An Israeli strike on a home in northern Gaza killed three siblings aged 6 and under, among at least six people killed in airstrikes in the war-ravaged territory, Palestinian medics said. In Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building south of Beirut on Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 15, the Health Ministry said.
Israeli forces have encircled and largely isolated the Gaza Strip’s northernmost areas for the past month, saying Hamas militants have regrouped. Experts on hunger say famine is imminent or may already be happening there. Israel has also been striking deeper inside Lebanon since September as it escalates the war against Hezbollah.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. The officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Since then, more than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 14,200 wounded, the country’s Health Ministry reported. In Israel, 76 people have been killed, including 31 soldiers.
Here’s the latest:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military says it has conducted several days of strikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The strikes included U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft, including the Navy’s F-35C stealth fighter jet, it said Thursday.
The military also released video showing a strike by an MQ-9 Reaper drone on a mobile missile launcher placed on the back of what appeared to be a truck. A person standing next to the launcher is seen running away after the strike.
“This targeted operation was conducted in response to the Houthi’s repeated and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping, as well as U.S., coalition and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden,” the U.S. military’s Central Command said. “It also aimed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to threaten regional partners.”
The strikes happened Saturday and Sunday.
The Houthis launched an attack this week targeted two U.S. Navy destroyers entering the Red Sea. The Americans said they “engaged and defeated” eight bomb-carrying drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and four cruise missiles that the Houthis used to target the vessels.
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. humanitarian office says Israel blocked six attempts to deliver life-saving food and other humanitarian assistance to besieged Palestinians in northern Gaza in the last two days.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, tried unsuccessfully to send three missions with food and water on Tuesday to Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya – and three more on Wednesday, including one with psycho-social support for children in Jabaliya.
Dujarric reiterated that “every attempt by the U.N. to access these areas with food, water and health missions this month was either denied or impeded.”
“We have submitted four additional requests to the Israeli authorities to reach these areas tomorrow (Thursday) with life-saving assistance,” he said.
On Tuesday, eight international aid groups said Israel failed to meet U.S. demands for greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where hunger experts say the north may already be experiencing famine.
However, the Biden administration said later Tuesday it won’t limit weapons transfers to Israel because the U.S. says its key ally has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Dujarric said OCHA also reports that across Gaza strip, “Israeli bombardment from the air, land and sea continues to be reported, causing further death, displacement and destruction.”
As of Tuesday, he said, 79% of the Gaza Strip remains under Israeli evacuation orders and OCHA warns that repeated displacements are leaving Palestinians “increasingly vulnerable, as critical resources are continuing to be exhausted.”
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council is condemning “incidents” that injured U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and impacted their positions along the U.N.-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel.
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