reported speech request and command

Reported commands and requests in English

1. reported commands.

• affirmative commands → to + infinitive
• negative commands → not + to + infinitive

1.1. Affirmative commands

• Direct Speech → Dad, “Do your homework.”
• Reported Speech → Dad told me to do my homework.

1.2. Negative commands

• Direct Speech → Teacher, “Do n't talk to your friend.”
• Reported Speech → The teacher told me not to talk to my friend.

1.3. The introductory sentence in commands

The word tell in introductory sentences in Reported Commands can be substituted with other words, e.g.

There is no backshift of tenses, no matter which tense is used in the introductory sentence.

Direct Speech

• Dad, “Do your homework.”
• Reported Speech
• Dad tells me to do my homework.
• Dad told me to do my homework.

2. Suggestions

• Father, “Let's watch a film.”
• Father suggested watching a film.
• Father suggested that they should watch a film

Do not use the infintive after suggest . Father suggested to watch a film.

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• Grammar Explanations

Reported Speech (Part 2) – Requests, Orders, and Questions

My colleague asked me to help him update his computer.

Read Reported Speech (Part 1) to learn how to make reported statements.

In Part 2, we will focus on requests, orders, and questions.

1. Requests/orders

• “Asked me to”  is used for requests.
• “Told me to” is stronger; it is used for orders/commands.
• The main verb stays in the infinitive: She asked me to make copies. He told me to go to the bank.

2. Yes/no questions

• “Asked if” and “wanted to know if” are equal.
• The main verb changes according to the rules for reported statements : “ Did you turn off the TV?” (past simple) She asked if I had turned off the TV (past perfect)
• We don’t use the auxiliary verbs “do/does/did” in the reported question.

3. Other questions

• “Asked”  and “wanted to know” are equal.
• We don’t use the auxiliary verb “do” or “does” in the reported question: “Where does he work?” She wanted to know where he works .
• In questions with the verb “to be,” the word order  changes in the reported question: “Where were you born?” (Question word + [to be] + subject) He asked where I was born (Question word + subject + [to be]) He asked where was I born

Reported Speech (Part 2) Quiz

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Reported speech commands and requests

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Make reported commands and requests.

"Sit down, please," she asked me. She asked me to sit down.

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Reported commands, requests and questions

Reported speech worksheets PDF

Reported commands and requests

We use verbs such as advise, ask, beg, forbid, order, persuade, recommend, tell, urge, warn etc. to introduce commands and requests in the reported speech.

In the direct speech we usually do not mention the person in the imperative. In the reported speech the person addressed must be mentioned.

"Stand up," the teacher said. - The teacher told the children to stand up. "Please, prepare for the exam," she said. - She urged me to prepare for the exam. "Take off your shoes," I said. - I advised him to take off his shoes. "Lie down on the floor," ordered the policeman. - The policeman ordered the robber to lie down on the floor.

Negative commands and requests

Negative commands and requests are made by verb + object + not + infinitive.

"Don't be late again," said Jane. - Jane urged me not be late again. "Don't hesitate," our teacher persuaded us. - Our teacher persuaded us not to hesitate. "Don't smoke," the doctor warned my father. - The doctor warned my father not to smoke.

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Reported Speech Requests Commands/Exclamations

Reported Requests/Commands

Indirect speech exclamations.

Reported Orders

An order is when somebody tells you to do something and you have no choice. It is not usually polite. It is a "command". Reported orders are one form of reported speech .

We usually introduce reported orders with the verb "tell". The structure is very simple:

• We told the man not to smoke.
• The policeman told us to follow him.

Because we use the infinitive there is no need to worry about tense. But as with reported statements and reported requests , we may need to change pronouns as well as time and place in reported orders.

Here are some examples:

Notice above that we report a negative order by using not .

Contributor: Josef Essberger

Requests in Reported Speech

For pronouns and place / time expressions see statements in reported speech. Tenses are not relevant for requests – simply use ‚to‘  + infinite verb.

For negative requests, use ‚not to‘ + infinite verb.

Exercises on reported speech

Reported Speech Exercise 3

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Reported Speech Exercises | Reporting Requests And Commands

Do the exercises below about the reported speech (requests and commands) and click on the button to check your answers.

(Before doing the exercise you may want to see the lesson on reported speech )

Transform these requests and commands into reported speech (start the sentence as suggested.)

• Can you lend me your book? → She asked me
• Please, help me with my homework → She begged her brother
• Could you spell your name, please? → She asked him
• Stand up. → The policeman ordered the criminal
• Don't be late. → She warned me
• Please, park your car away from the factory. → The security agent asked her
• Don't call me anymore. → She asked him
• Enjoy your stay in Paris → The hotel manager told her
• Please, keep quiet. → She asked the kids
• Don't leave me alone. → He told his mom
• Could you bring your laptops? → The teacher asked the students
• Be nice to your sister . → He urged his son
• You must not use the calculator.→ The maths teacher told the students
• Can you send invitations to all participants? → He asked his secretary
• You had better exercise regularly. → The doctor advised him
• Don't eat too much red meat. → The doctor advised him
• Stop making fool of me. → He asked her
• Open the window, please. → The duke ordered his butler
• Drop me at the hotel, please. → He asked the taxi driver
• Don't put the bag on the table. → She asked her daughter

Related materials

• Reported speech exercise (mixed)
• Reported speech exercise (questions)
• Reported speech exercise (requests and commands)
• Reported speech lesson

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Mastering Indirect Speech: A Comprehensive Guide to Reporting Statements, Questions, and Commands

When it comes to learning English grammar , indirect speech is an essential concept that every language learner should master. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the ins and outs of indirect speech, helping you understand how to report statements, questions, and commands effectively. By the end of this article, you’ll be well-equipped to outrank any existing content on the topic.

