January 4, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas has moved here.

Palestinian family members on their way to Rafah hoping to find safer place after migrating from Nuseirat due to intense Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip on December 23, 2023.

Suffering is everywhere in Gaza and no place is safe for displaced civilians, a United Nations aid worker said Thursday, as she detailed the harrowing conditions in the enclave.

Gemma Connell, Gaza team leader for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said she had witnessed high levels of devastation across the enclave over the past month. 

Many people arriving in southern Gaza “have been displaced not once, not twice, but six or seven times,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

Connell also described the desperation in the north.

“No food, no water, very little medical supplies.”

Connell also pushed back on Israeli accusations that the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency is “stalling,” as aid trickles into Gaza from two southern border crossings.

“The fact that all of us here wake up every day, trying to get assistance out, is proof positive of the fact that we are not stalling. There are many challenges,” she said, citing the multiple screenings aid trucks have to go through.

Connell also said more attention should be given to the fate of the 2.2 million people in Gaza who are in desperate need of help.

Editor’s Note: This report contains graphic and disturbing accounts of sexual violence.

Five men came out of the van and captured a woman, ripping off her clothes as they formed a circle around her. One raped her and killed her with a knife. Then he raped her again, said Raz Cohen, a survivor of Hamas’ murderous rampage in Israel on October 7.

Cohen had gone to the Nova music festival in the desert of southern Israel to be with his girlfriend of two months, Maya. She tried to flee with another friend and was killed, he said. Cohen saw another young woman shot in the head as he ran to hide in a bush — the spot where he witnessed the rape, he told CNN.

Israeli police are documenting cases of rape and sexual violence committed as Hamas fighters burst into Israel from Gaza, attacking the music festival and kibbutz communities near the border. About 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in the attacks that were condemned globally and led to a massive Israeli military response. Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 22,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

But the United Nations and human rights organizations were slow to denounce the reports of rape and mutilation against Israelis — mostly girls and women but also men. And Hamas has denied its fighters committed sexual violence during the coordinated attacks.

The UN agency UN Women released a statement in December condemning the attacks and saying it was “alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks.”

Cohen said a white van pulled up about 30 meters from his hiding spot and five men in civilian clothes got out.

The other men around the victim did not seem angry, Cohen said.

“They always laugh. I think it was for fun. They murdered a lot of people for fun.”

Read the full story:

A picture taken from southern Israel along the border with Gaza, shows smoke during an Israeli bombardment on January 4.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday unveiled plans for the next phase of the war in Gaza, featuring a new combat approach in the north and a sustained focus on targeting Hamas leaders in the enclave’s southern territory.  

The defense minister’s outline of the next phase of the war came as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen.

The Israel Defense Forces has expanded operations in central and southern Gaza, issuing a new series of evacuation instructions to Palestinians, many of whom were already displaced. Several civilians in central Gaza told CNN they were too exhausted to flee again — instead wishing they could return home to “die with dignity.”

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are living in tent camps stretched along cities in the south, with little access to basic sanitation, food, fuel or drinkable water. Many sleep on the streets with inadequate clothing to keep them warm during the winter season.

Catch up on the latest:

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday unveiled plans for the next phase of the war in Gaza, featuring a new combat approach in the north and a sustained focus on targeting Hamas leaders in the enclave’s southern territory.  

In the third phase, Israel Defense Forces soldiers in northern Gaza will adopt a “new combat approach” encompassing “raids, the destruction of terror tunnels, aerial and ground activities, and special operations,” according to Gallant.

In southern Gaza, the Israeli military will continue its pursuit of Hamas leaders in the region “for as long as necessary,” Gallant said. Israeli forces stationed in the south will also focus on “enabling the return of the hostages” still in captivity, he added. 

Post-war planning: In a three-page document, Gallant also provided details of the fourth and supposed final phase of the war, entitled the “Day After.”

The post-war phase announced by Gallant envisages a Gaza Strip no longer controlled by Hamas, which would no longer “pose a security threat to the citizens of Israel.” 

Once the “goals of the war have achieved” there would be “no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip,” according to his plan.   

Israel would, however, maintain its “operational freedom of action in the Gaza strip” and continue to “carry out the inspection of goods entering the Gaza strip,” the plan stated. 

The defense minister also unveiled the concept of a multinational task force led by the United States in partnership with “European and regional partners” charged with the “rehabilitation” of the strip.

