Israeli army strikes 'military targets' in Yemen: Gaza war, day 288

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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says that Israel struck the Houthis in Yemen in order to send a message after they harmed an Israeli citizen, Reuters reports.

"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," Gallant said in a statement. "The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required."

More on the Houthis' reaction to Israeli strikes on Hodeida: "The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities, and we will respond to escalation with escalation," Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis' political bureau, said on his X account.

Israel will "pay the price" for its strikes on Yemen, AFP reports, citing a Houthi official.

Israel confirms "fighter jets struck military targets" in Yemen, AFP reports.

The Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry has welcomed yesterday's International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israeli settlement policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

➡️ Read more here.

Airstrikes targeted Hodeida, a city in western Yemen under Houthi rebel control,a city in western Yemen under Houthi rebel control, where loud explosions were heard, according to an AFP correspondent on the ground and insurgent media outlets.

According to the Houthis' al-Massirah television station, the strikes hit "fuel storage facilities" in the port of Hodeida. The origin of the raids, which come a day after a drone attack claimed by the Houthis killed one person in Tel Aviv, was not immediately known.

Israeli warplanes targeted the village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), according to our correspondent in south Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes have raided the outskirts of Taybeh and Deir Siryan (Marjayoun), residents tell our correspondent in south Lebanon.

Here are the latest updates from south Lebanon: 

* White phosphorus bombardments targeted a forest in Markaba (Marjayoun), causing a fire.

* Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Houla and reached the village of Deir Seriane (Marjayoun).

The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claims to have "shelled from southern Lebanon, using a barrage of rockets, the headquarters of the 300th Shomera Brigade, in the western sector of the Upper Galilee" in northern Israel.

At least 24 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip today, the Palestinian territory's emergency services said, while the Israeli army claims to have "eliminated terrorists," according to AFP.

One strike hit the Nuseirat camp (in central Gaza), killing two women and a child, an official at al-Awda hospital said. In the same hospital, a baby was rescued from the womb of its mother, also killed in Nuseirat after a strike. ➡️ More details here.

"Two of my daughters and four members of my family are dead," said Manar Abou Sidra, whose house was hit by a strike in Nuseirat. "This is barbarism. We have no connection with [armed] organizations, so why target us?"

The Civil Defense reported nine deaths in strikes in Gaza City in the north of the enclave. "We were sleeping in our apartments and suddenly we heard a boom! Our apartments were hit and everyone was looking for their children," said Hassan Ayyad, a resident of Gaza City.

Al-Awda hospital said it had admitted four children injured while playing on the roof of their house, after an Israeli drone strike in al-Bureij (central Gaza). Some had to undergo amputations, the hospital said.

Israeli fire from medium-caliber machine guns has forced shepherds in the fields of Wazzani (Marjayoun) to flee, local residents tell our correspondent in south Lebanon.

Here are the latest developments from the Lebanese-Israeli border:

* Hezbollah claims to have targeted, for the first time, the Israeli settlement of Dafna. The party says it deployed dozens of Katyusha rockets in response to the Israeli drone strike that earlier targeted Borj al-Moulouk.

* Interceptor missiles exploded over Mais al-Jabal, Houla (Marjsyoun) and surrounding areas, reports our correspondent in south Lebanon.

* Missiles were fired from south Lebanon at Israeli sites, according to a security source. According to Haaretz, alarm sirens sounded twice in northern Israel.

A baby has been rescued from the womb of a pregnant Palestinian woman killed after an Israeli strike, a hospital in the Gaza Strip has said, AFP reports.

The woman, nine months pregnant, was one of at least 24 victims, according to the Palestinian territory's emergency services, in a series of airstrikes carried out last night. She was seriously injured in a raid on the Nuseirat camp, which caused the deaths of two other women and a child, according to an official at al-Awda hospital.

The woman succumbed to her injuries in hospital, Raed al-Saudi, head of the gynecology-obstetrics department at al-Awda, told AFP. "After her death, the doctors performed an ultrasound to check the condition of the fetus and noted a heartbeat," before calling in surgeons, he said.

The latter "immediately performed a Caesarean section and extracted the fetus," confirmed emergency surgeon Akram Hussein. "The baby was fine and was transferred to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, he added.

Israeli artillery fire has targeted the villages of Houla and Tallousa (Marjayoun), residents told our correspondent in south Lebanon.

A merchant ship has suffered minor damage after being attacked twice, by a drone and by a remote-controlled craft, off the coast of Yemen, the UKMTO maritime safety agency reports.

The incident occurred 64 nautical miles (118 km) northwest of the Yemeni port city of Mokha, near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, said United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), run by the British Navy.

