A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, injuring 16 people from broken glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who were launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Fourteen other people were lightly injured as they rushed to shelter when air raid sirens sounded before dawn on Saturday, the army said.
The Houthis released a statement on Telegram saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.
“A flash, a bang and we fell to the ground. Big mess, broken glass everywhere,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.
Tomer Appelbaum / AP
The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, and the port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people on Thursday. The Israeli strikes were a response to a long-range Houthi missile that hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Thursday targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis launched more than 200 missiles and drones during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Thursday’s Israeli strikes caused “considerable damage” to Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports, which will result in “an immediate and significant reduction in port capacity”, UN spokesperson Stéphane said Dujarric. The port of Hodeida played a key role for food shipments to Yemen during a decade of civil war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said attacks from both sides risked further escalation in the region.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill more people
Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 people – including 12 children – killed in Israeli strikes Friday and overnight.
A strike hit a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven Palestinians, including five children and a woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.
In Gaza City, a strike on a house killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli hospital where the bodies were taken.
A man cradled a small body wrapped in a shroud as mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City. The women comforted each other by crying.
In total, Gaza’s health ministry said 21 people had been killed in the past 24 hours.
Abdel Karim Hana / AP
More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed around 1,200 people and sparked the 14-month war. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said more than half of the deaths are women and children.
Israel faces intense international criticism over unprecedented levels of civilian deaths in Gaza. It claims to only target militants and accuses Hamas of being responsible for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
Gaza’s health ministry has issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza, while the hospital director described conditions as dire, as the Israeli army continues its latest offensive.
The ministry reported continued Israeli shooting and shelling near the hospital, saying that “shells hit the third floor and entrances of the hospital, creating a state of panic.”
Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility was facing “severe shortages” and claimed demands for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen systems, water and electricity “remained largely unsatisfied”.
He said 72 injured people were being treated in hospital.
“Food is very scarce and we cannot provide meals to the injured,” Safiyeh added. “We are urgently calling on everyone who can provide us with equipment to help us. »
Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hampered their ability to distribute aid.
The Israeli military organization responsible for humanitarian affairs for Gaza said on Saturday it had carried out an operation to deliver thousands of food parcels, flour and water to the northern Beit Hanoun region. He said trucks from the UN World Food Program transported them to distribution centers in the region on Friday.
Iran said on Saturday that unknown gunmen had killed a local staff member at the Iranian embassy in Syria, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Its report quotes Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying that “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car last Sunday. It was not specified what he had done with the embassy.
Baghaei said Iran considers the Syrian interim government responsible for finding and prosecuting those responsible for the killing. Iran was a key ally of recently deposed Syrian leader Bashar Assad.