Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired “several” missiles at a US warship, the Iran-aligned group said Wednesday, hours after the US military reported shooting down a missile. The latest incident in the Red Sea came as Israeli forces pounded areas in northern and southern Gaza and as the UN warned of the potential “collapse of the humanitarian system” in the war-ravaged territory amid a funding row over Palestinian aid agency UNRWA.
- Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said Wednesday they fired “several” missiles at a US warship, hours after the US military reported shooting down a missile over the Red Sea.
- Israeli artillery fire pounded targets in southern and northern Gaza on Wednesday, a day after Hamas said it was studying a new ceasefire proposal aimed at securing the release of remaining hostages and increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. In the southern city of Khan Younis, residents reported heavy fighting around the Al-Nimsawi residential area and Nasser Hospital. Witnesses said that areas of central Gaza’s Al-Nuseirat refugee camp and districts of Gaza City in the north were also under Israeli bombardment.
- Norway, one of the few major donors to have maintained aid to the embattled UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, warned other donors of the consequences of withdrawing funds from the agency, “a vital lifeline for 1.5 million refugees in Gaza”.
- The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 26,900 people have been killed and 65,949 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7. Israeli officials say about 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
F24
Siddhartha 