The ship reported two attacks, the first by a drone that exploded near the vessel, causing minor damage, UKMTO said. A remote-controlled boat then exploded near the ship, the agency added, stressing that the crew was unharmed.

The ship also reported being "splashed" by a falling missile "which fell close by," UKMTO added, in what appears to have been an unsuccessful missile strike. The agency did not identify the ship or say who was behind the attacks.

The vehicle hit by an Israeli drone strike in Burj al-Moulouk (Marjayoun) on 20 July 2024. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah)

⚡ An Israeli drone has fired a missile at a vehicle on the Burj al-Moulouk road in the Khiam valley (Marjayoun), our south Lebanon correspondent Muntasser Abdallah reports, citing security sources.

The fire that engulfed the vehicle spread to the tent of a Syrian migrant family, injuring three children, our correspondent adds. The children were hospitalized with burns.

European Union (EU) special envoy to the Middle East Sven Koopmans. (Credit: X/@EUSR_Koopmans)

Today, the "priority" is to "help put an end to the suffering in Gaza," while trying to avoid "a regional war," which would include Lebanon, and to relaunch the "peace process," said Sven Koopmans, the European Union's special envoy to the Middle East, in an interview with AFP.

➡️ Read more here.

The Hamas government's Health Ministry in Gaza has announced a new death toll of 38,919 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war, now in its 10th month, AFP reports.

At least 71 people have been killed in the last 48 hours, the ministry said in a statement, adding that 89,622 people have been wounded since Oct. 7.

Ruth Lieberman, a Jewish settler in the Israeli occupied West Bank, is working to thwart international pressure for a Palestinian state, leveraging her connections with prominent U.S. Republican lawmakers like Mike Lee and Mike Johnson to align their views with the Israeli government, Reuters reports.

Lieberman and other settler leaders have intensified their efforts after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, hoping to influence the Republican Party's position ahead of the 2024 US election. While the US has traditionally backed the two-state solution, Trump-era policies favored Israel, and settler groups are now seeking to solidify that support from the Republican party.

Within Israel, support for a two-state solution has declined, with growing support for annexation of the West Bank, which settler leaders, like Ohad Tal, see as aligning with their “goal” of keeping "God's land." ➡️ More details here.

Update on what has been happening this morning along the Lebanon-Israel border:

* Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the town of Houla (Marjayoun district), according to a security source. Ambulances responded to an unknown number of injuries, according to eyewitnesses. Al-Risala Scouts, the medical association affiliated with the Amal Movement, said it carried out rescue and fire extinguishing operations following the strike.

* Hezbollah said it has successfully targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the al-Manara site, facing Houla village in Lebanon, with artillery shells.

* Israeli warplanes were heard in the airspace of the eastern sector of south Lebanon.

* Israeli missiles interceptors were heard and seen in the airspace of the towns of Houla and Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district).

Here's what happened last night on the Lebanon-Israel border: 

* Hezbollah said it launched an assault drone yesterday against the headquarters of the 91st Division in Illit, northern Israel, accurately targeting the locations and settlements of Israeli officers and soldiers at the position.

* Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the town of Wazzani (Hasbaya district).

* At 10 p.m., the Amal-affiliated medical association, al-Risala Scouts, said it carried out firefighting operations following a strike that triggered a fire in Tayr Harfa (Sour district).

Against this tense backdrop, one person was killed before dawn yesterday by an explosion in the center of Tel Aviv, in an airstrike claimed by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the White House sees "no sign of all-out war in northern Israel."

In Lebanon, two Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli strike on Jmaijmeh, between Majdel Selm and Safad al-Battikh (Marjayoun) on Thursday night. Nineteen civilians were injured, including six women and two children aged 11 and 12.

The Israeli army said on Friday that around "65 projectiles" had "crossed Israeli territory from Lebanon," but no one was injured.

Commenting on long-stalled cease-fire negotiations, the head of U.S. diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said yesterday that they were approaching the "finish line," although there were still "issues to be resolved."

On the ground, explosions and artillery fire were heard on Friday in the southwest of Gaza City, and nine people were killed in two Israeli strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp (central Gaza), according to the Civil Defense and al-Awda hospital.

The Israeli army said it had killed Adel Hamdiya, a Hamas military intelligence officer in Gaza City, who it believed had helped prepare the Oct. 7 attack.

The International Court of Justice ruled yesterday that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 is "illegal" and must cease "as soon as possible," a decision described as "historic" by the Palestinians and "untrue" by Israel.

Some 50 states testified in this unprecedented case.

The ICJ's opinion is non-binding, but could add to the growing international legal pressure on Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Hello,

Today marks the 288th day of the war in the Gaza Strip. It is also the 287th day since the opening of a front in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

Follow our live coverage of the conflict and its repercussions in the region here.