What is Indirect Speech?

Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, is a way of expressing what someone else has said without directly quoting their words. It’s a valuable skill in both written and spoken English , as it allows you to relay information or recount conversations without needing to remember the exact words that were used.

Key Components of Indirect Speech

Before diving into the specific rules for converting direct speech into indirect speech, let’s take a look at some of the key components that make up indirect speech:

Reporting Verbs

Reporting verbs are used to introduce the reported statement, question, or command. Some common reporting verbs include:

Pronoun Changes

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, it’s important to change pronouns to reflect the correct perspective. For example:

• “I” becomes “he” or “she”
• “We” becomes “they”
• “You” becomes “he,” “she,” or “they”

Tense Shifts

In most cases, the tense of the original statement or question will need to be shifted back to accurately convey the information in indirect speech. Here are some common tense shifts:

• Simple present becomes simple past
• Present continuous becomes past continuous
• Present perfect becomes past perfect
• Simple past becomes past perfect
• Will becomes would

Converting Statements to Indirect Speech

When reporting statements, follow these simple steps:

• Begin with a reporting verb, such as “say” or “tell.”
• Change pronouns to accurately reflect the perspective.
• Shift the tense of the original statement, if necessary.
• Add any necessary conjunctions, such as “that.”

Direct speech: “I love this movie,” she said.

Indirect speech: She said that she loved that movie.

Converting Questions to Indirect Speech

To report questions, follow these guidelines:

• Use a reporting verb like “ask” or “inquire.”
• Change the pronouns as needed.
• Shift the tense of the original question.
• Adjust the word order to form a statement instead of a question.
• Avoid using question marks in indirect speech.

Direct speech: “Do you like this song?” he asked.

Indirect speech: He asked if I liked that song.

Converting Commands to Indirect Speech

When reporting commands or requests, adhere to these rules:

• Choose an appropriate reporting verb, such as “order,” “request,” or “advise.”
• Make necessary pronoun changes.
• Adjust the tense of the original command.
• Use “to” before the verb in the reported command.

Direct speech: “Please close the door,” she asked.

Indirect speech: She asked me to close the door.

Final Thoughts on Indirect Speech

Mastering indirect speech is crucial for effectively conveying information in English. By understanding the key components and following the guidelines for reporting statements, questions, and commands, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an expert in indirect speech. Keep practicing and applying these rules, and you’ll soon find yourself outranking any existing content on the subject.

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Reported Speech: Orders, Requests, Advice

Requests for objects, other reporting verbs.

We can use reported speech to express orders, requests and advice.

An order is when somebody tells you to do something.

We can use ‘ tell ’ with infinitives to report orders:

• Jim’s mum: Wash your hands! Dinner’s ready!
• She told him to wash his hands.
• Jim’s mum: Don’t touch that pan – it’s hot!
• She told him not to touch the pan.

The structure here is:

tell + someone + (not) to do something

The most common verb for reporting an order is ‘ tell ‘, but we can also use other verbs such as:  order, command, instruct :

• The sergeant  commanded  his men to stand straight.
• The manager instructed his team to follow the guidelines.

Note that the structure here is the same as with the verb ‘tell’.

A request is when somebody asks you to do something – usually politely. We can use ‘ ask ’ with infinitives to report requests:

• Jim’s mum: Can you wash your hands? Dinner’s ready!
• She asked him to wash his hands.
• She asked him not to touch the pan.

ask + someone + (not) to do something

When we want that somebody gives us something, we can ‘ ask for ‘ it:

• Jim: Mum, can I have some bread?
• Jim asked her for some bread.
• Jim’s sister: Could I have a glass of water?
• Jim’s sister asked for a glass of water.

ask (someone) for + object

Let’s summarize these structures:

We can also use a lot of other verbs in reported speech. We can use the verbs ‘suggest’, ‘insist’, ‘recommend’, ‘demand’, ‘request ‘, and ‘ propose ‘ to report advice and suggestions . Some of them follow the same pattern:

• She ordered him to wash his hands.
• She advised him to wash his hands.
• She ordered him not to touch the pan.
• She advised him not to touch the pan.

For example, we can transform the following direct speech sentences into reported speech:

• Come on. Eat your vegetables. They’re good for you!
• She persuaded him to eat his vegetables.
• Remember to wash the dishes.
• She reminded him to wash the dishes.
• Don’t forget!
• She warned him not to forget .

Sometimes the pattern is different:

• OK, Mum. I’ll wash the dishes.
• He promised to wash the dishes.
• NOT: He promised her to wash the dishes.
• Why don’t you watch TV?
• He suggested (that) she should watch TV.
• He suggested (that) she watch TV.

‘That’ and ‘should’ are optional in these clauses.

Note that ‘ suggest ‘, ‘ recommend ‘, and ‘ propose ‘ may also be followed by a gerund .

You can also say:

• He suggested watching TV.
• NOT:  He suggested her to watch TV.
• NOT: He suggested to watch TV.

Because we use the infinitive, there is no need to worry about tense. But as with reported statements and reported questions , we may need to change  pronouns  as well as  time  and  place  in reported requests.

Consider the example:

• They said to the architect: “We’d like you to meet us here tomorrow .”
• They asked the architect to meet them there the next day .

Watch this small video explaining how reported speech is used for orders and requests:

Reported Speech: Overview

Reported Speech: Tenses

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Reported Speech: Commands and Requests Practice Exercises

• Post last modified: 10 April 2022
• Post category: Grammar Exercises / School Grammar

Learn converting commands and request type Imperative sentences into Indirect Speech or narration. The solved exercises given below are here to do practice on these exercises. Attempt yourself first and then see the answers.

New exercises are added from time to time, so, keep coming here.

Narration: Commands and Requests

Q. change the following sentences into indirect speech..

• He said to his servant, “Leave the room at once”.
• He said to him, “Please wait here till I return.”
• Sara’s mother said to her, “Cook the food properly”.
• The teacher said to a student, “Don’t waste your time”.
• The police man shouted to the man, “Stop or I will shoot you”.
• My elder brother said to me, “Please post this letter for me”.
• I said to my brother, “Let us go to some hill station for a change”.
• The police officer said to a culprit, “Don’t try to be clever”.
• The judge said to the accused, “Hold your tongue”.
• He shouted, “Let me go.”
• She said, “Be quiet and listen to his words.”
• I said to my teacher, ” Pardon me sir”
• He ordered the servant to leave the room at once.
• He requested him to wait there till he returned.
• Sara’s mother ordered her to cook the food properly.
• The teacher ordered a student not to waste the time.
• The police man ordered the man to stop and threatened that otherwise he would shoot him.
• My elder brother requested me to post this letter for him.
• I suggested to my brother that we should go to some hill station for a change.
• The police officer ordered a culprit not to try to be clever.
• The judge ordered the accused to hold his tongue.
• He shouted to let him go.
• He urged them to be quiet and listen to his work.
• I respectfully begged my teacher to pardon me.

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• ESL Discussion Topic — Talking about the Weather (Agree or Disagree Statements)
• ESL Speaking Activity — Find Someone Who to practice Present Perfect Continuous [Set 1]
• ESL Discussion Topic — Routines
• ESL Speaking Activity — Gerunds and Infinitives [Set 2]
• ESL Speaking Activity — Would you like? [Set 1]
• Reported requests
• 1. Amelia, “Can you carry the bag?” Amelia asked me . to carry the bag
• 2. William, “Could you explain to me the rule?” William asked me . to explain to him the rule
• 3. Olivia, “Can you teach me to drive?” Olivia asked me . to teach her to drive
• 4. Mila, “Can you stop yelling at me?” Mila asked me . to stop yelling at her
• 5. James, “Could you repeat?” James asked me . to repeat
• 6. Noah, “Can you show me the answer?” Noah asked me . to show him the answer
• 7. Chloe, “Could you pick me up at 7 am?” Chloe asked me . to pick her up at 7 am
• 8. Daniel, “Can you go with me?” Daniel asked me . to go with him
• 9. Jack, “Can you walk the dog?” Jack asked me . to walk the dog
• 10. Ivy, “Could you go with me?” Ivy asked me . to go with her
• Reported requests — Exercise 2
• Reported statements — mixed tenses — Exercise 1
• Reported statements — mixed tenses — Exercise 2
• Reported statements — mixed tenses — Exercise 3
• Reported statements — mixed tenses — Exercise 4

englische Grammatik und Bücher

Reported Speech – orders & requests

Let’s have a snack!

Erklärvideo.

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Online-Übung 1

Online-übung 2, online-übung 3, ähnlicher beitrag, reported speech – complete, speaking practice.

Israel Reports Light Damage After Iran Launches Large Strike

Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel overnight. The U.S. military shot dozens of them down, but most were intercepted by Israel’s military.

• Share full article

Follow live updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

Aaron Boxerman ,  Ronen Bergman ,  Farnaz Fassihi and Eric Schmitt

Here are the latest developments.

Iran mounted an immense aerial attack on Israel on Saturday night, launching more than 300 drones and missiles in retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike in Syria two weeks ago, and marking a significant escalation in hostilities between the two regional foes.

The strikes caused only minor damage to one Israeli military base, and most of the airborne threats were intercepted, Israeli military officials said. The United States said it had helped to shoot dozens of drones and missiles .

But the large-scale attack, aimed at targets inside Israel and the territory it controls, opened a volatile new chapter in the long-running shadow war between Iran and Israel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement broadcast on state television that it had launched “dozens of drones and missiles” toward Israel from Iran “in reaction to the Zionist regime’s crimes.” It later said on social media that it had hit military targets in Israel, warned the United States against getting involved, and threatened more strikes if Iran or its interests were hit.

Here’s what we know:

A total of 12 people were brought in to the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel overnight, according to a hospital spokeswoman, Inbar Gutter.

One of the areas targeted was the Golan Heights, a strategic area bordering Syria that Israel annexed nearly 60 years ago. Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia backed by Iran, said it had fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli barracks there. But it was not immediately clear if that bombardment was part of the wider Iranian attack.

In the hours after the attacks, as Iranians gathered in Tehran to celebrate them, more air-raid sirens sounded across vast swaths of southern Israel, the West Bank and Golan Heights. The Israeli government also sent out warnings about possible missiles arriving in the Negev Desert, where there are several military bases. And the airspaces of Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon were closed .

President Biden cut short a weekend at his vacation home in Delaware to huddle with his national security team. He also spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting at 4 p.m. on Sunday to discuss Iran’s attacks on Israel, the council’s president said. Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, had requested the meeting.

Gabby Sobelman

In Israel this morning, the domestic news media is airing footage of operations at Ben Gurion Airport, outside Tel Aviv, and of jets returning to an air base in the Negev Desert that the Israeli military says suffered light damage in the Iranian attack. Television anchors are suggesting the footage is a sign that the country is returning to normal.

Airspace closures that went into effect in Israel and Lebanon on Saturday have now expired, and commercial flights have resumed from Tel Aviv, according to Flightradar24, a flight-tracking site. The airspaces of Iraq and Jordan are scheduled to reopen later this morning.

Cassandra Vinograd

A total of 12 people were brought in to the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel overnight, according to a hospital spokeswoman, Inbar Gutter. One — a 7-year-old girl — was seriously injured by missile fragments, taken to the operating room, and is currently in intensive care. Eight other people were treated for minor injuries from shrapnel or running for shelter, while three people were brought in for anxiety.

Isabel Kershner

In his first public response to the overnight Iranian assault, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X on Sunday morning: “We intercepted. We blocked. Together we will win.”

Nearly 99 percent of the aerial threats launched at Israel on Saturday were intercepted, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the military, said during televised remarks. He added that the Nevatim air force base in the Negev desert in southern Israel suffered only light damage and was functioning. “Iran thought it would paralyze the base,” Rear Admiral Hagari said. “It failed.”

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, warned in a televised statement early Sunday that the confrontation with Iran “is not over yet.” He praised the militaries of Israel and the United States for blocking the Iranian attack, said the defense against the Iranian assault was “a most impressive achievement.”

Israel’s military said its fighter jets struck a number of targets early Sunday in a complex belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces in southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes struck additional Hezbollah structures during the night, the military said, after Hezbollah sent two explosive drones into Israeli territory on Saturday.

Eric Schmitt

The U.S. defense secretary, a former top Army general, condemned the “reckless and unprecedented attacks” by Iran and its proxies in nearby countries, and he called on Tehran to halt any further strikes. “We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of Israel,” he said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said late Saturday that U.S. forces had intercepted “dozens” of missiles and attack drones launched at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The U.S. military is ready to protect U.S. troops and Israel, he said.

Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the attack on Israel was a “defensive measure” that shows its “responsible approach toward regional and international peace and security.” The aerial assault has drawn condemnation from Israel’s allies and warnings that it risked further escalation in the Middle East.

The Israeli military said in a statement before dawn that its chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, was conducting a situational assessment at military headquarters in Tel Aviv with commanders of the air force as well as the military’s operations and intelligence directorates to discuss the events of the last few hours “as well as plans for the continuation.” No more details were provided.

As dawn broke at about 5:30 a.m., Israeli war planes could be heard in the skies above Jerusalem.

Michael D. Shear

President Biden said he will convene a meeting of the G7 leaders on Sunday to develop what he called “a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.”

President Biden said American military forces helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles during the attacks Saturday, and said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that the United States will continue to help defend their ally .

Jin Yu Young

The U.N. Security Council will meet on Sunday at 4 p.m. to discuss the situation in the Middle East, said Vanessa Frazier, the president of the Security Council.

Following a letter received from @IsraelinUN ,the Maltese Presidency of the #UNSC has scheduled an open emergency meeting of the Council tomorrow at 4pm under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East” to consider the drone & missile attack by #Iran on #Israel @MFETMalta — Vanessa Frazier 🧡 (@_VanessaFrazier) April 14, 2024

Yara Bayoumy

Two Israeli officials say Iran launched 185 drones and 36 cruise missiles. Most of the launches were from Iran, though a small portion came from Iraq and Yemen. Iran also launched 110 surface-to-surface missiles.

Gaya Gupta and Emma Bubola

The U.S. intercepts dozens of Iranian drones and missiles, a show of commitment to Israel.

The U.S. military said that it had shot down dozens of the drones and missiles that Iran fired at Israel on Saturday, a strong demonstration that despite recent criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, Washington was firmly committed to protecting a key ally from Iran, a mutual adversary.

President Biden said that the United States had “helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” in part thanks to aircraft and military ships the Pentagon had moved to the region in the past week.

While Mr. Biden has grown increasingly vocal in his frustration with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza — calling its bombardment there “indiscriminate” and saying that Israel has not done enough to protect Palestinian civilians — he has maintained that when it comes to Iran, the United States’ commitment to Israel is “ironclad.”

“We will support Israel and help defend Israel,” he said, “and Iran will not succeed.”

The United States has consistently affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, and it has also directly intervened militarily against attacks from Iran’s proxy forces, including the Houthi militia based in Yemen .

