Orthodox Greek women adhere to the same tradition. In Russian tradition, it is customary to wear a headscarf in church. Therefore, in any of the temples in Jerusalem, you can meet women both with a covered head and with an uncovered one. The same applies to trousers and skirts. Feel free to dress how you feel comfortable. The only thing that is  inappropriate  when visiting temples is open knees and shoulders, so shorts and sleeveless jackets will have to be left for visiting another place.

Site topography:

All the visited sites are spread at a wide area at different locations and altitudes, and comfortable footwear is a necessity.

Walking distance

Moderate walking is required.

Changes overview:

The itinerary may change due to unanticipated circumstances, factors beyond our control, or at the guide’s discretion.

Important notes:

• Staying Healthy
• The time frame for this tour is approximate and subject to change according to the client’s preference.
• The tour itinerary is subject to change due to factors beyond our control and event of unforeseen circumstances or at the guide’s discretion.
• In the event of an increase in fuel prices, Via Jordan Travel & Tours reserves the right to raise the prices for its services without prior notice.
• Optional excursions and activities are subject to availability.
• Optional special private vehicles available upon request.
• Copies of your passports are required in advance to issue port permits (if needed).
• You need to take your passport or a good quality photocopy of it with you.
• Reservations made less than 20 working days before the start of the service may be subject to change.
• Your booking is confirmed only upon the provision of 50% prepayment.
• Using sufficient amount of sun protection lotion is essential for avoiding sun burn.

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Jordan airforce shoots down Iranian drones flying over to Israel

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Pro-China party wins Maldives election in landslide - reports

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's party earned a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, local media reported on Monday, a result set to move the Indian Ocean archipelago closer to China and away from traditional partner India.

Britain said North Korea had breached multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions after it fired a ballistic missile on Monday, and called for Pyongyang to "stop such provocations" and "return to dialogue."

U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria faced two separate rocket and explosive drone attacks in less than 24 hours, Iraqi security sources and U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, in the first such incidents reported after a near three-month pause.

Iran attacks Israel with over 300 drones, missiles: What you need to know

Iran has launched a massive aerial attack on Israel, two weeks after a deadly strike on its consulate in Syria.

Iran unleashed a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday night and early on Sunday, targeting Israel in retaliation for April 1’s suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus, which killed 13 people.

Here is what happened and what analysts say could happen next:

What happened in Israel and when?

• Iran’s massive aerial attack marks the first direct strike by Iran on Israeli territory from Iranian soil. Iran called the attack Operation True Promise.
• The attack began on Saturday about 20:00 GMT. It lasted about five hours, according to United States officials.
• During the attack, explosions were heard in cities across Israel, including Tel Aviv. The explosions were also heard in Jerusalem, and air raid sirens sounded in more than 720 locations as Israeli forces sought to shoot down the projectiles.
• Israel’s chief military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said Iran’s attack involved more than 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and more than 30 cruise missiles, according to a report by The Associated Press news agency.
• The Israeli military also said the vast majority of the projectiles were intercepted outside the country’s borders with help from the US, the United Kingdom and France. Jordan also shot down some of the missiles aimed at Israel as they were flying through Jordanian airspace.
• Israel’s military added that a “small number of hits were identified”. In a base in southern Israel, “minor damage occurred to the infrastructure”, it said.
• A seven-year-old girl was also severely injured by missile fragments while other patients sustained minor injuries and some were treated for anxiety.
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday that the US also intercepted “dozens” of missiles and drones launched at Israel from Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Where exactly did the attacks take place?

• During the attack, Israel’s military ordered residents in the northern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – near the Syrian and Lebanese borders – and in the southern cities of Nevatim, Dimona and Eilat to remain near bomb shelters.
• Nevatim is the site of an Israeli airbase while Dimona has a nuclear reactor on its outskirts. Eilat is Israel’s Red Sea port, which has suffered a sharp decline in operations because of repeated attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on ships using the waterway.

Why did Iran attack Israel?

• Iran carried out the attacks in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike that killed an Iranian military commander, Major General Mohammad Reza Zahedi , in Damascus on April 1. He was killed along with six other Iranian nationals, including another general. At least six Syrian citizens were also killed.
• “It seems that Iranian leaders are determined to take action but also [be] seen to take action,” David Des Roches, an associate professor at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.
• “What that indicates to me is that there are considerations of pride and prestige that are divorced from strategy and tactical utility that may indicate a more dangerous era than we thought,” he added.
• Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group backed by Iran, and the Israeli military have been trading attacks across the Lebanon-Israel border since October 8, the day after the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel and Israel’s brutal retaliation on the besieged Gaza Strip.
• On Saturday, Iranian state media announced that the armed forces had seized an Israel-linked container ship near the Strait of Hormuz.

What is the Israeli government saying?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will win” in a tweet after the attacks. Earlier, he spoke to the nation, stating that the military was prepared for any scenario.  

• “Citizens of Israel, in recent years and especially in recent weeks, Israel has been preparing for a direct attack by Iran,” Netanyahu said.
• “Our defensive systems are deployed. We are ready for any scenario, both defensively and offensively. The State of Israel is strong. The [Israeli army] is strong. The public is strong.” He also thanked his allies, including the US and UK, for “standing alongside” Israel.
• Towards the end of Sunday, the Israeli war cabinet – comprising Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister Benny Gantz and several observers – met to discuss a response to the attacks but were divided on how and when to respond, according to media reports.
• A senior official from US President Joe Biden’s administration said Israel was not seeking to escalate the situation.
• “I think Israel made clear to us they’re not looking for a significant escalation with Iran. That’s not what they’re looking for. They’re looking to protect themselves and defend themselves,” the official said.

What is the Iranian government saying?

