Yemen’s Houthi rebels threatened “massive” retaliation against Israel on Sunday after a deadly attack on Hodeida port, as violence sparked by the Gaza war grips the region.
Israel bombed the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Yemen this week in response to attacks by Iran-backed militant groups.
The Israeli military said it destroyed a missile fired from Yemen during its offensive into the besieged Gaza Strip, despite Washington claiming that a deal to end more than nine months of devastating war between Israel and Gaza ruler Hamas was near the “goal line”.
Dozens of people have been killed in Gaza since Saturday, the civil protection agency said, including in attacks on homes in the central Nuseirat and Bureij areas and displaced people near southern Khan Younis.
Residents said a major operation was underway in a Saudi district west of Rafah in the south, with heavy shelling and clashes reported.
The deadly attacks in Gaza came hours after Hezbollah and its ally Hamas said they would fire on Israeli targets from south Lebanon, while Yemen’s Houthi rebels vowed to respond to a strike by Israeli warplanes on a key port.
On Sunday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sari said the rebels’ “response to the Israeli aggression against our country is inevitable and it will be massive.”
the fire is still raging
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Saturday that the blaze sparked by attacks on the rebel-held Hodeida port “is being watched throughout the Middle East and its significance is clear.”
The Houthis control large parts of Yemen, including much of the Red Sea coast, while the internationally recognised government has retreated to Aden on the southern coast.
Detailing the first Israeli strikes in Yemen, Gallant warned of further operations if the Houthis “have the audacity to attack us”. A Houthi was killed in a rebel drone strike in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Three people were killed and 87 wounded in Hodeida, health officials said in a statement carried by Houthi media.
Firefighters struggled to douse huge blazes caused by the assault on Hodeida, with a port worker saying fuel storage tanks and a power plant were still ablaze on Sunday.
Following the attacks, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen toward the Red Sea resort city of Eilat. Saari said rebels had fired ballistic missiles toward the port city.
Netanyahu visits Washington
All three militant groups have vowed to continue attacking Israel until the violence in Gaza ends. The situation in Gaza is dire and most residents have been forced to flee their homes.
The Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,195 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli data.
The militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, 42 of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
At least 38,983 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military retaliation to crush Hamas, according to health ministry figures in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The war has also led to hunger and health crises in Gaza, with both Israel and the United Nations blaming each other for preventing vital aid supplies from reaching those in need.
After poliovirus was detected in Gaza’s sewage, although there were no individual cases, the World Health Organization said there were “major” obstacles to responding in time.
World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said on Friday that the agency believed several diseases were “spreading out of control” inside Gaza.
The months-long war has also brought Israelis out into the streets, sometimes by the thousands, focused on securing the release of the remaining hostages.
“Bring them home,” protester Ofira Azrieli appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
The Prime Minister will address US lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, where he will be under pressure to reach a ceasefire with Hamas.
He will meet US President Joe Biden on Tuesday, his office announced.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
