Middle East crisis - as it happened: US denies carrying out airstrikes in Iraq after explosion at military base

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Iraqi military say it is investigating the cause of explosion at Kalso military base

The Iraqi military said a technical committee was looking into the cause of an explosion and fire at the Kalso military base, which it said happened at 1am on Saturday (10pm GMT/11pm BST Friday), reports Reuters.

A huge blast at the military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and injured eight others, according to a ministry of interior official (see 08:47 BST). Per Reuters, the force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

Two security sources had said earlier that an airstrike caused the blast at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad.

According to Reuters, the PMF said in a statement that its chief of staff Abdul Aziz al-Mohammedawi had visited the location and "reviewed the details of the investigative committees present in the place that was attacked".

"The air defence command report confirmed, through technical efforts and radar detection, that there was no drone or fighter jet in the airspace of Babil before and during the explosion," the military said in a statement.

We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 20, 2024

The US military's Central Command (Centcom), in a post on X early on Saturday, denied what it said were reports that the US had carried out airstrikes in Iraq.

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Since October, extremist Israeli settlers have ramped up their attacks against Palestinians living in West Bank villages, with many of the settlers killing Palestinians while torching their cars and stealing their livestock.

The Guardian's Bethan McKernan and Sufian Taha reports:

Early on Friday 12 April, 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair gathered the sheep at Gal Yosef farm, an Israeli outpost in the occupied West Bank, taking them to graze before Shabbat began at sunset. He never came back.

When the flock returned without him, the Israeli army and police launched a massive search. Around 24 hours later, the boy's body was found by a drone and Israeli officials deemed his death a terrorist attack.

But settlers in the area did not wait to find out Achimair's fate before seeking revenge. That Friday afternoon, and the day after, the nearby Palestinian villages of Beitin, Duma and al-Mughayyir were attacked by hundreds of armed Israelis in an unprecedented episode of settler violence that left 17-year-old Omar Hamed and 25-year-old Jihad Abu Aliya dead and another 45 people injured. Eighteen were shot with live ammunition, including a 17-year-old girl who was shot in both legs.

For the full story, click here:

Protests against Israeli government organised nationwide, reports Times of Israel.

Families of hostages held in Gaza will hold their weekly rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, with protests against the government also expected nationwide, reports the Times of Israel.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, have organised the rally to begin at 8pm (5pm GMT/6pm BST) at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, says the Israeli newspaper.

It also reports that a separate demonstration calling for early elections has been scheduled for 7.30pm (4.30pm GMT/5pm BST) at Kaplan street in Tel Aviv.

Thousands were expected to rally at 55 other locations across Israel, organisers told the publication.

Summary of the day so far

It has gone 6pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv and 6.30pm in Tehran. We are about to hand over to the US team but first, here is a summary of the day so far:

• A member of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) was killed and eight others were injured in a blast at a military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, according to a ministry of interior official. The force commander said it was an attack while the Iraqi military said a technical committee was looking into the cause of an explosion and fire at the Kalso military base that occurred at 1am on Saturday (10pm GMT/11pm BST Friday).

• The US military's Central Command (Centcom), in a post on X early on Saturday, denied what it said were reports that the US had carried out airstrikes in Iraq. "Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted airstrikes in Iraq today," it said in a social media post.

• At least nine people were killed, including six children, in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Rafah, hospital authorities in Gaza said on Saturday. The strike late on Friday hit a residential building in the western Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood of the city of Rafah, according to Gaza's civil defence. The bodies of the six children, two women and a man were taken to Rafah's Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital. Several others were reported injured in the strike.

• Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said he addressed the "grave situation" in Gaza and how to step up humanitarian aid there with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry during a meeting on Saturday in Istanbul."We have discussed what more we can do to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and what can be done in the long run for a two-state solution," Fidan told a joint news conference with Shoukry.

• Commenting on Iran-Israel tensions, Fidan said: "Our first priority should be ending Israel's occupation in Palestine and a two-state solution." On Iran-Israel, Shoukry said:"We are concerned about ongoing escalation in the region. We have called on both parties to exercise restraint."

• At least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military raid on Friday in the Nur Shams refugee camp, including three militants, according to the Israeli military, Palestinian health officials and a militant group. Palestinian health authorities said one of those killed was a 15-year-old boy shot dead by Israeli fire. The Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed the deaths of three members, including one who it said was a local military commander. The Israeli military said four Israeli soldiers were slightly injured in the operation. It also posted on X, saying its security forces had killed 10 militants, arrested eight wanted people, and confiscated weaponry during their raid on Nur Shams.

• Saraya al-Quds, the military arm of Islamic Jihad, said its fighters had engaged in heavy gun battles on Saturday morning with Israeli forces in the town of Tulkarem, adjacent to Nur Shams. No further details were immediately available, reported the Associated Press. The news agency also said that residents in Tulkarem went on a general strike on Saturday to protest against the attack on Nur Shams, with shops, restaurants and government offices all closed.

• The Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-abdollahian, said on Friday that Iran will respond at an immediate and "maximum level" if Israel acts against its interests. In an interview with NBC News, Amir-abdollahian said, speaking through an interpreter: "If Israel wants to do another adventurism and acts against the interests of Iran, our next response will be immediate and will be at the maximum level."

