{"id":43295,"date":"2024-07-21T05:29:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T05:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=43295"},"modified":"2024-07-21T05:29:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T05:29:16","slug":"israel-strikes-yemen-port-after-houthi-rebels-attack-tel-aviv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/07\/21\/israel-strikes-yemen-port-after-houthi-rebels-attack-tel-aviv\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel strikes Yemen port after Houthi rebels attack Tel Aviv"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Powerful airstrikes rocked the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah a day after Israeli officials vowed revenge for a\u00a0drone that struck Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airstrikes hit a refinery and electricity infrastructure, sparking a huge blaze. The Almasirah television channel, run by Yemen\u2019s\u00a0Houthi\u00a0movement, reported late on Saturday that three people had been killed and 87 wounded in the strikes on the oil facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first direct hit on Yemen since Houthi rebels there began targeting\u00a0Israel\u00a0with missiles and drones last year. All of those attacks had been intercepted, until Friday\u2019s strike on Tel Aviv killed one person and injured at least 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Houthis\u00a0vowed to \u201cplague\u201d Israel with further attacks in response to the strikes. Early on Sunday, sirens sounded in the the Red Sea port city of Eilat, with Israel\u2019s military saying its air defences had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen before it reached Israeli territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets struck military targets in the Hodeidah Port in\u00a0Yemen\u00a0\u201cin response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said later in the evening that the port was targeted as it was used \u201cfor military purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike, he added, \u201cmakes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the state of Israel will not reach\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defence minister Yoav Gallant said \u201cthe fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear \u2026 The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almasirah TV initially said the strikes in Hodeidah were carried out by US and British forces but later withdrew the reference, according to Reuters. British and US forces have carried out\u00a0repeated strikes on Hodeidah, as recently as last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Houthi<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Saudi Arabian outlet Al Arabiya, citing unnamed sources, said the strikes targeting a fuel depot and oil refineries at the port were carried out in a joint operation by Israel, the US and the UK. It said 12 Israeli aircraft, including F-35 model fighter jets, participated in the strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four US officials said Israel acted alone on Saturday\u2019s attacks on the Houthis, with no US military involvement, the New York Times reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest airstrikes in Hodeidah follow a vow by Gallant, to \u201csettle the score\u201d after a Houthi drone struck central Tel Aviv, killing one man and injuring 10 other people. The Houthis immediately took responsibility for the attack, claiming they had used a new type of drone undetectable to radar and air defence systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli officials instead\u00a0blamed\u00a0\u201chuman error\u201d and said the military was investigating what went wrong. Chief military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said the drone had been detected by air defences but an \u201cerror\u201d meant it was not intercepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local police described how the drone exploded over an apartment block, causing a blast that shook the port city, killed one and unsettled residents, disturbed by the rare attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallant pledged to strengthen Israeli air defences after the attack amid an increase in rocket attacks from\u00a0Hezbollah\u00a0that struck northern Israel. The IDF said a barrage of 40 rockets targeted the occupied Golan Heights and Galilee in the day after the drone attack, challenging Israeli air defences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yemen\u2019s Houthis, an Iran-backed militia that control much of the country\u2019s west including the coastline, have targeted ships in the Gulf of Aden and disrupted maritime activity in the Red Sea for months in response to Israeli attacks in\u00a0Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel shot down a suspected Houthi drone headed for the Red Sea port of Eilat earlier this month with a fighter jet, while the group\u2019s attacks on shipping have greatly disrupted business at the key Israeli port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US and UK have struck the port city of Hodeidah repeatedly in response, despite the group\u2019s pledges to continue their attacks as long as the war in Gaza goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli air, naval and artillery strikes on the enclave have killed more than 38,000 people since October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netanyahu is preparing to travel to the