In this phase, Israel would also continue dialogue with Egypt, a country Gallant described as a “major actor.”

The minister provided scant detail on the future governance of the enclave, however, merely saying that the entity controlling the territory would build on the capabilities of “non-hostile” elements already present in Gaza.

Talks for a pathway to Palestinian state: US officials have previously said they ultimately envision both Gaza and the West Bank being ruled by a unified government led by a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority. At present, the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, having lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007.  

An Arab delegation comprising officials from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority emphasized in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December that Arab states will need assurances that there is a path toward a Palestinian state if they are going are to play a role in the reconstruction of Gaza.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Priscilla Alvarez and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

The Israel Defense Forces now considers three Israelis missing since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks as being held hostage in Gaza, military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Thursday.

Israel’s military has said their official tally of hostages held in Gaza can fluctuate as they receive the latest intelligence.

Israel believes there are now 108 hostages alive in Gaza, who were taken captive during the attack. Twenty-four other hostages taken on October 7 are known to be dead, and their bodies remain in Gaza.  

One Israeli national is still considered missing following the attack, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.   

Before the October 7 attack, there were already four hostages being held by Hamas since 2014, the office said, bringing the total number of hostages in Gaza to 112, not including the 24 that are known to be dead.

Donkey carts crammed with blankets, mattresses piled onto cars and thinly-stocked market stalls lined the mud-caked streets of Nuseirat, in central Gaza, on Thursday, through which streams of displaced people were making their way to the nearby area of Deir al-Balah.

Many had mixed emotions. Deir al-Balah was supposed to be safer, at least according to instructions from the Israeli military, but living conditions were at best primitive.

Generations of Palestinians were camped out among the rubble of flattened buildings, while others carried their belongings to move further south, as the Israeli military expanded its operations in central and southern Gaza.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces issued a new series of evacuation instructions to Palestinians, including that “military activities” would be temporarily suspended in the Al-Brook and Jaffa neighborhoods of Deir al-Balah.

Amnesty International has previously warned that the Israeli military’s calls to evacuate could amount to “forced displacement of the civilian population,” in violation of international law.

The war that began on October 7 has displaced at least 1.93 million people in Gaza, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Thousands of families have moved multiple times as Israel’s offensive has moved to new areas.

Several of the civilians who had fled to Deir al-Balah told CNN they were too exhausted to flee again – instead wishing they could return home to “die with dignity.”

Ramzi Al Jammal, a civilian from Al-Bureij refugee camp, was displaced to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. He has been separated from members of his extended family, including his sons and his grandchildren.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in tent camps stretched along cities in the south, with little access to basic sanitation, food, fuel or drinkable water. Many sleep on the streets with inadequate clothing to keep them warm during the winter season.

But Abdul Rahman, a civilian who has not fled Nuseirat, told CNN that trying to survive in makeshift camps was no better than living among the ruins of central and northern Gaza.

“We have no place to go,” he said on Thursday. “There is no space, people sleep on the road. There is no place to sit safely in this area.

“There is no water, there is no electricity,” he said. “They bomb and attack us without any alarm … We have nothing to do, we have no food.”

Abu Adnan, a displaced civilian who now lives on the streets of Deir al-Balah, told CNN he wishes he had “stayed at home and got shot.”

“This is not life, it’s humiliation,” he said. “I will go nowhere after this, unless I go back to my house.”

“I tried to go back home twice but my children pulled me back,” he added. “There are no toilets, no food, no water, no clothes. With all this, I prefer to go back home and die with dignity than dying this way.”

The “results” in Gaza on protecting civilians “continue to not match where the Israeli intentions are,” US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday. 

“That’s certainly something that we will talk about” in Israel, Miller told CNN.

In his most recent trip to Israel late last year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Israeli government understood the need to take specific steps to protect civilians as it prosecutes its war in Gaza.

“We have seen them take a number of steps to try to minimize” civilian harm, Miller said, “and we will encourage them to continue to do more.”

More background: The US has steadfastly supported Israel’s war on Hamas, but the weeks of constant Israeli strikes in Gaza that have killed thousands of civilians have exposed rifts between the governments of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden has repeatedly warned Israel that global support for the country’s military campaign is waning, and urged the Israeli military to be more precise with its attacks and focused on saving civilian lives.

