The Latest | Iran promises payback for Israel's apparent strike that killed top generals

Iranian leaders renewed their promise to hit back after an airstrike widely blamed on Israel destroyed Iran's Consulate in Syria, killing 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday the attack “will not remain without answer.”

The U.S. is concerned the deadly strike in Damascus could trigger new attacks on American troops by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, said Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top U.S. Air Force commander for the Middle East.

Iran and its allies — including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other armed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen — have repeatedly traded fire with Israel and the U.S. since the start of Israel's war in Gaza.

By attacking an Iranian diplomatic station, Israel's apparent escalation has raised fears that the devastating six-month war against Hamas could spill over into the entire Mideast region and beyond.

Israel faces growing isolation as international criticism mounts over its killing of six foreign aid workers this week who were helping deliver desperately needed food in Gaza. The United Nations says much of the population in northern Gaza is on the brink of starvation.

Israel's war in Gaza has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians, the territory's Health Ministry says. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tally, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

Currently:

— World Central Kitchen is saving lives with food but paying a price in blood.

— Family and friends recall ‘brave’ and ‘selfless’ aid workers killed in Israeli airstrikes.

— Killing of aid workers adds to pressure on the U.K. government to halt arms sales to Israel.

— Yemen's Houthis may be running low on weapons stocks as attacks on ships slow, U.S. commander says.

— Muslim American leaders reject chance to break bread with Biden as anger over Gaza festers.

— Palestinians seek full U.N. membership again, but the U.S. is almost certain to block it for a second time.

— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

U.N. SAYS ACUTE MALNUTRITION WORSENING FOR YOUNGSTERS IN NORTH GAZA

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations children’s agency says one-third of the children under age 2 in northern Gaza were suffering from acute malnutrition in March, adding that the figure “has more than doubled in the last two months.”

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that “dozens of children in the northern Gaza Strip have reportedly died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks, and half the population is facing catastrophic food insecurity.”

Chaiban said he saw “a staggering decline in the conditions of children” during his second visit to Gaza in January.

He pointed to widespread destruction of infrastructure, “a quasi-blockade” on the north, repeated denials or delays in getting Israeli approval for humanitarian convoys, and fuel shortages and electricity and telecommunications blackouts which have been “devastating for children.”

Virginia Gamba, the U.N. special envoy for children in conflict, told the council that the latest U.N. report issued last year verified 3,941 cases where youngsters were prevented from getting food and other assistance. The highest figures, she said, were in Gaza and the West Bank, Yemen, Afghanistan and Mali.

Gamba said data gathered for the next report in June “shows we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally.” In addition to the Palestinian territories, she pointed to Haiti where there are “high levels of arbitrary impediments and/or outright denial of humanitarian access to children.”

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said doctors in Gaza have reported being horrified at treating children suffering from war wounds and watching children die from acute malnutrition.

She said that “humanitarian assistance is desperately needed now, and it must be facilitated to mitigate the impact of an impending famine.”

Thomas-Greenfield said that food and other aid is also urgently needed for children in Congo, Afghanistan, Sudan and Africa’s Sahel region and for Rohingya Muslim youngsters in Myanmar.

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZES ISRAEL'S KILLING OF AID WORKERS

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Israeli airstrikes that killed six foreign aid workers in Gaza “stands in stark contrast” with Israel’s statements that it is protecting lives.

Albanese said Thursday that Israel has given an insufficient and unacceptable explanation of how the World Central Kitchen charity vehicles moving at large distances apart were hit in succession, killing Australian Zomi Frankcom and her colleagues.

“For them to lose their life in these circumstances is outrageous and completely unacceptable,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

World Central Kitchen said it coordinated with the Israeli military over the movement of its convoy.

“One of the things that Israel says is that it is protecting people’s lives, innocent people. Well, this stands in stark contrast as well as, of course, the many incidents affecting not just people who’ve come from overseas to provide aid, but, of course, Palestinians themselves, where we’ve seen extraordinary loss of life in Gaza,” Albanese added.

Albanese noted that the United Nations Security Council last week issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel proposes an invasion of the crowded border town of Rafah.

ISRAEL CALLS UP RESERVISTS TO STRENGTHEN AIR DEFENSE UNITS AS IRAN THREATENS REPRISAL

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says it is calling up more reservists to beef up its air-defense unit.

Wednesday’s announcement comes as Iran has vowed to avenge an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria this week that killed two Iranian generals. Israel has not commented on Monday’s strike.

Iran possesses long-range missiles capable of reaching Israel, and its proxies and allies across the region, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi militia, have large arsenals of rockets and missiles.

Israel has a number of defense systems designed to intercept various aerial threats. These systems have been stretched thin during the war in Gaza, with Iran’s proxies launching thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel.

BIDEN AND NETANYAHU PLAN TO SPEAK THURSDAY, U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to speak on Thursday amid growing White House frustration with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza and in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers, according to a U.S. official familiar with planning for the call.

The official was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to discuss plans for the call, which came as a top White House official on Wednesday said the administration had no plans to carry out its own investigation of what led to the strikes that killed workers — including an American citizen — associated with celebrity chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the Biden administration continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. But Kirby said Israel must do more to prevent the killing and wounding innocent civilians and aid workers as it carries out its operations in Gaza.

“As a modern military and a democracy, they have obligations to the innocent people of Gaza and they have not always have met those obligations,” Kirby said. “We are concerned about the methods too.”

Biden in a statement Tuesday expressed outrage over the incident and said he believes “Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers.” The president added that it’s a “major reason” why distributing humanitarian aid has been so difficult. Biden and Netanyahu last spoke on March 18.

Biden is also likely to reiterate his concerns about Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack.