TEL AVIV, Israel — A rocket fired from Yemen hit part of Tel Aviv overnight, injuring 16 people through shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who launched rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Another 14 people suffered minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before dawn on Saturday, the military said.
The Houthis issued a statement via Telegram saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they had not identified. The Israeli military said it was investigating, adding that “we emphasize that air defense is not hermetic.”
“A flash of light, a crash and we fell to the ground. A big mess, broken glasses everywhere,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.
The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida killed 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 a drone strike on Thursday targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 rockets and drones during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Thursday’s Israeli strikes caused “significant damage” to Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports, which will lead to an “immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Hodeida’s port has been crucial for food shipments to Yemen during the decade-long civil war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the attacks by both sides risk further escalation in the region.
Israeli attacks in Gaza kill a dozen children
Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 people – including 12 children – killed in Israeli attacks on Friday and overnight.
One attack hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven Palestinians, including five children and one woman, and wounding 16 others, health officials said.
In Gaza City, an attack on a house killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, according to the Al-Ahli hospital where the bodies were taken.
One man cradled a small shroud-wrapped body as mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City. Women comforted each other as they cried.
In total, Gaza’s Health Ministry said 21 people were killed in the past 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 heavy international criticism over the unprecedented number of civilian deaths in Gaza. It says it targets only militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
Urgent call for supplies for the hospital in North Gaza
Gaza’s Health Ministry has issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza, with the hospital director describing conditions as dire, as the Israeli army puts pressure on his final offensive.
The ministry reported continued gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital and said that “shells have hit the third floor and entrances of the hospital, creating a state of panic.”
Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility was facing “severe shortages” and claimed that requests for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems “have gone largely unfulfilled.”
He said 72 injured people were being treated in hospital.
“Food is very scarce and we cannot provide meals to the injured,” Safiyeh added. “We are urgently appealing to anyone who can provide us with supplies to help us.”
Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hampered their ability to distribute aid.
The Israeli military organization that handles humanitarian affairs for Gaza said on Saturday it had led an operation that delivered thousands of food parcels, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north. It said trucks from the U.N. World Food Program transported them to distribution centers in the area on Friday.
A murder in Syria
Iran said on Saturday that unknown gunmen had killed a local employee of the Iranian embassy in Syria in Damascus, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The report quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying that “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car last Sunday. What he did with the embassy is not stated.
Baghaei said Iran considers Syria’s interim government responsible for tracking down and prosecuting those behind the killing. Iran was a key ally of recently deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
