Rockets fired from Yemen struck an area of Tel Aviv overnight, injuring 16 people, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after an Israeli airstrike killed Houthi rebels who were firing missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Another 14 suffered minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded in the early hours, the military said.
The Houthis said in a statement on Telegram that they had fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target that they could not identify. Israel’s military said it was investigating, adding, “We emphasize that the air defenses are not hermetic.”
“A flash of light, a jolt and we’re on the ground. Big mess, broken glass everywhere,” said Bar Katz, a resident of the collapsed building.
CENTCOM Conducts Airstrikes Against Iran-Backed Houthi Missile Storage and Command/Control Facilities in Yemen
Tampa, Fla. – US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted precision airstrikes against missile storage facilities and command-and-control facilities… pic.twitter.com/YRWWQJIweP
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 21, 2024
The Houthi media office later reported airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital, Sana’a. The U.S. military carried out airstrikes on a missile storage center and a command facility operated by the Houthis, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement in X.
The attack on Tel Aviv came after Israeli airstrikes on Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people on Thursday. A school building in central Israel was attacked hours after a missile was fired from Yemen. The Houthis also claimed to have carried out a drone strike that day targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel.
Israel’s military says Iran-backed Houthi rebels have fired more than 200 missiles and drones during the 14-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and say they will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli strikes on Thursday caused “extensive damage” to Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The port of Hodeidah has been critical for transporting food to Yemen during the decades-long civil war.
A dozen children have died in an Israeli attack on Gaza
Mourners in Gaza held the funerals of 19 Palestinians – including 12 children – killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.
At least seven people, including five children and a woman, were killed and 16 others injured in an attack on a residential building in the Nusirat refugee camp in central Gaza, health officials said.
In Gaza City, an attack on a house killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, Al-Ahli Hospital said. A man hung the body, wrapped in a small shroud, as mourners gathered.
Later on Saturday, Al-Awda Hospital said an airstrike hit a house in Nuserat, killing four people, including two children, and injuring 14 others. Israel’s military said it was investigating the report.
Bodies of victims of Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat refugee camp are prepared for funeral prayers outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, December 21, 2024. (AP Photo)
And on Saturday night, large explosions could be seen on the Gaza skyline. The five bodies arrived a short time later at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when Hamas attacks on Israel killed nearly 1,200 people and started the war. Gaza’s health ministry did not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but said more than half were women and children.
Israel is facing massive international criticism for the unprecedented level of civilian casualties in Gaza. It targets only rebels and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
A northern Gaza hospital has been told to evacuate it
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in largely isolated northern Gaza, said in an online message late Saturday that Israel’s military had to evacuate the facility.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safieh claimed that intensive care units, maternity wards and other departments were being targeted and the evacuation meant transferring 66 patients.
In response to questions, Israel’s military said it was “not aware of any attack in the area of the hospital at this time.” There was no immediate response to questions about the reported evacuation order.
Gaza’s health ministry earlier reported continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, and Israel’s military issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to the hospital after its latest offensive.
Safieh said the facility faced “severe shortages,” including food, and stressed that requests for essential medical supplies and to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems “have gone largely unmet.”
Aid groups say Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hampered their ability to deliver aid.
The Israeli military organization that deals with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said on Saturday that it had led an operation to deliver thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north.
A murder in Syria
Iran on Saturday killed a local employee of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, by unidentified gunmen, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Its report quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Bagaie as saying that “terrorists” fired at Daoud Bitraf’s car. It is not clear what he did with the embassy. The shooting happened on the day opposition fighters captured Damascus and ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Baghai said Iran holds Syria’s interim government responsible for finding and prosecuting those behind the killings. Iran was a key ally of Assad.
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