Israel continued to bomb the devastated Gaza Strip on Tuesday, while Yemen’s pro-Palestinian Houthi movement vowed to defy a US-led naval mission and continue hitting Israeli targets in the Red Sea.
Israel’s campaign to eradicate the Hamas militants responsible for the October 7 massacre has left the coastal enclave in ruins, caused widespread hunger and lack of housing, and killed some 20,000 Gazans, according to a count. Palestinian.
Under foreign pressure to prevent the deaths of innocent people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will not stop until the remaining 129 hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed, after its fighters killed 1,200 Israelis.
The conflict has spread beyond Gaza and reached the Red Sea, where the Houthi group, aligned with Iran, has attacked ships with missiles and drones.
This situation led to the creation of a multinational naval operation to protect trade in the area, but the Houthis stated that they would continue anyway.
“Our position will not change on the Palestinian issue, whether a naval alliance is established or not,” Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam told Archyde.com, asserting that only Israeli ships or those heading to Israel would be targeted.
“Our position of support for Palestine and the Gaza Strip will remain until the end of the siege, the entry of food and medicine and our support for the oppressed Palestinian people will remain continuous.”
In announcing the naval operation, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that in Bahrain joint patrols would be carried out in the Southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which cover an important global shipping route. “This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” he said.
British maritime security company Ambrey said this Tuesday that it had received information about a potential attempted boarding 17 miles west of the port city of Aden, Yemen, adding that the attack was unsuccessful and that the entire crew was safe. Some freight transport companies are changing routes around Africa.
DEATHS INCREASE
In Gaza, the latest Israeli missiles hit the southern area of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees have gathered in recent weeks, killing at least 20 people and injuring dozens of others, according to local health authorities.
Among the dead were Palestinian journalist Adel Zurub and several members of his family, according to doctors.
The number of Palestinian journalists killed has risen to 97, according to the Hamas government press office. Another attack killed 13 people and injured around 75 in North Jabalia, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Archyde.com.
“We are stunned by the international silence in the face of the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in northern Gaza,” he said, adding that the destruction of hospitals is proof of genocide.
A Jabalia resident, who asked not to be named, said he thought the refugees were being punished for refusing to comply with Israeli orders to leave the area.
“There is no food, no water, no medicine and no hospitals to take the injured and sick. People die in their homes and on the streets,” he added.