This year, the U.S. military carried out strikes against Iranian forces and allied militias in Syria and Iraq in response to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. And in 2020, the United States killed a top Iranian commander , Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, with a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that Britain had helped defend Israel against the Iranian attack, saying that Britain’s air force had shot down “a number of Iranian attack drones” and would now work with allies to de-escalate tensions. “What we now need is for calm heads to prevail,” Mr. Sunak told the BBC on Sunday.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesman, said that Israel had intercepted most of the 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched by Iran with “some assistance” from its allies. “Over the past six months, we have been operating in close coordination with our partners,” he said, adding, “This partnership has always been robust, but last night it was exceptionally evident.”

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, also condemned Iran’s attack and affirmed support for Israel, writing in a post on X that France was committed “to the security of Israel, our partners, and regional stability.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, a country that last week had to defend itself against accusations that its arms sales to Israel were abetting genocide in Gaza , called Iran’s attacks “unjustifiable and highly irresponsible.”

“Germany stands by Israel and we will discuss the situation with our allies,” he said in a statement on social media.

The cabinet of Jordan, a staunch critic of Israel’s war effort in Gaza, said on Sunday that its military had shot down aircraft and missiles that entered its airspace during the Iranian attack.

Eric Schmitt , Patrick Kingsley and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.

“If Iran’s objective was to punish and isolate Israel, it appears to have fallen well short of that objective,” said Dana Stroul, formerly the Pentagon’s top Middle East policy official who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The U.S. and Israeli militaries were able to defend against a complex attack, Stroul said. “Given how significant this attack was, it is difficult to see how Israel cannot respond.”

Christiaan Triebert and Hiba Yazbek

The Times verified the authenticity of several photos and videos showing debris, likely from a missile, in a residential area of Amman, the Jordanian capital. The Times has not been able to identify whether the debris is part of an Iranian missile or an Israeli or Jordanian interceptor missile. Several missiles appear to have been intercepted in the skies above Jordan, according to earlier footage .

Two senior U.S. officials say the preliminary assessment is that the damage to Israel was relatively limited given the scale of the attack.

Farnaz Fassihi

In Tehran, several hundred supporters of the Iranian government gathered in the middle of the night at Palestine Square and in front of Tehran University to celebrate the attacks on Israel, according to witnesses and state media. The crowd chanted “death to Israel” as fireworks went off and praised the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for carrying out the attacks.

Alissa J. Rubin

What is the Golan Heights?

One of the areas targeted in Israel during Saturday’s attacks was the Golan Heights, a strategic area bordering Syria that Israel annexed nearly 60 years ago.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia backed by Iran, said in a statement just after midnight that it had fired dozens of rockets at an Israeli barracks in the Golan Heights. It was not immediately clear if that bombardment was part of the wider Iranian attack on Israel.

The Golan Heights has routinely seen conflict since Israel seized it during the 1967 six-day war, occupied it and then annexed much of it in 1981 .

The annexed portion, encompassing nearly 500 square miles, was and remains a militarily strategic perch for Israeli forces, giving them a vantage point and proximity to two of Jerusalem’s chief adversaries: Syria and Lebanon, and especially the armed group Hezbollah, which has forces along the nearby southern and southeastern Lebanese border.

Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights has never been recognized internationally by the United Nations, which condemned i t at the time. When President Donald J. Trump was in power, he said that the United States should recognize the land as Israel’s, but the move was condemned internationally and carried primarily symbolic weight.

Both Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and armed groups in Syria that are similarly Iranian backed have used the areas along the Lebanese and Syrian borders with the Golan Heights to fire rockets and missiles at Israel.

Iranian officials have signaled that they are looking for a way to deter Israel from another strike like the April 1 bombing in Damascus that killed seven officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and precipitated Iran’s efforts to avenge those deaths by striking Israel.

However, Iranian leaders in private and more obliquely in public have signaled that they do not want to escalate the war, according to Iranian advisers in Tehran and senior security officials in Iraq who are closely allied with Tehran.

That is one reason why Iran might choose to target the Golan Heights. While Israel considers it to be within its borders, internationally it is viewed as Syrian land occupied by Israel. That allows Iran to claim that they are not striking Israel directly — something Israeli leaders have warned them would provoke damaging strikes inside Iran.

A strike on the Golan Heights could also seen by Tehran as a commensurate way to avenge Israel’s strike in Damascus in the same place — or at least the same country.

Israel evacuated Israelis from the Golan Heights area closest to the Lebanese border soon after the war in Gaza began because of cross-border attacks and counterattacks involving Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

The largely desert area now has several Israeli military bases and elsewhere it is relatively thinly populated, with more people in the southern areas, which are better for farming. Once Israel occupied it, the Arab farmers mostly fled and Israel has created a number of settlements there.

Of the more than 50,000 people who live there, barely half are Syrian Druze; almost all the rest are Israeli Jews, who have settled in the area with the government’s support, much as they have in the West Bank.

Euan Ward contributed reporting.

Michael D. Shear ,  Aaron Boxerman and Eric Schmitt

Biden returns to White House as Israel braces for Iranian aerial strikes.

The spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House confirmed Saturday evening that Iran had launched what she called “an airborne attack” against Israel and vowed that the United States would help Israel defend itself.

“President Biden is being regularly updated on the situation by his national security team and will meet with them this afternoon at the White House,” Adrienne Watson, the spokeswoman, said in a statement.