US to address Congress on Wednesday while under growing domestic and international pressure to agree a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and to bring hostages home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was deepened by a broad and damning ruling on Friday from the UN\u2019s international court of justice (ICJ) that\u00a0Israel\u2019s settlement policies and occupation of the West Bank break international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICJ ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories\u00a0\u201cas rapidly as possible\u201d and make full reparations. It is non-binding, but will be difficult for Israel\u2019s allies to ignore, not least because the court also ruled that states are under an obligation not to recognise the occupation as lawful nor to aid or assist it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britain\u2019s Foreign Office on Friday restated its commitment to a two-state solution, as it \u201ccarefully considers\u201d the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, also announced the\u00a0UK would resume funding to Unwra,\u00a0the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday, marking a rare split with Washington over policy on the Gaza war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour pledged in its election manifesto to recognise a Palestinian state as part of a peace process, to create a \u201csafe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state\u201d, but did not set a date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netanyahu responded to the ICJ ruling, which other Israeli politicians attacked as antisemitic, by effectively claiming both the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria,\u201d he said in a statement on Friday, using biblical terms for the occupied West Bank that are common in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, passed a resolution opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Supporters included Benny Gantz, Netanyahu\u2019s main political rival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US criticised \u201cthe breadth\u201d of the ICJ\u2019s ruling. \u201cWe have been clear that Israel\u2019s programme of government support for settlements is both inconsistent with international law and obstructs the cause of peace,\u201d a US state department spokesperson said on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, we are concerned that the breadth of the court\u2019s opinion will complicate efforts to resolve the conflict,\u201d it added.

The state department said the ICJ opinion that Israel must withdraw as soon as possible from the Palestinian territories was \u201cinconsistent with the established framework\u201d for resolving the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington said that framework took into account Israel\u2019s security needs, which it says were highlighted by the 7 October attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Powerful airstrikes rocked the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah a day after Israeli officials vowed revenge for a\u00a0drone that struck Tel Aviv. Airstrikes hit a refinery and electricity infrastructure, sparking a huge blaze. The Almasirah television channel, run by Yemen\u2019s\u00a0Houthi\u00a0movement, reported late on Saturday that three people had been killed and 87 wounded in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[461,12],"tags":[6850,11363,12168,5304,11394,7358,8952,5307,5268,10446,11583,12283,11254,9331,4024,10767,6693,10507,10755,9506,7445,911,5800,10133,6159,6569,2629,2264,5579,10754,12173,10918,12957,12773,8995,11111,10954,3095,6057,7547,9463,8662,10419,9515,10454,5179,1828,8029,10342,10832,8719,5572,8101,5254,12985,7806,12287,990,5441,5568,1198,5396,9446,421,11698,11082,3174,6858,7348,11431,5524,7639,8160,5655,11259,6965,5818,3094,7931,6584,12605,5465,6348,9516,5251,2354,5570,5509],"class_list":["post-43295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-world-news","tag-aid","tag-aircraft","tag-artillery","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-bank","tag-blast","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-burning","tag-capital","tag-ceasefire","tag-citizen","tag-city","tag-common","tag-conflict","tag-congress","tag-court","tag-daniel-hagari","tag-drone","tag-drones","tag-election","tag-electricity","tag-fighter-jet","tag-fire","tag-fuel","tag-gaza","tag-government","tag-gulf","tag-hezbollah","tag-hostages","tag-houthi","tag-idf","tag-increase","tag-infrastructure","tag-injured","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem","tag-jet","tag-jets","tag-jewish-people","tag-justice","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-knesset","tag-labour","tag-land","tag-law","tag-manifesto","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-militia","tag-missile","tag-missiles","tag-model","tag-movement","tag-new-york","tag-oil","tag-palestinian","tag-parliament","tag-peace","tag-plague","tag-police","tag-politicians","tag-port","tag-prime-minister","tag-rebels","tag-red-sea","tag-refinery","tag-refugees","tag-rocket","tag-saudi","tag-security","tag-shot","tag-split","tag-strike","tag-tel-aviv","tag-territories","tag-travel","tag-uk","tag-un","tag-us","tag-us-military","tag-war","tag-washington","tag-west-bank","tag-yemen"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43297,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43295\/revisions\/43297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}