• Iran warned Israel against any response. The chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, told state TV that if Israel retaliates, Iran’s response would be “much larger” than the overnight bombardment, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

Iran also warned Washington that backing Israeli retaliation would lead to the targeting of US bases.

Earlier, Iran’s mission to the United Nations cited the UN Charter’s provision for self-defence under Article 51 and said the country considered “the matter … concluded”.

• “The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” it said on X. “It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the US MUST STAY AWAY!”
• President Ebrahim Raisi issued a statement hailing the “brave men” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who “taught a lesson to the Zionist regime”.

Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli… — Permanent Mission of I.R.Iran to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) April 13, 2024

What could come next for Iran, Israel and the region?

• Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author, spoke to Al Jazeera about what could come next and said that if Israel were to strike back, “we are facing a regional war.”  It is a scenario he does not think will happen, especially, he said, “after the very clear and impressive aid of the United States to Israel”.
• “The extent of the Biden administration’s support means Israel will have to follow the US government’s advice not to retaliate after last night’s attack,” Levy said.
• “Netanyahu cannot attack Iran without the backing of the US and be exposed to a worse attack than last night,” he added.
• Separately, analyst and journalist Daoub Kuttab wrote that the exchange between Israel and Iran “has left the rest of the Arab world terrified of what another regional war could do to an already devastated region”.
• “And if it is to take place, there will be not just regional, but global repercussions,” he added.
• “Any regional Iranian-Israeli conflict will pull in the Gulf countries but also the US, Russia and China, creating a potentially explosive global confrontation.”

What are the international reactions so far?

• The aerial assault has drawn condemnation from Israel’s allies and warnings that it risked further escalation in the Middle East.
• Biden made clear that the US will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran, according to a senior administration official. But he reiterated his support for Israel.
• “Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,” the White House quoted Biden as saying.
• The UN Security Council held a meeting and called on Iran and Israel to show restraint. “Neither the region nor the world can afford more war,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the meeting . “Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate.”
• Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned of the risk of a spillover conflict in the Middle East, stating that any escalation in the region would lead to “dangerous paths”.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern over the “military escalation” and called for restraint from all parties.

• China also said it was deeply concerned about escalation, adding that it was a “spillover of the Gaza conflict” and a ceasefire should be implemented without delay.
• India also expressed concern and called for an “immediate de-escalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence and return to the path of democracy”.
• After a meeting on Sunday, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) said: “We … unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s direct and unprecedented attack against Israel.”
• The G7 said these actions “risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation. … This must be avoided. We will continue to work to stabilise the situation and avoid further escalation.”

For more global reactions, follow our coverage here .

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Amman to Jerusalem 3 days - Jordan Forum

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yes it might look close on the map some 100km its expensive to visit jerusalem from amman

just to put you in the picture border crossing formalities cost around AUD 100 each

cost of transport around Aud 300 for 2 pax return trip

not to mention hotels and food is expensive unlike jordan its reasonably cheap

amman pasha hotel

Transportstion from amman to the border only...cant cross

As i know its expensive there

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity.

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Israel-Hamas war

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April 16, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

By Kathleen Magramo, Sana Noor Haq, Maureen Chowdhury and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Our live coverage of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza has moved  here .

Prime minister denies strikes on Israel launched from Iraqi territory

From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq

Israel said some of Iran's missiles on Saturday were launched from Iraq, but Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani denied it to CNN Tuesday.

"It was not proven to us through the military reports we've received that any missiles or any drones were launched from Iraq," al-Sudani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview on Tuesday. "Certainly, our position is clear; we do not allow any non-governmental body to use Iraq to bring it back into the battle. We have been taking the legal procedures to keep Iraq safe and to distance Iraq away from the conflict arena," al Sudani added.

Al-Sudani spoke with Amanpour from Washington, D.C., after he met with US President Joe Biden on Monday. Both leaders discussed the importance of de-escalating tensions in the Middle East.

US conducts another airdrop of food into northern Gaza, CENTCOM says

The US military conducted another aid drop into northern Gaza on Tuesday, dropping approximately 25,300 meal equivalents, US Central Command said in a  post  on X.

"The joint operation included two C-130 U.S. Air Force aircraft, and U.S. Army Soldiers specialized in aerial delivery of U.S humanitarian assistance supplies," CENTCOM said.

To date the US has dropped 891 tons of humanitarian assistance, CENTCOM said.

Remember:   Humanitarian organizations have warned  that airdrops are "good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid."

US sanctions are planned for Iran after its attack on Israel. Here's what you should know

From CNN staff

The United States is planning to impose new sanctions targeting Iran after it launched a large-scale attack on Israel in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Earlier Tuesday,  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen  announced the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

“From this weekend’s attack to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers," she said at a news conference.

Here are headlines you should know:

• More from Iran: Israel’s war cabinet met again on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s response to Iran’s attack. After Iran closed its nuclear facilities on Sunday for "security considerations," Rafael Grossi, International Atomic Energy Agency director general, told CNN that its inspectors are back in the facilities and the "situation seems to be business as usual." Also, the US will restrict the movements of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his delegation while they are in New York this week, a source familiar told CNN. 
• Developments on the ground: At least 13 people were killed , including seven children, and more than 25 people were wounded after a strike targeted the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials. Elsewhere, the Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes killed three Hezbollah fighters , including two commanders, in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. 
• World Central Kitchen updates: The US is continuing to review the findings of the Israeli investigation into the  deadly strike  on a World Central Kitchen convoy, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. The United States is “not at this time” calling for an independent investigation, Miller said. He said he did not have a timetable for when its assessment will be completed.
• Palestinian child’s death probe: The US will be going to Israel with new information from a  Washington Post report  that contradicts the results of an Israeli investigation into the death of 5-year-old Palestinian girl  Hind Rajab , who was found dead in Gaza in February. The US called on Israel to investigate Rajab’s death earlier this year, and Miller now says the US “would still welcome a full investigation into this matter, and how it occurred in the first place.”
• Probe problems: A United Nations Commission of Inquiry accused Israel of actively obstructing its efforts to collect evidence from victims and first-hand witnesses of Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on October 7. The commissioner appealed to the Israeli government to cooperate and urged victims and witnesses to the events in southern Israel to contact the commission. 

