Smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on July 20, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.EYAD BABA/Getty Images
A media outlet controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen reported intense air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah on Saturday and said it appears that Israel is behind them.
Al-Masirah TV said the strikes on storage facilities for oil and diesel at the port and on the local electricity company caused deaths and injuries, but gave no details. It said there was a large fire at the port and power cuts were widespread.
Health officials in Yemen said the strikes killed a number of people and injured others, but did not elaborate.
The Israeli military declined to comment.
A drone attack by Houthi rebels killed one person in the centre of Tel Aviv and wounded at least 10 others near the United States Embassy early Friday.
Since January, the U.S. and British forces have been striking targets in Yemen, in response to the Houthis’ attacks on commercial shipping that the rebels have described as retaliation for Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza. However, many of the ships targeted are not linked to Israel.
The joint force air strikes have so far done little to deter the Iran-backed force.
Tel Aviv hit by drone attack claimed by Iranian-backed Houthis
Also Saturday, at least 13 people were killed in three Israeli air strikes that hit refugee camps in central Gaza overnight, according to Palestinian health officials, as ceasefire talks in Cairo appeared to make progress.
Among the dead in Nuseirat Refugee Camp and Bureij Refugee Camp were three children and one woman, according to Palestinian ambulance teams that transported the bodies to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. AP journalists counted the 13 corpses at the hospital.
Earlier, a medical team delivered a live baby from a Palestinian woman killed in an air strike that hit her home in Nuseirat late Thursday evening.
Ola al-Kurd, 25, was killed along with six others in the blast, but was quickly rushed by emergency workers to Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza in the hope of saving the unborn child. Hours later, doctors told The Associated Press that a baby boy had been delivered.
The still-unnamed newborn is stable but has suffered from a shortage of oxygen and has been placed in an incubator, said Dr. Khalil Dajran on Friday.
Ola’s “husband and a relative survived yesterday’s strike, while everyone else died,” Majid al-Kurd, the deceased woman’s cousin, told the AP on Saturday.
“The baby is in good health based on what doctors said,” he added.
Baby Yasine, who was reportedly delivered by Cesarean section after his 9-months pregnant mother succumbed to her injuries sustained during an overnight Israeli strike on Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, is caressed by his grandfather as he lies in an incubator at the al-Awda hospital in Deir el-Balah on July 20, 2024.EYAD BABA/Getty Images
The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,900 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has created a humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal Palestinian territory, displaced most of its 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.
Hamas’ October attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, with about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
The Israel-Hamas war has left thousands of women and children dead, according to health officials in the Gaza Strip. In April, a premature Palestinian baby was rescued from her dead mother’s womb but died days later.
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 20-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli forces late Friday. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians hurling rocks at Israeli troops in the town of Beit Ummar.
An eyewitness said Ibrahim Zaqeq was not directly involved in the clashes and was standing nearby.
Zaqeq “just looked at them, they shot him in the head. I picked him up from here and took him to the clinic,” said Thare Abu Hashem.
On Saturday, Hamas identified Zaqeq as one of its members. The militant group’s green flag was wrapped around his corpse during the funeral.
Violence has surged in the territory since the Gaza war began. At least 577 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since then according to the Ramallah-based Health Ministry which tracks Palestinian deaths.
In Cairo, international mediators, including the United States, are continuing to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages in Gaza.
On Friday, the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that will release Israeli hostages captive by the group in Gaza is “inside the 10-yard line,” but added “we know that anything in the last 10 yards are the hardest.”
Fruitless stop-and-start negotiations between the warring sides have been underway since November’s one-week ceasefire, with both Hamas and Israel repeatedly accusing each other of scuppering the effort to reach a deal.