• Additionally, Amir-abdollahian said that Tehran was investigating the overnight attack on the country, adding that so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the strike. Amir-abdollahian told NBC News the drones took off from inside Iran and flew for a few hundred meters before being downed. "They're … more like toys that our children play with, not drones. It has not been proved to us that there is a connection between these and Israel."

• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid there with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting in Istanbul, state broadcaster TRT said on Saturday.

• Mourners attended the funeral of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) volunteer Damian Soból, who was one of seven aid workers killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, on Saturday. Before the mass on Saturday, an adviser to Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, addressed the congregation and conveyed the president's posthumous tribute to Soból, according to the Polish public broadcaster TVP.

• A spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the US's veto of a Palestinian request to the UN security council, blocking the world body's recognition of a Palestinian state. Iranian diplomat Nasser Kanani called Washington's veto "irresponsible" and "unconstructive".

• China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday said efforts to admit a Palestinian state into the UN were a move to rectify a prolonged injustice, state media Xinhua reported. He made the comments at a joint press conference with his Papua New Guinea counterpart during a visit to country.

• At least 34,049 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October, according to a statement shared on Saturday by the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas. That includes 37 Palestinians who were killed and 68 that were injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to weigh in on the Israeli strikes in Iran on Friday, telling reporters during a press briefing that the Biden administration was going to avoid commenting on the subject altogether.

• Scott Anderson, the senior deputy director of Unrwa affairs in Gaza, warned that the threat of disease outbreaks in Gaza is growing as temperatures begin to rise. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Anderson said: "Our fear is disease and outbreak of disease." There is a need to "control mosquitoes, to control flies, pick up trash and continue to try to improve the water and sanitation system overall," he said.

• US congress has pushed a $95bn national security aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies closer to passage. The package would provide additional aid to Israel after an airstrike in Iran that the US attributed to Israel. A key procedural vote gained approval on Friday to move ahead with the bill, with the Democrats joining Republicans in a rare assist.

• Pro-Israel groups are pumping millions into this year's heated US congressional races, singling out progressives who have voiced criticism of the Israeli government and its relentless campaign in Gaza. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) is betting that $100m will be enough to fight back a wave of progressive dissent over Israel's war in Gaza this election cycle. After investing heavily in the 2022 midterms, Aipac is now doubling down on its electoral efforts.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid there with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting in Istanbul, state broadcaster TRT said on Saturday.

Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:

Mourners have attended a funeral procession for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) volunteer Damian Soból, who was one of seven aid workers killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

Soból, 36, came from the south-eastern Polish city of Przemyśl and joined WCK in 2022. He had been documenting the charity's missions on social media in the days before he was killed.

Before the mass on Saturday, an adviser to Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, addressed the congregation and conveyed the president's posthumous tribute to Soból, according to the Polish public broadcaster TVP.

"Soból was honored with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland, the second most important civilian distinction in the country, for his exceptional dedication to aiding those in need," writes TVP World.

In a letter, Duda wrote:

The activities of the deceased brought glory, not only to him personally, but also to all Poles.

Let the posthumously awarded Knight's Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland be an expression of our deep respect and inextinguishable memory of him.

To the relatives, friends, and colleagues of the deceased, I offer my deepest sympathy. Grant him eternal rest, O Lord."

Scott Anderson, the senior deputy director of Unrwa affairs in Gaza, has told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the threat of disease outbreaks in Gaza are growing as temperatures begin to rise.

"Our fear is disease and outbreak of disease," he said. There is a need to "control mosquitoes, to control flies, pick up trash and continue to try to improve the water and sanitation system overall," said Anderson.

According to the BBC Weather service, Gaza could reach temperatures of up 30C (86F) next week, although other weather forecasting websites report it could go higher than this.

Israel's military said on X that its security forces killed 10 militants, arrested eight wanted people, and confiscated weaponry during their raid on Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The statement comes after at the Associated Press reported that at least four Palestinians had been killed in the raid, citing the Israeli military, Palestinian health officials and the Islamic Jihad militant group (see 12:17 BST).

Palestinian health authorities said one of those killed was a 15-year-old boy shot dead by Israeli fire.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday said efforts to admit a Palestinian state into the United Nations were a move to rectify a prolonged injustice, Reuters reports citing state media Xinhua.

He made the comments at a joint press conference with his Papua New Guinea counterpart during a visit to country, says the report.

The US on Thursday effectively stopped the UN from recognising a Palestinian state by casting a veto in the security council to deny Palestinians full membership of the world body.

Washington's position is that the emergence of a Palestinian state had to be the outcome of negotiations on all aspects of a Middle East peace settlement.

"A prompt admission of Palestine into the United Nations is a move to rectify a prolonged historical injustice," Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.

The Guardian and Observer's foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall writes that "a grim precedent has been struck" after Israel and Iran have broken their "fragile truce".

Following what he described as Israel's "surprisingly limited" retaliation toward Iran and Iran's downplaying of Friday's air attacks, he writes:

It would be foolish to assume this is the end of the matter. Visceral hostility, political and ideological, still separates the two enemies. Both governments are beset by internal divisions that feed unpredictability and provocation. And a grim precedent has been struck. A Pandora's box of head-to-head, one-on-one confrontation has sprung open.

The years-long shadow war waged by the two countries has been exposed to plain daylight, for all to see. Iran could strike back afresh at any time, directly or indirectly. Israel, which showed on Friday that it can hit Iran's nuclear facilities if it chooses, could decide to go again, and more often. Next time may be much worse.

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