US to impose new sanctions on Iran in the coming days, national security adviser says

From CNN's Donald Judd

 The United States is planning to impose new sanctions targeting Iran after its attack on Israel over the weekend, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“Following Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel, President Biden is coordinating with allies and partners, including the G7, and with bipartisan leaders in Congress, on a comprehensive response,” Sullivan wrote in a statement. “In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Defense Ministry. We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions.” 

Earlier Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the Biden administration would use sanctions “to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.” 

In addition to new sanctions, Sullivan wrote Tuesday the administration will “continue to work through the Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command to further strengthen and expand the successful integration of air and missile defense and early warning systems across the Middle East to further erode the effectiveness of Iran’s missile and UAV capabilities.”

Analysis: Netanyahu is betting Israeli blood on Iran’s read of his rift with America

From CNN's Nic Robertson

Israel, aided by its allies, dodged a bullet Sunday.

To be more precise, 60 tons of explosives aboard more than 350 Iranian projectiles, some bigger than a family car, failed to dodge Israel’s defenses.

Yet Israel, in defiance of US President Joe Biden’s warnings to “take the win” and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s threat of a “severe, extensive and painful” response to any retaliation, is contemplating just that.

Deterrence, shorthand for “meanest S.O.B. in the room,” Israel believes, is the cornerstone of its survival. Iran is stealing that brick.

When faced with existential threats in the past, Israel has executed the most audacious raids the region has ever witnessed. The point being, Israel won’t telegraph its attack plans as Iran did at the weekend.

Aside from the core members of Israel’s war cabinet, more than a dozen other people have sat at the table deep inside the Kirya, Israel’s maximum security defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, thrashing out their next move.

Netanyahu’s next move will likely try to lock in sanctions, and strike before negative Gaza headlines dump the international good will filling his sails.

The clock is ticking. He needs two things, time to prepare a significant surprise strike, and time to coalesce international diplomacy. As both march to different beats, his legendary political acumen faces one of its stiffest tests yet.

Netanyahu is famed as a political survivor. But now he faces the biggest gamble of his career. He is betting the blood of his nation over Iran’s read of his rift with America.

Israel's sense of reason has been replaced by revenge, new Irish prime minister says

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy

Ireland's newly appointed prime minister told CNN that Israel's sense of reason has been "replaced by revenge" as he addressed recent tensions between the Israeli and Irish governments.  

In his first television interview since being appointed last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris hit back at recent criticisms from the Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich, accusing the country of being "on the wrong side of history" when it comes to the war in Gaza. 

"Excuse me for finding it a little bit hard to see where the representative of the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government is talking about being on the wrong side because I think the actions of the Netanyahu government right now, in terms of allowing this humanitarian catastrophe to unfold in Gaza, and the impact on women, children, civilians and civilian infrastructure is profound," Harris told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.  Harris went on to say that "Ireland is extraordinarily clear in its condemnation of Hamas ... and of the right of Israel to be able to live in safety and security. But we also believe that reason has now been replaced by revenge."

The prime minister doubled down on his call for "an immediate cessation of hostilities" in Gaza alongside his plan to convince fellow European Union leaders to formally recognize the state of Palestine. Harris laid out his belief that a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza "involves a number of countries that are like-minded coming together to recognize the state of Palestine." 

He reiterated that "Ireland stands ready to recognize the state of Palestine" and is very keen to do so alongside other EU member states to increase the "potential positive momentum."  

The Israeli foreign ministry has condemned Ireland's intention to recognize Palestinian statehood, maintaining in a press release last week that doing so would be awarding Hamas a "prize for terrorism."

IDF says its airstrikes in Lebanon killed 3 Hezbollah fighters

From CNN's Eugenia Yosef and Mohammed Tawfeeq

The Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes killed three Hezbollah fighters, including two commanders, in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. 

Muhammad Hussein Shahouri, "the Commander of the Rockets and Missiles Unit of Radwan Forces' Western Region," was killed in an airstrike in Kfar Dounine in south Lebanon, an IDF statement said. "As part of his role, Muhammad planned and promoted rocket and missile launches toward Israeli territory from the areas of Lebanon's central and western regions." 

Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, "an operative of Hezbollah's Rockets and Missiles Unit," was also killed in the same airstrike, the IDF added.

Earlier, the IDF said in a separate statement that its airstrike killed Ismail Youssef Bazz , "the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector, in the area of Ain Ebel in Lebanon," in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah confirmed the deaths of its three fighters without providing details on the circumstances of their deaths or ranks. 

At least 13 people killed, including 7 children, after strike on central Gaza's Al-Maghazi refugee camp

From CNN's Mohammad Al-Sawalhi in Gaza, CNN’s Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Zeena Saifi in Jerusalem

At least 13 people were killed, including seven children, and more than 25 people were wounded after a strike targeted the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials.

Graphic video obtained exclusively by CNN from eyewitness Nihad Owdetallah shows several casualties scattered on the floor, including children, with blood streaming around the area. Dozens of people appear to be running around in panic, screaming and trying to count and carry the dead bodies. A foosball table covered in dust is seen among the dead bodies. 