“This attack is likely to unfold over a number of hours,” she added. “President Biden has been clear: Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.”

The statement came as Mr. Biden headed back to the White House Saturday afternoon, cutting short a weekend trip to his vacation home in Rehoboth, Del.

Officials said the president would convene a meeting of his top national security aides in the Situation Room at the White House amid reports from the Middle East that Iran had deployed dozens of drones headed toward Israel.

Earlier in the day, Iranian forces had seized a container ship with links to Israel in the Persian Gulf, as leaders in the Middle East and beyond watched for a sign that Iran had begun an anticipated attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s airstrike in Damascus on April 1 that killed several Iranian military officers.

In Washington, Ms. Watson called on Iran to release the vessel and its crew immediately.

“Seizing a civilian vessel without provocation is a blatant violation of international law, and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” she said in an earlier statement. “It must be condemned unequivocally, and we will work with our partners to hold Iran to account for its actions.”

At the same time, the U.S. secretary of defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, spoke with Israel’s minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, to discuss urgent regional threats and reiterated unwavering U.S. support for Israel’s defense, the Pentagon’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, said.

Mr. Austin made clear that Israel could count on full U.S. support to defend itself against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies.

“In recent days we have strengthened our defensive and offensive array and we are determined to take any measures required to defend the citizens of the State of Israel,” Mr. Gallant said in a statement.

In Israel, there were signs the country was girding for the expected Iranian assault; the Israeli government barred educational activities, including schools and the youth-movement hiking trips patronized by Israeli teenagers during the Passover holiday. Gatherings were limited to fewer than 1,000 people in most of the country for at least the next two days, the Israeli military’s Home Front Command announced.

Hiba Yazbek and Abu Bakr Bashir

The Israeli military shifts its focus to the central Gaza Strip.

Less than a week after withdrawing ground troops from southern Gaza, the Israeli military has shifted its focus to the central Gaza Strip, where its forces were operating for the third day on Saturday and residents and Palestinian media reported heavy bombardments and intense fighting.

The Israeli military announced on Thursda y that it had begun a “precise operation” in the central Gaza Strip, saying it had carried out airstrikes ahead of its ground troops raiding the area. It added that the Israeli navy had conducted several strikes along the coastline to assist the ground troops.

Residents and Palestinian media said that the Israeli attack seemed to center on the Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, a city in the central Gaza Strip near a narrow Israeli-controlled corridor that splits northern Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the territory.

Though Nuseirat began as a refugee camp for displaced Palestinians in the 1940s, it has been built up over the decades into an urban community.

Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, reported intense Israeli air raids on Nuseirat for a third consecutive day on Saturday. The Israeli military said in a statement that its troops were continuing their operation in central Gaza and that they had destroyed Hamas “infrastructure” in the area over the last day.

Khalil Farid, 57, who lives in the Nuseirat refugee camp, said in a text-message exchange on Friday that bombing and shelling had not stopped since the Israeli attack began Thursday afternoon. “The army gave no warning of this operation,” he said, adding that “no leaflets were dropped, and no one was told where to go or what to do.”

Mr. Farid said that the fighting appeared to be mostly in the northern part of the New Camp, one of the neighborhoods of Nuseirat where he is staying with nine other family members at his brother’s apartment. “We are all sitting in the living room praying and waiting for our fate,” he said.

Mr. Farid said that after fleeing to the city of Rafah in the south, he and his family had returned to central Gaza because it seemed that the situation in Rafah was not much safer. “Where will we and the others go? There are too many people here,” he said.

The United Nations office for humanitarian affairs said on Friday that three Palestinians were reportedly killed and others were injured when a U.N. school housing displaced people in Nuseirat camp was hit.

The Palestinian civil defense in Gaza said that its rescue crews had received “dozens of distress calls” after an Israeli strike on the school killed and wounded several people, adding that it was unable to evacuate the casualties because it was too dangerous to enter the area.

TRT, the national public broadcaster of Turkey, said on Friday that a cameraman and correspondent were wounded when a group of journalists reporting from Nuseirat were hit by Israeli tank fire. CNN also said that a freelance reporter working for the network was lightly injured in the same attack.

Hamas said in a statement on Friday that the Nuseirat camp, which was “crowded with displaced people from various regions of the strip,” was under “a barbaric attack” that resulted “in dozens of martyrs and wounded.”

Christopher F. Schuetze

Iran seizes a commercial ship linked to Israel.

Iranian forces seized a container ship with links to Israel in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, as leaders in the Middle East and beyond watched for a retaliatory strike by Iran against Israel.

MSC, a major shipping company, said on Saturday that the MSC Aries, which is registered in Portugal, had been boarded by “Iranian authorities” via helicopter as it passed the Strait of Hormuz.

A video shared by Iranian state media showed a military helicopter hovering above what appeared to be the stern of the ship, with at least two soldiers descending a rope onto the deck.

The soldiers were part of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, according to IRNA, the state news agency.

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, called on Iran to release the vessel and its crew immediately.

“Seizing a civilian vessel without provocation is a blatant violation of international law, and an act of piracy by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” she said in a statement. “It must be condemned unequivocally, and we will work with our partners to hold Iran to account for its actions.”

