A rocket from Yemen hits Tel Aviv, injuring 16. Palestinians mourn the loss of a dozen children in Gaza – National
A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, injuring 16 people through shattered glass, the Israeli military said a few days later on Saturday Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who fired rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians Gaza.
Another 14 people suffered minor injuries as they rushed to shelters before dawn on Saturday as air raid sirens sounded, the military said.
The Houthis issued a statement on Telegram saying they had aimed a hypersonic missile at a military target they did not identify. The Israeli military said it was investigating, adding: “We emphasize that air defense is not hermetic.”
“A flash of light, a blow and we fell to the ground. Big mess, broken glasses everywhere,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.
The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida in Yemen, killing at least nine people on Thursday. The attacks came hours after a rocket from Yemen hit a school building in central Israel. The Houthis also claimed they carried out a drone strike on an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.
According to the Israeli military, the Iran-backed Houthis have fired more than 200 rockets and drones during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have also attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and say they will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli attacks on Thursday caused “significant damage” to Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports, which will lead to an “immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said. The port of Hodeida was key to food deliveries to Yemen during the decades-long civil war.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the attacks by both sides threatened further escalation in the region.
A dozen children are killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza
Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 people – including 12 children – killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.
An impact hit a residential building in the development Nuseirat refugee camp In central Gaza, at least seven Palestinians died, including five children and a woman, and 16 others were injured, health officials said.
According to Al-Ahli Hospital, where the bodies were taken, an attack on a house in Gaza City killed 12 people, including seven children and two women.
A man cradled a tiny body wrapped in a shroud as mourners gathered at a hospital in Gaza City. Women comforted each other as they cried.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, a total of 21 people were killed in the last 24 hours.
More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and sparked the 14-month war. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
Israel is facing intense international criticism over the unprecedented number of civilian deaths in Gaza. It says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
Urgent call for supplies to the hospital in the northern Gaza Strip
Gaza’s Health Ministry called for urgent deliveries of medicine and food to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in Gaza’s largely isolated north, while the hospital director described conditions as terrible as the Israeli military presses ahead with its latest offensive.
The ministry reported ongoing gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, saying: “Shells hit the third floor and entrances of the hospital, causing a state of panic.”
Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility was facing “severe shortages” and claimed that requests for vital medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems “remained largely unmet.”
He said 72 injured people were being treated in hospital.
“Food is very scarce and we cannot provide meals to the wounded,” Safiyeh added. “We urgently appeal to anyone who can provide relief supplies to help us.”
Aid groups said Israeli military operations and armed gangs had hampered their ability to distribute aid.
The Israeli military organization in charge of humanitarian affairs in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday it led an operation that delivered thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north. It said U.N. World Food Program trucks transported them to distribution centers in the area on Friday.
Iran said on Saturday that unknown gunmen had killed a local Iranian embassy employee Syria in Damascus, the official IRNA news agency said.
The report quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying that “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car last Sunday. It didn’t say what he did with the message.
Baghaei said Iran views the Syrian interim government as responsible for finding and prosecuting those behind the killing. Iran was a key ally of recently ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
&Copy 2024 The Canadian Press