Owdetallah, who lives in the camp, told CNN he heard an explosion at around 3:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday. 

"I immediately walked to see what happened and found dead bodies thrown on the ground. People screaming, kids screaming. Kids dead on the ground. They were just playing foosball, and they were martyred," he said.

Footage shot for CNN from inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital shows a continuous flow of causalities and injured people being ushered in, as the emergency room is crowded with patients, including several wounded children, crying out on the floor.

Video from inside a morgue at the hospital shows families trying to identify their loved ones among the deceased. Fatmeh Issa points to a white body bag with a young boy’s bloodied face exposed, telling CNN, "This is my son."

Another man cries out, “They have nothing to do with anyone! They are civilians. Have mercy on us. You are killing children. You are not killing an army or fighters; you are killing children who were peacefully playing in the street."

Video shows him handing a young girl’s dead body to another man, both men crying out Quranic verses and sobbing. The man who receives her body is seen placing her on the ground, and covers her body with a jacket, telling CNN she is his daughter.

"This is my oldest daughter … her name is Lujain, she is 9-years-old. A strike hit them while they were playing out in the street. They are all just children,” he said.CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment but has not yet received a response.

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Middle East Crisis Biden’s Message to Iran Over Impending Attack: ‘Don’t’

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• A couple clearing the rubble from a home in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Associated Press
• Smoke billowing following a strike in the Nuseirat neighborhood in central Gaza on Friday. Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock
• A bullet-riddled car after a raid by Israeli forces in the Faraa neighborhood of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Zain Jaafar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Protesters in Tel Aviv calling for a deal and the release of hostages held in Gaza. Hannah Mckay/Reuters
• Palestinians looking over damage in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City. -/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Armed men at the funeral of a militant killed by Israeli forces, in Tubas, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Raneen Sawafta/Reuters
• Palestinians leaving Nuseirat in central Gaza during an Israeli military operation on Friday. Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock
• A makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, on Thursday. Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and boys protesting against the prospect of Israeli army conscription, in Jerusalem. Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A memorial in Tel Aviv for hostages kidnapped in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Hannah Mckay/Reuters

President Biden vows to stand by Israel despite recent disagreements.

President Biden told reporters on Friday that he expected Iran to launch an attack on Israel “sooner than later” as a response to Israel’s killing of several top Iranian generals in a bombing in Syria two weeks ago.

Mr. Biden said he needed to be careful not to reveal classified information being collected by intelligence and military officials as they braced for an attack they believed was imminent. And he had a blunt, succinct answer when he was asked what his message to Iran was.

“Don’t,” he said.

Officials in the United States and other nations are engaged in a furious diplomatic effort to try to prevent a response from Iran that could spiral into a wider war. But Mr. Biden and his top aides have made it clear that their disagreement with Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip would not prevent the United States from defending Israel against attacks from other adversaries.

“We are devoted to the defense of Israel,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House after a speech to the National Action Network. “We will support Israel and help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed.”

He did not specify what actions the United States might take.

John F. Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said earlier on Friday that the administration was taking the threat of an attack seriously.

“We are certainly mindful of a very public — and what we consider to be a very credible — threat made by Iran in terms of potential attacks on Israel,” he said. “We are in constant communication with our Israeli counterparts about making sure that they can defend themselves against those kinds of attacks.”

Mr. Kirby said the U.S. military was making adjustments to its force deployments in the Middle East to be ready in case an attack occurred, but he declined to be specific about those changes.

“We’re also clearly — it would be imprudent if we didn’t — taking a look at our own posture in the region, to make sure that we’re more properly prepared as well,” he said.

— Michael D. Shear

The U.S. issues new travel guidelines, warning that Iran will avenge the killings of senior commanders.

Several countries including the United States have issued new travel guidelines for Israel and the surrounding region, as the Israeli military said its forces were “highly alert” for a possible Iranian strike in retaliation for the killings of several commanders.

Iran has repeatedly vowed to strike back at Israel over the bombing of an Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus, Syria, this month that killed three generals and four other military officers. An American official said on Friday that Washington expects an attack by Iran against Israel that would be bigger than recent attacks in the long shadow war between the two countries, but not so big that it would draw the United States into war. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday barred its employees from traveling to large parts of Israel, the first time the U.S. government had restricted the movement of its employees in this way since the war in Gaza began more than six months ago.

On Thursday, Britain told its citizens that they “should consider leaving” Israel and the Palestinian territories “if it is safe to do so.” On Friday, India told its citizens “not to travel to Iran or Israel till further notice,” while France advised people not to travel to Israel, Iran or Lebanon and evacuated the families of French diplomats from Iran.

Asked about the U.S. travel warning , Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said at a news briefing Thursday: “We have seen Iran making public threats against Israel in the past few days.” He declined to provide details about any specific information that prompted the warning.

The new guidelines bar U.S. government employees and their families from traveling to locations outside the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheba metropolitan areas “out of an abundance of caution” until further notice. The State Department said U.S. personnel could move among those areas for personal travel.

The top American military commander for the Middle East, Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, traveled to Israel to coordinate a response to possible Iranian retaliation, U.S. officials said.

“Our enemies think that they will divide Israel and the United States,” the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said in a statement on Friday after meeting with General Kurilla. “They are connecting us and are strengthening the relationship between us.”

If Iran attacks, he added, “we will know how to respond.”

On Thursday, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said that the armed forces were “highly alert and prepared” for any action Iran might take, even as the timing and scale of any response remained unclear. Analysts say that Tehran, which has long used a network of proxy forces to project power across the Middle East, wants to avoid igniting a full-fledged war that could drag in the United States and threaten the survival of Iran’s regime.