Though it is operated by MSC, the 1,200-foot cargo vessel belongs to an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, which is part of the Zodiac Group, owned by the Israel-born billionaire Eyal Ofer, making it a possible target for Iranian retaliation. Tehran has vowed a retaliatory strike after blaming Israel for an attack on an Iranian embassy building in Syria that killed 12 people, among them top military generals.

Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign affairs minister, confirmed the seizure on social media and said Iran’s leadership was “a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law.”

Six months after the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza, the seizure comes amid fears of a wider conflict involving Iran directly. Iran is a backer of Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but has so far stayed clear of direct involvement. On Friday, President Biden said that he expected Iran to launch a retaliatory attack “sooner than later,” and reiterated that the United States remained committed to the defense of Israel.

It was not immediately clear if the seizure of the ship was part of Iran’s promised response to the attack in Syria, but it was not the first time Iran had directly seized a commercial vessel. In January, Iran’s navy seized a tanker loaded with oil off the coast of Oman. In that seizure, soldiers also descended from a hovering helicopter.

Before the war in Gaza, the United States said that Iran had “harassed, attacked or interfered” with more than a dozen internationally flagged merchant ships in recent years.

For their part, the Houthis have disrupted a significant part of the world’s shipping by attacking dozens of vessels heading to or from the Suez Canal.

The MSC Aries had 25 crew members on board, according to its operator.

Aaron Boxerman

reporting from Jerusalem

The death of a 14-year-old further inflames tensions in the West Bank.

An Israeli teenager whose disappearance had led to riots by Israeli settlers in the West Bank was found dead on Saturday, the Israeli authorities said, threatening to further inflame tensions in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Dozens of Israelis and Palestinians were wounded during clashes at several locations across the West Bank later on Saturday, the Israeli military said in a statement. Israeli extremists stormed at least two villages in the territory, attempting to burn Palestinian property and clashing with residents, according to Palestinian witnesses.

Binyamin Achimair, 14, had left a farming settlement in the West Bank to herd sheep on Friday morning, but never returned, according to the Israeli police. The Israeli forces later found his corpse, and the military said, without providing evidence, that he had been “murdered in a terrorist attack.”

After Binyamin’s disappearance on Friday, armed Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian village near Ramallah, torching several buildings and cars, according to Palestinian officials and Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group. One Palestinian man — Jihad Abu Aliya — was killed during the clashes and at least 25 others wounded, according to the village mayor, Amin Abu Aliya.

Binyamin’s death and the possibility of further Israeli reprisals could ratchet up violence in the West Bank, where roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers live alongside about 2.7 million Palestinians. Over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces across the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 sparked Israel’s campaign in Gaza, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it would bolster its forces in the West Bank with additional companies and police.

The Israeli mob assaults returned on Saturday in both Al Mughayir and Duma, a nearby Palestinian village, according to an Israeli security official and Palestinian witnesses. Israeli settlers, some of them armed, entered the villages, the official added, and there were reports that they had opened fire.

In Duma, the attackers “covered the entire village,” some of them armed, said Naser Dawabsheh, a village resident. They set several buildings and cars ablaze, sending a cloud of dense smoke overhead, he added. Israeli soldiers “didn’t disperse the settlers, they protected them and fired tear gas at anyone who approached,” he said.

The clashes on Saturday in Al Mughayir left at least three Palestinians wounded, one critically, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“There’s no order, there’s no safety,” said Na’asan Na’asan, 28, a resident of Al Mughayir. “They’re shooting at us — why isn’t there anyone to protect us?”

A veteran Israeli photojournalist, Shaul Golan, 74, said in an interview that Israeli settlers also caught and beat him, before destroying his equipment, after he tried to film them in Al Mughayir. Some of them were masked, while others were wearing Israeli military uniforms, he added.

“I begged the soldiers there to help me, to save me,” said Mr. Golan. “But then I realized that they weren’t really soldiers — they were working with them.”

The Biden administration has said Israel must do more to clamp down on violence by extremist Israeli settlers, and it has imposed sanctions on several whom it said were involved in attacks on Palestinians. Israeli leaders denounced that move as interference in the country’s internal affairs.

As Israeli troops and police officers searched for Binyamin on Friday afternoon, armed Israeli settlers burst into Al Mughayir, setting buildings and cars on fire, said Mr. Abu Aliya. In video circulated by Yesh Din, smoke can be seen billowing from some burning cars and buildings.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel decried Binyamin’s “heinous murder” and vowed that Israel would “close accounts” with whoever killed him. He did not explicitly mention the settler rampages, instead telling the Israeli public to “allow the security forces to conduct their work unmolested” as they investigate the killing.

Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, similarly condemned the teenager’s murder. But he also denounced the settler attacks, saying “the violent riots by settlers are a dangerous violation of the law, and they are hampering the forces operating on the ground.”

The Israeli military confirmed that multiple “violent riots” had taken place in the area during the search efforts on Friday. At one point, “rocks were hurled” at Israeli soldiers, leading them to open fire in response, the Israeli military said. The Israeli police and soldiers had also removed Israeli settlers who had entered Al Mughayir, the military said.

Israeli soldiers were in the area “even before the settlers arrived,” Mr. Na’asan said, but did not block them from entering the village and torching buildings and cars. It was not immediately clear how Jihad Abu Aliya, the village resident, was killed.