Israeli military officials have said they devote “vast resources” to minimizing harm to civilians in Gaza and that Hamas bears the blame for using civilians as “human shields.”

The United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk speaks at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 6.

The United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk says he was “very disturbed” by remarks made by two far-right Israeli government ministers this week pushing for the resettlement of Gaza civilians outside the Gaza Strip to “third countries.”

About 85% of Gazans have been internally displaced by the war and have the right to return to their homes, Turk wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Thursday.

He reiterated that under international humanitarian law, the forcible transfer of protected persons within or from an occupied territory is forbidden.

Some context: Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked outrage this week by making comments advocating for resettlement.

Smotrich had posited that the removal of Gazans from the strip could pave the way for Israelis to “make the desert bloom.” He later clarified that he envisioned any transfers of Gazans being carried out on a voluntary basis.

Separately, Ben Gvir had suggested that the current conflict represented an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.” 

Their comments had been criticized by several countries, including the United States, whose State Department denounced the remarks as “inflammatory and irresponsible.”

An injured person is cared for after an explosion in Kerman, Iran, on Wednesday, January 3.

ISIS media wing Al-Furqan on Thursday issued a statement claiming responsibility for deadly dual bombings in Kerman, southern Iran.

The explosions at the ceremony in southeastern Iran on Wednesday left dozens dead and scores injured.

In the statement, titled “And Kill Them Wherever you Find Them,” they said that two brothers, who they named, set off towards a gathering of “polytheists” near the grave of their “dead leader” Qasem Soleimani, and detonated their explosive vests amid the gathering.

The statement also warned who they dubbed the “polytheists” that the “mujahideen are lying in wait for them and their projects.”

Islamic State considers the Shia branch of Islam to be heretical and has targeted shrines and religious sites in Iran previously.

Iran has so far not commented on the ISIS claim of responsibility.

Some key context: Accusations flew in the time between the blasts and ISIS’ statement.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, feeding fears that a wider regional conflict could grow during the Israel-Hamas war. Israel’s military had not issued a comment on the attack.

Prior to ISIS’ statement, analysts and a US official had speculated that the blast had the hallmarks of a terror attack.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday that the US was aware of Islamic State’s claim but “not ready to offer a formal assessment.”

“This attack does bear all the hallmarks of an ISIS attack,” Miller said at a media briefing.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at The Kirya, Israel's Ministry of Defense, on October 16, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told a visiting US envoy that Israel needs a “new security reality” on its northern border with Lebanon.

Gallant met Thursday with a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, in Tel Aviv. Hochstein has been tasked with helping ease tensions between Israel and Lebanon.  

The Defense Ministry said that Gallant and the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, had briefed Hochstein on “the conditions required by the defense establishment to facilitate the secure return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes in the region.” 

Gallant talked of Israel’s determination to change the security reality in northern Israel, to enable more than 80,000 displaced Israelis to return to their homes. 

“There is only one possible result - a new reality in the northern arena, which will enable the secure return of our citizens. Yet we find ourselves at a junction - there is a short window of time for diplomatic understandings, which we prefer. We will not tolerate the threats posed by the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah and we will ensure the security of our citizens.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also met with Hochstein on Thursday.

Echoing Gallant’s remarks, Netanyahu said Israel is committed to bringing a “fundamental change” on its border with Lebanon and allowing Israeli residents to return to their homes in the region.

Some background: While war has raged most fiercely in Gaza, there have been near-constant skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant group that dominates southern Lebanon, since Hamas’ attack on October 7.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, has its main base on the Israel-Lebanon border. It shares Hamas’ ultimate goal of destroying the Jewish state.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with details of the Israeli prime minister’s meeting with the US envoy.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, say they have killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s chief of operational staff in northern Gaza.

The IDF said that Mamdouh Lolo was an assistant to leaders of the militant group, which is separate from Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip. 

“In addition, he was in contact with senior officials in the terrorist organization’s headquarters abroad. He was killed in a strike by an IDF aircraft,” the IDF added.

The IDF claimed that Lolo had planned and led many attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilians and soldiers. 

The Israeli military has warned civilians in Gaza not to use Salah Al-Din street, the main north-south route, as it ramps up fighting in central and southern parts of the territory.

Instead, the IDF told Palestinians to travel via Al-Rasheed street, the coastal road to the west.