“For years, and even more so during the war, Iran has been financing, directing and arming its proxies — in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Yemen — to attack the state of Israel,” he said. “An attack from Iranian territory would be clear evidence of Iran’s intentions to escalate the Middle East and stop hiding behind the proxies.”

— Liam Stack and Eric Schmitt

U.S. and Iranian officials predict Iran will strike Israel but not U.S. forces in the next few days.

Iran is expected to mount an attack soon on Israel, but not on the United States or its military forces, when Tehran retaliates for an Israeli bombing in Damascus, Syria, that killed several senior Iranian commanders, U.S. and Iranian officials said on Friday.

American intelligence analysts and officials think Iran will strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days, three U.S. officials said, speaking on anonymity to talk about sensitive matters they were not authorized to discuss publicly. Officials did not indicate what form the attack would take, what kinds of targets would be involved and the precise timing — information that is very closely guarded among senior Iranians.

The United States, Israel’s pre-eminent ally, has military forces in several places across the Middle East, but Iran likely will not target them to avoid inciting a direct conflict with the United States, according to Iranian officials, who similarly insisted on remaining anonymous, and the American officials.

In the first months of the war between Israel and Hamas, Iran-backed militias regularly attacked U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. But after a drone strike killed three Americans in Jordan in January, and the United States launched retaliatory strikes , Iran stopped the attacks by its proxies, fearing a more powerful U.S. response. Despite the clashes and hostile rhetoric, both Iranian and U.S. leaders have made it clear they want to avoid all-out war.

Iran has publicly and repeatedly vowed revenge for the April 1 strike on its embassy complex in Damascus that killed three generals and four other officers of its elite Quds Force, the foreign military and intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. But analysts say Iranian leaders want to calibrate their response so it is big enough to impress, at home and abroad, that Iran is not impotent in the face of conflict, but not so big that it spirals into a full-fledged war with Israel or draws an American attack.

How Israel would respond to an Iranian attack on its soil is unclear. The Israeli military “continues to monitor closely what is happening in Iran and different arenas,” Herzi Halevi, chief of the Israeli general staff, said in a statement on Friday. He added, “Our forces are prepared and ready at all times and for any scenario.”

A strategist for the Revolutionary Guards, one of the Iranian officials who spoke anonymously, said Iran wants to take advantage of the widening rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Biden over Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas — and not unite them in hostility to Iran.

The Biden administration has not only criticized the level of death and destruction wrought by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, it has also voiced fears that increased clashes across Israel’s northern borders, primarily with Iranian proxies like Hezbollah, could escalate into a broader regional war.

Iran believes it can generate international support for a retaliatory strike by focusing attention on the attack against its embassy complex, a rare breach of the norms of war, and arguing that it was merely defending itself, the Iranian officials said.

International law generally treats embassies and consulates as being exempt from attack. But Israeli officials have argued that the building they destroyed was diplomatic only in name, and was used as a Revolutionary Guards base, as evidenced by the high-level commanders who were meeting there when they were killed.

Richard Pérez-Peña contributed reporting.

— Eric Schmitt and Farnaz Fassihi

An Iranian attack is likely to be measured, but a miscalculation risks a broader war, military analysts say.

Israeli forces were on high alert on Friday in anticipation of a retaliatory strike by Iran or its proxies, which analysts and officials warned could spur an Israeli reaction and potentially provoke a broader conflict in the region.

Iran is expected to launch an attack as soon as this weekend in retaliation for an April 1 airstrike, in which warplanes struck an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, killing three generals and other commanders, U.S. and Iranian officials said on Friday.

Military analysts said neither Israel nor Iran appeared interested in provoking a full-blown war that could draw in the United States, but that a miscalculation about either side’s red lines could result in an escalation in hostilities.

An Iranian response was inevitable given the high profile of one of the generals killed in Syria, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Quds Force, the analysts said.

“For every wise player, there comes a moment when the cost-benefit calculation shifts and all strategies are reset,” said Mahdi Mohammadi, the chief adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament. “For Iran, that moment was the attack in Damascus.”

Israel expects Iran to strike in a way that allows it to save face, but is measured enough to not arouse an even fiercer counterstrike, analysts say. The Iranians “don’t want a total war,” said Amos Gilead, a retired Israeli general. “So they might attack targets that would enable them to declare that they’ve achieved a great victory.”

Iran and Israel do not maintain any direct, formal channels of communication, making the chances for each side to misread the other’s intentions far greater, said Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli military intelligence officer.

American intelligence analysts and officials think Iran will strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days, said three U.S. officials who requested anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Where those strikes are aimed, from where they will be launched, who might carry them out and the damage they are expected to inflict remain secret to all but the highest levels of the Iranian government and military.

But Iran’s answer to those questions will determine the size and scope of Israel’s response, said Mr. Citrinowicz, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

The country’s leaders most likely hope to use their strike to restore some semblance of deterrence following the killing of General Zahedi in Syria, he said. (Israel has not publicly taken responsibility for that attack, but several Israeli officials confirmed the country’s involvement to The New York Times.)

Such an Iranian response, Mr. Citrinowicz said, could mean an attack from Iranian territory rather than through its proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq .

Israel has warned that an attack launched from inside Iran on targets inside Israel would be considered an escalation that required a reaction.

Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said on Thursday such an attack would be “clear evidence of Iran’s intentions to escalate the Middle East and stop hiding behind the proxies.”

Last week, in anticipation of an Iranian strike, the Israeli military announced that additional reserve units had been called up to reinforce Israel’s air defense system and that combat soldiers expecting leave had been ordered to remain deployed.

Should Iran launch an attack from its own soil, said Mr. Citrinowicz, Israel’s air defenses would detect drones or cruise missiles long before they reached their targets, giving Israeli forces a chance to destroy them.