Human rights groups have long charged that the Israeli authorities do not do enough to prevent violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and that the perpetrators are rarely arrested. An Israeli police spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment as to whether any Israelis had been arrested during the incident.

Last February, an attack by Israeli settlers devastated the Palestinian town of Huwara in the northern West Bank. At least one Palestinian was killed and 390 were wounded in the riot, according to Palestinian officials, in which Israelis burned a number of buildings and cars while terrified Palestinians fled burning homes.

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.

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New York appeals judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to delay his April 15 hush money trial

FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks, April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer, File)

FILE - Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Former President Donald Trump is demanding a new judge just days before his hush-money criminal trial is set to begin, rehashing longstanding grievances with Merchan, the current judge, in a long-shot, eleventh-hour bid to disrupt and delay the case. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court judge on Monday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial while he mounts a last-minute fight to move the case out of Manhattan, foiling the former president’s latest attempt to put off the historic trial.

Justice Lizbeth González of the state’s mid-level appeals court ruled after an emergency hearing Monday where Trump’s lawyers asked that she postpone the trial indefinitely while they seek a change of venue.

They contended the presumptive Republican nominee faces “real potential prejudice” in heavily Democratic Manhattan and said the jury pool has been polluted by news coverage of Trump’s other recent cases, including his $454 million civil fraud judgment and the $83.3 million he’s been ordered to pay for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. He is appealing both verdicts.

“Jury selection cannot proceed in a fair manner,” Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued, citing the defense’s polling and a review of media coverage.

Trump’s hush money trial is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.

In a separate appellate matter, Trump’s lawyers are challenging a gag order barring him from making comments about jurors, witnesses and others connected to the case. The trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, recently expanded the gag order after Trump lashed out at his daughter, a Democratic political consultant, on social media. The appeals court will hear that matter Tuesday.

Trump, who lived in Manhattan for decades and rose to fame as a real estate developer shaping its iconic skyline, has suggested the trial should be moved to Staten Island, the only New York City borough he won in 2016 and 2020.

Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, noted that Merchan, had already rejected Trump’s requests to move or delay the trial as untimely.

“The question in this case is not whether a random poll of New Yorkers from whatever neighborhood are able to be impartial, it’s about whether a trial court is able to select a jury of 12 impartial jurors,” Wu said.

He blamed Trump for stoking pretrial publicity with “countless media appearances talking about the facts of this case, the witnesses, and so on.”

As the appeals court fight was playing out, Merchan released his plan Monday for conducting jury selection, including what jurors will and won’t be asked about their views on Trump.

In a letter to both sides, Merchan declared that choosing jurors isn’t about whether they like or don’t like anyone in the case but whether prospective jurors can assure they will “set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law.”

Paperwork relating to Trump’s appeals was placed under seal and not publicly available.

Trump had pledged to appeal after Merchan ruled last month that the trial would begin April 15. His lawyers had pleaded to delay the trial at least until summer to give them more time to review late-arriving evidence from a prior federal investigation into the matter. Merchan, who had already moved the trial from its original March 25 start date , said no further delays were warranted.

Trump’s lawyers filed their appeals Monday on two separate court dockets. One was styled as a lawsuit against Merchan, a legal mechanism allowing them to challenge his rulings.

In New York, judges can be sued over some judicial decisions under a state law known as Article 78. Trump has used the tactic before, including against the judge in his civil fraud case in an unsuccessful last-minute bid to delay that case last fall.

In the hush-money criminal case, he is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen , who helped him bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Cohen’s activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

As Trump’s lawyers stressed Monday that he was facing an unprecedented level of damaging publicity in Manhattan, they also referenced a decision issued by the state’s appellate court more than 25 years ago.

In that case, the court agreed to move the trial of four New York City police officers charged with killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean student, in the Bronx. Citing the “public clamor” in the city, the court agreed to move the trial to Albany, where the officers were ultimately acquitted.

Trump’s move to the appeals court Monday is the latest escalation in his battles with Merchan.

Last week, Trump renewed his request for the judge to step aside from the case, citing Merchan’s daughter’s work as the head of a firm whose clients have included his rival President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.

The former president alleges the judge is biased against him and has a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s work. The judge rejected a similar request last August.

If the hush-money trial were to be moved out of Manhattan, it’s unlikely Merchan would go with it. In past cases, like the Diallo matter, a new judge was picked from the county where the trial ended up being held.

Trump has also made numerous other attempts to get the trial postponed, echoing a strategy he’s deployed in his other criminal cases. “We want delays,” Trump proclaimed to TV cameras outside a February pretrial hearing in his hush money case.

Merchan last week rejected his request to delay the trial until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases.

Trump also filed an eve-of-trial lawsuit against the judge in his New York civil fraud case, accusing the jurist of repeatedly abusing his authority. Among other issues, Trump’s lawyers in that case complained that Judge Arthur Engoron had refused their request to delay the trial. Their suit was filed about three weeks before the trial was slated to begin.

A state appeals court rejected Trump’s claims , and the trial started as scheduled Oct. 2.

Engoron, who decided that case without a jury, ruled that Trump, his company and key executives defrauded bankers and insurers by overstating his wealth in documents used to get loans and coverage. Trump denied any wrongdoing and is appealing the finding and staggering penalty.