U.S. President Joe Biden is at the White House Saturday afternoon for consultations with his national security team over Iran's airborne attack against Israel, that will unfold over the next hours, the White House said Saturday.

The president is being regularly updated by his national security team and is in constant communication with Israeli officials, as well as with U.S. partners and allies, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Dozens of Iranian drones are heading toward Israel, Iranian English-language press TV cited Iranian sources as saying. Tehran had vowed a retaliatory attack after Israel's airstrike on Iran's embassy compound last week in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' overseas Quds Force and six other officers.

Meanwhile, Israel has put its military on full alert and has canceled all educational and youth activities.

Earlier Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about "urgent regional threats," the Pentagon said in a statement. Austin reiterated full U.S. support for Israel against attacks by Iran and its proxies.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, relayed a similar message of U.S. support to his own Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi, in a post on social media platform X.

Biden warned Friday that an Iranian attack on Israel could happen "sooner or later," and urged Iran against any retaliatory action against Israel. "We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed," the U.S. president said.

Meanwhile, Jordan announced it will temporarily close its airspace beginning Saturday night to all incoming, departing and transit aircraft, state-owned Al Mamlaka TV news reported.

Commandos from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel Saturday. This was the latest in a series of attacks between the two countries.

The Portuguese-flagged MSC vessel Aries is a cargo ship associated with London-based Zodiac Maritime, which is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. Zodiac declined to comment and referred questions to MSC. Geneva-based MSC later acknowledged the seizure and said 25 crew had been aboard the vessel.

Iran's state-run outlet IRNA said the Guard would take the vessel into Iranian territorial waters.

Israel warned Saturday that Iran would suffer the "consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further" as fears grew of wider conflict more than six months into Israel's war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's strong wording came after Iran seized a container ship linked to Israel in the Gulf, and as Israel announced it was closing schools nationwide for security reasons.

Hamas said Saturday it had submitted its response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on a proposed truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, insisting on a "permanent cease-fire."

Truce talks started on April 7 in Cairo but have so far brought no breakthrough on a plan presented by U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

In a statement, the U.S. terror-designated group reaffirmed its demands for a mediated truce, including "a permanent cease-fire, the withdrawal of the occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their areas and places of residence, intensification of the entry of relief and aid, and the start of reconstruction."

Hamas said it was also ready "to conclude a serious and real prisoner exchange deal between the two parties."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed a permanent cease-fire and has vowed to send ground troops into Rafah, ignoring an international outcry against it, including from the United States.

Netanyahu's office said Saturday "the only obstacle to obtaining the release of the abductees is Hamas and not any factor on the Israeli side."

Hamas is believed to be holding roughly 100 hostages, as well as the remains of about 30 people who either died in captivity or were killed in the October 7, terror attack which triggered the war.

Teen found dead in West Bank

An Israeli teen, who disappeared Friday, has been found dead in the occupied West Bank where Israeli authorities said he was killed in a "terrorist attack."

"The heinous murder of the boy... is a serious crime," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The body of the 14-year-old boy was spotted by a drone. He was found near the Malachei Shalom outpost near the city of Ramallah where he had originally disappeared while herding sheep.

According to Israeli media, the teen was last seen leaving the settler outpost early Friday to tend to the livestock nearby.

The sheep returned to the outpost hours later without him, reports said.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the killing of the Israeli teen.

Binyamin Achimair's disappearance sparked a wide search and intensified violence by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages.

Dozens of Israeli settlers set fire Saturday to 12 homes and several cars in a village near Achimair's murder site. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people from the village were injured, one critically. Border police fired tear gas at villagers who gathered, trying to disperse them.

Violence erupted Friday afternoon when Jewish settlers who were part of the original manhunt raided the village of Al-Mughayyir, around 500 meters west of Malachei Shalom, according to an AFP reporter.

During the manhunt Friday, the settlers fired shots and torched numerous homes and cars in the village, while residents responded by throwing stones according to AFP reporters who were on site.

Mayor Amin Abu Alyah said, "settlers raided the town with the excuse of searching for the missing Israeli boy," adding that "the army arrived to back them up."

Arafat Abu Alia, a resident of Al-Mughayyir, said the Israeli army told residents to gather on the outskirts of their village.

"More than 10 houses and 50 vehicles were burnt," he told AFP.

At least one person was killed and 25 wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday.

Tensions are high across the Israeli-occupied territory since the beginning of the war more than six months ago when the U.S. terror-designated group Hamas attacked south Israel on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting about 240 hostages.

Israel then launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza, killing more than 33,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry.

In the West Bank, more than 460 Palestinians have been killed mostly in skirmishes caused by army raids and vigilante Israeli settlers.

Expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have turned the area into a powder keg. Israeli outposts are not authorized there, and the international community overwhelmingly considers them illegal. However, consecutive Israeli governments have allowed sprawling Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West, which Palestinians stake as their future state.

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. The West Bank alone is home to around 490,000 Israeli settlers. The territories were seized by Israel in 1967.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

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