A more daunting scenario, he said, would be surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, which would arrive in a matter of minutes. Israel has developed some defenses — such as the Arrow system — to intercept longer-range missiles.

“If we manage to intercept most of what’s incoming, that would be excellent — it would moderate our need to respond offensively,” Mr. Citrinowicz said.

Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.

— Aaron Boxerman

Police shut down a Pro-Palestinian conference in Berlin, citing a risk of antisemitic statements.

German police stop pro-palestinian conference, the german police shut down a pro-palestinian conference in berlin, citing the risk that one of the speakers invited might make antisemitic comments or incite violence..

[shouting] “I’m just trying to —” Crowd: “Shame on you. Shame on you.” “Free, free, free Palestine.” Crowd: “Free, free, free Palestine.” “Free, free, free Palestine.” Crowd: “Free free, free Palestine.”

The German police shut down a pro-Palestinian conference in Berlin on Friday and denied entry to the country to a prominent British-Palestinian doctor who had planned to attend it.

Hundreds of police swarmed a gathering of some 250 people attending the “Palestine Conference” and banned the three-day event from continuing, citing the risk that one of the speakers invited might make antisemitic comments or incite violence.

“There is a risk that a speaker who has already made antisemitic or violence-glorifying public statements in the past will be invited to speak again,” the police wrote on social media.

In addition, Ghassan Abu Sitta, a well-known British-Palestinian plastic surgeon who worked in Gaza during the first weeks of Israel’s bombardment last year, said the authorities refused to allow him to enter Germany.

Dr. Abu Sitta had given testimony before the International Court of Justice in a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. He said the German authorities held him for hours at the airport before refusing to let him enter the country.

“The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country,” Dr. Abu Sitta wrote on social media. “Silencing a witness to genocide before the I.C.J. adds to Germany’s complicity in the ongoing massacre.”

Although leaders of Germany, the largest exporter of military aid to Israel after the United States, have begun to cautiously voice concern over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, there is still widespread suppression of criticism of Israel, a policy that has generated controversy over concerns that it restricts free speech.

Germany’s government has long held that its support of Israel’s existence is an ironclad part of its foreign policy, and that support is seen in Berlin as part of the country’s atonement for the Holocaust. That has led the authorities to take a restrictive stance toward criticisms of Israel, even though some of those expressing those views, including some of the organizers of the Palestine Conference, are Jewish.

Videos of the police shutting down the conference included one of officers dragging out a man wearing a kipa, or skullcap, in the colors of the Palestinian flag, shouting “Free Palestine.”

In Berlin, police have often preemptively shut down demonstrations and events criticizing Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, citing concerns over antisemitism or violence.

On Friday, the city’s mayor, Kai Wegner, said he found it “intolerable” that such a conference was happening in Berlin. “We have made it clear that hatred of Israel has no place in Berlin,” he wrote on social media.

According to its website , the Palestine Conference planned to bring together Palestinian activists and speakers for panels on topics such as how to end German military support for Israel and the suppression of pro-Palestine speech. It also called for “the right of return of Palestinian refugees and end the Zionist settler colonialism.”

Among the speakers on the program was Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister. On social media, he described the event as one in which “Jews, Palestinians and other peace activists were discussing universal human rights across Israel-Palestine.”

— Erika Solomon

The E.U. imposes sanctions on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for sexual violence on Oct. 7.

The countries of the European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on military and special forces units of Hamas and the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad for committing “widespread sexual and gender-based violence” during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The European Council said in its decision that it levied sanctions on the fighters from the extremist groups — the Al-Quds Brigades and Nukhba Force of Hamas, and the Al-Quds Brigades of Palestinian Islamic Jihad — for inflicting sexual violence on Oct. 7 “in a systematic manner, using it as a weapon of war.”

The fighters will be barred from traveling to European Union countries and will be subject to an asset freeze.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top diplomat, said in a statement that he would hold the perpetrators accountable.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, applauded the council’s decision and said it reinforced that those who inflict sexual violence will “pay the price.”

The European Union joined the United Nations in denouncing the sexual violence that some women and children faced during the Oct. 7 attacks. In early March, after deploying a team of experts to Israel and the West Bank, the United Nations said it had “clear and convincing information” that women and children held captive in Gaza were subjected to sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture and inhumane treatment. The U.N. report also found that Palestinians detained by Israel had been sexually abused.

Later in March, The New York Times interviewed Amit Soussana , a former hostage, who publicly described for the first time the sexual abuse she faced while in Hamas captivity. Hamas leaders have denied the accusations and the conclusions of the U.N. report, saying that while it was essential to investigate the claims of sexual violence, it would be impossible to do so in “the current circumstances.”

— Gaya Gupta

Israel says it opened a new aid corridor to northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had begun allowing humanitarian aid trucks to enter northern Gaza through a new crossing, in an apparent response to international pressure to do more to alleviate the hunger and deprivation produced by more than six months of war.

The military did not specify the location of the new crossing, and it remained unclear how many trucks had crossed, what aid agency they belonged to and when the crossing might be open for wider use.

The convoy that Israel says entered on Thursday was not coordinated with the United Nations, whose agencies handle much of the relief effort in Gaza, according to a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Jamie McGoldrick, a top U.N. relief official in Jerusalem, said that U.N. officials planned to head to the crossing on Saturday to examine it. He said the crossing would be a significant improvement “if it can go to scale and is not temporary.”

Israel has come under increasing international pressure to allow more aid to enter Gaza. After Israeli strikes killed seven aid workers last week , President Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel by phone that the United States could withhold military support for Israel unless it did more to protect civilians and ensure adequate supplies for Palestinian civilians.

More than a million Gazans are facing “catastrophic levels of food insecurity” and over 50,000 Gazan children are acutely malnourished, the United Nations’ Office of Humanitarian Affairs reported this week . Aid agencies say the desperation is gravest in northern Gaza, where chaos and lawlessness have followed the withdrawal of most Israeli troops, and where relief groups have struggled to bring supplies from the two main border crossings in the south.

Aid officials have lobbied the Israeli government for months to open more entry points to bring aid directly into northern Gaza to avoid perilous roads across the territory where they fear their trucks will be either looted or bombarded.

In announcing the new crossing, the Israeli military said that Israeli inspectors had checked the trucks at Kerem Shalom, across the border from southern Gaza, before they headed to the new entry point, according to the Israeli military.

In mid-March, the Israeli authorities opened a military access road, known as Crossing 96, into northern Gaza. But Israel ultimately did not allow U.N. agencies to use the route consistently to bring in trucks, saying it was often needed for military use, Mr. McGoldrick said.

“Until we get a consistent flow inside Gaza, we’re never going to have the desperation reduced,” he said in an interview.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, pledged on Wednesday to “flood Gaza with aid” and said he expected to ultimately see 500 relief trucks entering the enclave on a daily basis. (U.N. figures show that an average of about 110 aid trucks have entered Gaza daily since the war began Oct. 7.) Mr. Gallant said Israel would soon open the port of Ashdod, an Israeli city north of Gaza, to accept aid shipments, without providing a time frame.

— Aaron Boxerman reporting from Jerusalem

The relief organization Anera says it is resuming operations in Gaza.

An aid group that had suspended its operations in Gaza after Israeli strikes killed seven humanitarian workers has said it is resuming work in the territory.

The Israeli authorities this week told the group, Anera, that the country’s military would take “certain measures” to protect aid workers in Gaza, the group’s chief executive, Sean Carroll, said in a statement on Thursday. The longstanding U.S.-based nonprofit, also known by its full name, American Near East Refugee Aid, said it was fully resuming its work in Gaza, distributing meals, hygiene kits and tents and providing medical treatment.

“Our ability to help people in Gaza relies on our heroic staff and hundreds of volunteers,” Mr. Carroll said in the statement, saying the group was “cautiously hopeful” that Israel’s assurances would mean that its workers would be safe.

Anera had partnered in Gaza with World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by the Spanish chef José Andrés, to distribute meals, but it suspended operations after an Israeli drone strike on April 1 killed seven of World Central Kitchen’s workers. The Israel military later said officers mistakenly believed the aid workers’ cars were carrying gunmen.

In an email response to questions from The New York Times, Mr. Carroll said that the Israeli authorities had assured him that “there will be no firing at humanitarian missions under any circumstances.” A strike near a humanitarian mission would occur only “in the case of a suspected armed militant in the area” and only with the authorization of “a senior officer,” Mr. Carroll said he was told.

More than six months of Israeli bombardment in Gaza have taken a devastating toll on Palestinians and aid workers. At least 224 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since the current conflict broke out on Oct. 7, the U.N. Security Council said in a statement Thursday. That toll is at least three times higher than in a single conflict in a given year, the Security Council said.

With Israel’s blockade and heavy bombardment of the territory, Gaza’s 2.2 million civilians have become ever more dependent on aid organizations to meet even a fraction of their basic needs. At the same time, aid groups say the constant risk of strikes, crumbling roads and infrastructure and staggering levels of need make their work immensely challenging .

In a sign of the continuing peril for aid workers, UNICEF said on Thursday that one of its vehicles had been hit with live ammunition while waiting to enter northern Gaza this week. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said separately that a staff member died on Thursday after having been wounded in March during the evacuation of a hospital in Khan Younis.

The seven workers with the relief organization World Central Kitchen were killed on April 1 while leaving a warehouse in central Gaza. The team was part of the group’s efforts to distribute hundreds of tons of food aid, sent in by ship through a makeshift jetty the organization built on the Mediterranean coast, to a population among whom famine is beginning to set in .

They were killed when at least one Israeli drone struck three vehicles in their convoy in rapid succession, which Israel’s military later said was the result of a “grave mistake.”

Anera said it also lost one of its workers on March 8 in an Israeli airstrike, even though the location of his shelter had been shared with the Israeli authorities. Mousa Shawwa, 41, a logistics coordinator, had been a member of its staff for nearly 15 years and was wearing a vest with its logo when he was killed, according to the organization.

World Central Kitchen, which also suspended its work in Gaza after the deaths of its staff members, has not announced plans to restart operations.

— Victoria Kim

An Argentine court rules that Iran was behind attacks on the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish center.

A high court in Argentina ruled on Thursday that Iran was the mastermind of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, potentially paving the way for relatives of victims to make claims against the country in international tribunals.

While Argentine investigators have long believed that Iranian operatives and high-ranking officials played key roles in the attacks, the decision this week by Argentina’s second-highest tribunal goes further by holding the Iranian state itself responsible.

The ruling also characterized Iran as a terrorist state at a moment when tensions are running particularly high between Iran and Israel. Iran has repeatedly said it will launch an attack against Israel in retaliation for a recent bombing in Syria that killed several top Iranian commanders.

“The 1994 attack in Buenos Aires was organized, planned, financed and executed under the direction of the authorities of the Islamic State of Iran, within the framework of Islamic Jihad,” said the ruling by the three-member court that declared the attack a crime against humanity.

The court said the attack itself was carried out by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group.

The judges said Tehran was also to blame for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 22 people. The attacks were carried out in retaliation for the Argentine government’s decision to cancel contracts to provide nuclear material to Iran, according to the ruling.

Iran has steadfastly denied any involvement in the attacks.

The “verdict reaffirms what the Argentine justice system has been asserting through numerous rulings for decades,” the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Association, whose building was the target of the attack, said in a statement.

