Rescuers search for survivors of an Israeli strike which has left scores of Palestinians missing and a rising death toll, as the US ramps up tensions with Houthi rebels and their Iranian sponsors
Around 80 Palestinians are missing in rubble after an Israeli air-strike killed at least 22, including three children near Gaza City. The missile hit a community of around 20 homes in the al-Shujaiya community, leaving more than 50 people injured from the blast. Reporters on the ground said most of the victims were women and children and hospital are being overwhelmed with the injured.
It is feared as many as 200 people may have been nearby when the missile hit and rescuers are desperately searching the wreckage for survivors. It is also feared the death toll could rise throughout the day as Israel steps up its assault on Hamas gunmen. It comes amid mounting tension between America and its Israel ally and Iran, which has funded Yemeni Houthis, Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas.
Suspected US air strikes have pounded the area around Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeida overnight on Tuesday night, killing at least eight people, the Houthi rebels said. The strikes hit around Hodeida’s al-Hawak district left 16 other people injured.
The area is home to the city’s airport, which the rebels have used in the past to target shipping in the Red Sea. Since its start, the intense campaign of US air strikes targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Middle East waters – related to the Israel-Hamas war – has killed at least 81 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.
Footage aired by the rebels’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed chaotic scenes of people carrying injured people to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential area, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill rebel leaders.
Other strikes targeted Yemen’s mountainous Amran governorate, north of the rebel-held capital of Sanaa. There, the Houthis described American strikes hitting telecommunication equipment. Previous US strikes also targeted telecommunications gear in Amran near Jebel Aswad, or the “Black Mountain.”
Strikes later apparently targeted Jebel Nuqum, near Sanaa. Others hit Dhamar and Ibb governorates, leaving three hurt. The US military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.
That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorisation from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15. The American military also has not been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said more than 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that America was “not going to relent” in its campaign targeting the Houthis. He declared: “So we have a lot more options and a lot more pressure to apply,” Mr Hegseth said. “And we know, because we see the reports, how devastating this campaign has been in them. And we will not relent.”
US operation against the Houthis under US President Donald Trump appear more extensive than that under former leader Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.
The new campaign of air strikes started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting Israeli ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The rebels have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted. The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.
The US campaign shows no signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has linked its air strikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme as well.