JERUSALEM (AP) — A brand new spherical of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday focused the Houthi rebel-held capital and a number of ports, whereas the World Well being Group’s director-general stated the bombardment occurred close by as he ready to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured.
“The air visitors management tower, the departure lounge — only a few meters from the place we have been — and the runway have been broken,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on the social media platform X.
He added that he and U.N. colleagues have been secure. “We might want to look ahead to the harm to the airport to be repaired earlier than we are able to go away,” he stated, with out mentioning the supply of the bombardment. U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later stated the injured particular person was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service.
Israel’s military later informed The Related Press it wasn’t conscious that the WHO chief was on the location in Yemen.
The Israeli strikes adopted a number of days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli army in a press release stated it attacked infrastructure utilized by the Iran-backed Houthis on the worldwide airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, together with energy stations, asserting they have been used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officers.
Israel’s army added it had “capabilities to strike very removed from Israel’s territory — exactly, powerfully, and repetitively.”
The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, got here a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated “the Houthis, too, will study what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others realized” as his army has battled these extra highly effective proxies of Iran.
The Houthi-controlled satellite tv for pc channel al-Masirah reported a number of deaths and confirmed damaged home windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained ground and automobile. Iran’s international ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. army additionally has focused the Houthis in latest days.
The U.N. has stated the focused ports are necessary entryways for humanitarian help for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged right into a civil struggle in 2014.
Over the weekend, 16 individuals have been wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground within the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv, whereas different missiles and drones have been shot down. Final week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing 9 individuals, calling it a response to earlier Houthi assaults. The Houthis even have been focusing on transport on the Purple Sea hall, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The U.N. Safety Council has an emergency assembly Monday in response to an Israeli request that it condemn the Houthi assaults and Iran for supplying them weapons.
5 journalists killed in Gaza
In the meantime, an Israeli strike killed 5 Palestinian journalists outdoors a hospital in Gaza in a single day, the territory’s Well being Ministry stated. The Israeli army stated all have been militants posing as reporters.
The strike hit a automobile outdoors Al-Awda Hospital within the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists have been working for native information outlet Al-Quds In the present day, a tv channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Islamic Jihad is a smaller and extra excessive ally of Hamas and took half within the Oct. 7, 2023 assault in southern Israel that ignited the struggle. Israel’s army recognized 4 of the boys as fight propagandists and stated that intelligence, together with a listing of Islamic Jihad operatives discovered by troopers in Gaza, had confirmed that every one 5 have been affiliated with the group.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and different Palestinian militant teams function political, media and charitable operations along with their armed wings.
Related Press footage confirmed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings seen on the again doorways. Sobbing younger males attended the funeral. The our bodies have been wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.
The Committee to Shield Journalists says greater than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed because the begin of the struggle. Israel hasn’t allowed international reporters to enter Gaza besides on army embeds.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera community and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of attempting to silence its struggle protection, which has centered closely on civilian casualties from Israeli army operations.
One other Israeli soldier killed
Individually, Israel’s army stated a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed throughout combating in central Gaza. A complete of 389 troopers have been killed in Gaza because the begin of the bottom operation.
The struggle started when Hamas-led militants stormed throughout the border, killing round 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, and abducting round 250. About 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, no less than a 3rd believed to be lifeless.
Israel’s air and floor offensive has killed greater than 45,000 Palestinians, based on the Well being Ministry. It says greater than half the fatalities have been girls and youngsters, however does not say how most of the lifeless have been fighters. Israel says it has killed greater than 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.
The offensive has brought on widespread destruction and starvation and pushed round 90% of the inhabitants of two.3 million from their properties. Tons of of hundreds are packed into squalid camps alongside the coast, with little safety from the chilly, moist winter.
Additionally Thursday, individuals mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli army operations in and round Tulkarem within the occupied West Financial institution on Tuesday, based on the Palestinian Well being Ministry. The Israeli army stated it opened hearth after militants attacked troopers, and it was conscious of uninvolved civilians who have been harmed within the raid.
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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Related Press writers Edith M. Lederer on the United Nations and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. A earlier model of this story was corrected to point out that the title of the native information outlet is Al-Quds In the present day, not the Quds Information Community.
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Observe AP’s struggle protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