“It’s the position we’ve always upheld,” said Jorge Knoblovits, the head of an association that represents more than 100 Jewish organizations in Argentina. “The Islamic Republic of Iran was the one responsible for all of this.”

The court ruling said a state can be held responsible for financing and planning a terrorist attack even if it was carried out by nonstate actors.

The ruling opens the door for relatives of victims to pursue claims against Iran in international tribunals, Mr. Knoblovits said, though it was unclear if a case could be brought before the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest judicial body, or elsewhere.

“We’re currently analyzing that,” he said.

The ruling is the latest twist in an investigation that has been mired by accusations of coverups and plagued by controversy.

In 2015, a special prosecutor was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head shortly after he accused then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other top officials of conspiring with Iran to cover up its involvement in the community-center attack. The former president has repeatedly denied the accusations.

The government of right-wing President Javier Milei, who came into office in December and is a strong ally of Israel, hailed Thursday’s ruling, saying it “brought an end to decades of delays and coverups.”

— Daniel Politi Reporting from Buenos Aires

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U.S. issues travel warning for Israel with Iran attack believed to be imminent and fear Gaza war could spread

By Debora Patta , Tucker Reals

Updated on: April 13, 2024 / 5:25 PM EDT / CBS News

Update: Iran launched drone attacks against Israel on Saturday. Read CBS News'  latest coverage here .

Tel Aviv  — Israel is bracing for a worst-case scenario that U.S. officials believe could materialize within just hours — the possibility of a direct attack on Israeli soil by Iran in retaliation for a strike almost two weeks ago that killed seven Iranian military officers. Iran has vowed to take revenge for Israel killing its commanders, who were hit by an April 1 strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria's capital.

Two U.S. officials told CBS News that a major Iranian attack against Israel was expected as soon as Friday, possibly to include more than 100 drones and dozens of missiles aimed at military targets inside the country. Sources have told CBS News the retaliation could include attacks carried out both by Iranian forces, and proxy groups around the region that it has been funneling additional arms to for weeks.  

The officials said it would be challenging for the Israelis to defend against an attack of that magnitude, and while they held out the possibility that the Iranians could opt for a smaller-scale attack to avoid a dramatic escalation, their retaliation was believed to be imminent. 

Asked Friday how imminent he believes an attack is, President Biden responded, "I don't want to get into secure information, but my expectation is sooner than later." The president urged Iran not to move forward, saying his message to Tehran was: "Don't."

Tehran has not indicated publicly how or when it will return fire, so it's unclear how far Iran's leaders will go. If they decide to carry out a direct attack on Israel, there's fear it could blow Israel's ongoing war against Iranian ally Hamas up into a much wider regional conflict.

With the Iranian retaliation expected at any time, the U.S. State Department on Thursday warned Americans in Israel not to travel outside major cities, which are better protected from incoming rocket fire by the country's Iron Dome missile defense system. The latest guidance noted that travel by U.S. government employees in Israel could be further restricted with little notice as things develop in the tinderbox region.

"Whoever harms us, we will harm them," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday as he visited troops at an Israel Defense Forces airbase. "We are prepared … both defensively and offensively."

On Saturday, all U.S. embassies in the Middle East were put on high alert and required to hold emergency action committee meetings. Diplomats in Lebanon and Israel were specifically told not to travel to certain areas within those countries.

Sima Shine, a security expert and former official with Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad, told CBS News it was a dangerous moment for the region, and the "most worried" she has been. She said anxiety over an all-out war was likely just as high "on both sides, in Israel and in Iran."

If Iran does choose to strike Israel directly, it could involve a complex missile and drone attack similar to the one Iranian forces launched against a Saudi oil facility in 2019 .

"They will try to do it on the military or some military asset," Shine predicted. "But the question will be the damage. If there would be many injured people, killed or injured … I think it has the potential for a huge escalation."

Shine stressed, however, that she still believes neither side actually wants a regional conflict.

U.S. "really trying to avoid war"

The U.S. sent a senior general to Israel this week to coordinate with the close American ally on any response it might make to an Iranian attack. Speaking Friday on "CBS Mornings," America's top military officer said, "we're really trying to avoid war."

"This is part of the dialogue that I have with my counterparts within the region, to include the Israeli chief of defense, who I talked to yesterday," said Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., adding that the U.S. military was "doing things not only to prevent a war, but at the same time, one of my primary things is to make sure all the forces in the region are protected."

"My role, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is to plan and prepare," Brown said. "That's one thing we do very well."

Brown's Israeli counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, "completed a comprehensive situational assessment on the readiness of the IDF for all scenarios," Israel's military said Friday. 

"The IDF is very strongly prepared, both offensively and defensively, against any threat," Halevi was quoted as saying in the statement. "The IDF continues to monitor closely what is happening in Iran and different arenas, constantly preparing to deal with existing and potential threats in coordination with the United States Armed Forces." 

The IDF said the visiting U.S. general, Central Command chief Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, was taking part in the IDF's situational assessment.

The dilemma for Iran, said Israeli expert Shine, is to figure out how to deliver its promised response to Israel's attack in Syria, but in a way that does not lead to further escalation. Likewise, Shine said Israel could choose to show restraint when it responds to whatever Iran eventually does.

If either side gets the balance wrong, the consequences for the region, and even the world, could be dire.

Weijia Jiang, David Martin, Margaret Brennan and Olivia Gazis contributed reporting.

• Middle East
• Benjamin Neta​nyahu

Debora Patta is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in Johannesburg. Since joining CBS News in 2013, she has reported on major stories across Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Edward R. Murrow and Scripps Howard awards are among the many accolades Patta has received for her work.

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