At least 36 Palestinians were killed in strikes on Al-Mawasi and neighboring Khan Younis on Thursday. Thousands of displaced Palestinians have moved to Al-Mawasi in recent days, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deepened its military operations in central and southern Gaza.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 22,300 people since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, 70% of whom are women and children, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the Gaza ministry, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amidst the ongoing conflict.

In December, the UN’s children agency warned that Gaza is “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.”

Here are the latest developments:

Smoke rises during Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on January 4.

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 22 people were killed in an Israeli air strike in the area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza. It confirmed the deaths were additional to the 14 deaths reported earlier in a strike in nearby Al-Mawasi.

CNN is unable to verify details of the reported strikes and has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on its operations in southern Gaza. 

But, both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the military wing of Hamas have reported that Khan Younis is at the epicenter of current combat in Gaza, and videos from the area over recent days have shown multiple explosions.

The IDF says their current combat focus is in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah in central Gaza.

In a post on X, it said that in Khan Younis, a Hamas weapons depot was hit and an aircraft had “killed three saboteurs who tried to plant an explosive device near our forces. The soldiers also killed two other saboteurs hiding in a nearby building.”

A warplane also bombed a Hamas military building “in which a member of the anti-armour missile group of the Deir al Balah Hamas battalion was present,” the IDF said. It added that they located long-range rocket launchers during their operations in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

“In addition, two buildings, into which saboteurs fled and many weapons concealed, were attacked.”

More on the situation on the ground: In a later update, the IDF said their brigades in Khan Younis had “significantly impacted Hamas’ operational and command and control capabilities in the area.”

Many Hamas militants of the northern and eastern battalions of the Khan Younis Brigade were killed by the IDF, it said.

The IDF added that they dismantled Hamas tunnel networks which had been used by Nukhba operatives to reinforce Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade and five Nukhba operatives had surrendered.

The IDF claimed that during field interrogations, Hamas fighters testified that “many” of their soldiers were killed, “including two platoon commanders from the northern and eastern battalions” of the Khan Younis brigade.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also said there was “intense and continuous shelling in the vicinity of Al-Amal Hospital and the association’s headquarters in Khan Younis,” hindering the movement of ambulance crews and limiting access to the injured in the targeted areas.

CNN’s Lauren Izso, Tim Lister and Abeer Salman contributed reporting to this post.

Israeli soldiers stand in front of a tank in Upper Galilee in northern Israel, as an artillery unit shells southern Lebanon on January 4.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck several targets in southern Lebanon and along the border on Thursday, after “a number of launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified.”

“Earlier today, an IAF fighter jet struck a Hezbollah observation post and terrorist infrastructure in the area of Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon,” it said in a statement released on Thursday.

The statement added that shortly after, IDF soldiers identified an anti-tank missile “terrorist cell” in the same area, which they struck.

Overnight, the IDF fired mortar shells “in order to remove a threat in the area of Rab El Thalathine along the Lebanese border,” according to the statement.

Doron Katz Asher said her daughters can “remember every little detail” about October 7.

How they woke to the sound of sirens and hid in their shelter. How the gunshots got nearer. How, when the doors burst open, their grandfather rushed out of the shelter so Hamas gunmen wouldn’t see the rest of them hiding inside. How he was taken. How they left the door open to the shelter in the hope other attackers would think it had already been raided and move on. How that didn’t work.

“Another terrorist unit entered and took us also,” Asher told CNN.

Asher, her mother and daughters, 5-year-old Raz and 2-year-old Aviv, were thrown into the back of a tractor with other hostages from the kibbutz, before gunmen opened fire. Asher was shot in her back; Aviv was shot in the leg; her mother was shot dead.

Asher, 34, and her daughters were taken into Gaza, where they were kept first in a home, then in a hospital, before being released in November during a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Read the full story here:

The Israeli military has warned civilians in Gaza not to use Salah Al-Din street, the main north-south route, as it ramps up fighting in central and southern parts of the territory.

Instead, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Palestinians to travel via Al-Rasheed street, the coastal road to the west. The IDF also made clear they would not allow people to move from south to north Gaza.

“The humanitarian corridor on Salah Al-Din Street is closed as of today, as its location is being changed to Al-Rasheed Street,” the IDF posted on X on Thursday.

“The humanitarian corridor of Al-Rasheed Street… will be open to travel only from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, be it on foot or by car, starting today, between 09:00 hours and 16:00 hours” local time (commencing 2 a.m ET).

“A temporary local tactical suspension of military activities for humanitarian purposes in the Al-Brook and Jaffa neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah [central Gaza] will be suspended from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, for the purpose of replenishing provisions,” the Israeli military added.

Key context: Israeli bombardment of Gaza since October 7 has extensively damaged telecommunications and electrical infrastructure, leaving many residents with unreliable access to the internet and power.

It is therefore unclear, given the number of people displaced, poor communications and lack of internet coverage, how many people in Gaza are aware of the IDF’s instructions.

A man carries a body of a Palestinian killed in Israeli strikes on Al-Mawasi, according to a health ministry official, at a hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on January 4.

Fourteen people were killed Thursday morning in a strike on Al-Mawasi on the coast of Gaza, west of Khan Younis, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza has said.

The ministry said that nine children were among those killed by an Israeli air strike on a house in the area.

CNN is unable to confirm details of what happened in the neighborhood and has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

Thousands of displaced people have moved to the area over the last few weeks as the conflict in Gaza has moved to central areas and Khan Younis.

Separately, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said at least one person was killed and six wounded in an Israeli strike that hit the fifth floor of its headquarters in Khan Younis.

Two days ago, five people were killed in a strike on the same complex, according to the PRCS. The IDF told CNN that it was reviewing the details of that event.

In a statement sent to CNN, the IDF said that “upon receiving a report on the incident, an operational debrief was held in order to draw immediate lessons. The incident was transferred to the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which is responsible for examining exceptional incidents that took place during the conflict.”

More than 22,300 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the ministry, with more than 57,000 people injured.

The Gaza ministry, as well as its counterpart in the occupied West Bank, estimates that about 70% of the casualties have been women and children.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the Gaza ministry, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amidst the ongoing conflict.

Saudi Arabia and a number of European nations on Thursday joined the United States in condemning comments by far-right Israeli officials calling for the resettlement of Gazans outside of Gaza.

In recent days, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have reiterated remarks that Israel’s war with Hamas presents an opportunity to encourage Palestinian migration from the enclave.

In a statement Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry expressed its “condemnation and categorial rejection of the extremist statements of two ministers in the Israeli occupation government.”

Meanwhile, European Union members including Netherlands and Slovenia echoed earlier condemnation of the Israeli officials’ comments by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday the US had been “told repeatedly and consistently” by Israel “that such statements [made by the far-right officials] do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government.”

Israeli officials double down: Responding to the US rebuke, Ben Gvir on Tuesday called the United States a “good friend” of Israel but said the “emigration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza” will allow Israeli settlers to return and “live in security.”  

Smotrich also responded to the State Department’s rebuke, saying Israel could not afford to live in close proximity to “a hotbed of hatred and terrorism where 2 million people wake up every morning with a desire to destroy of the State of Israel.”

Post-war Gaza: Last month, US officials discussed post-war Gaza governance plans with the Palestinian Authority along with regional US allies — making it a key focus as they try to look beyond the immediate conflict.

On Tuesday, Miller said the State Department had been “clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel.”

“That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world,” he said.

Injured people receive aid after an explosion in Kerman, Iran on January 3.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday joined multiple countries in condemning deadly twin blasts in Iran, which have threatened to stoke tensions in the region nearly three months after war erupted in Gaza.

Dozens of people were killed Wednesday in the southern Iranian city of Kerman after twin explosions near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, in what officials called a terror attack. No group has claimed responsibility.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has blamed Israel for the blasts, saying it will pay a “heavy price.” The Israeli military told CNN it had “no comment” on the matter.

Separately, Saudi’s Foreign Ministry said in an X post that it affirms the kingdom’s “rejection and condemnation of the terrorist bombings that targeted civilians in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Both countries also expressed condolences to the victims.

The attacks have also been condemned by the European Union, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, and the foreign ministries of Pakistan and India.

Calling “terrorism” a “threat to regional and global peace and security,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry urged bilateral and regional cooperation.

Some context: At least 84 people were killed and 284 others injured in the blasts, one of which was caused by a bomb, state TV said, near the grave of military commander Soleimani.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts. The Israeli military told CNN it had “no comment” on the matter while the US State Department said it had no reason to believe Israel was involved. A senior US official said the blasts were similar to previous terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS.