Death toll in Israeli raids on Yemen’s Hodeidah rises to three

Three people have been killed and 87 wounded in Israeli air raids that hit the Yemeni city of Hodeidah on Saturday, the Ministry of Health, which operates in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, has said.

Video shows aftermath of Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

Lebanese media have posted videos of the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the town of Aadloun which hit an ammunition depot.

It shows flames and smoke rising following a large explosion. The National News Agency said the blast sent shrapnel flying, injuring several civilians.

غارة على عدلون على الاوتوستراد الساحلي الجنوبي pic.twitter.com/2NgG1und5H

— Leb Now (@leb_now) July 20, 2024

Yemenis ‘shocked and horrified’ by Hodeidah bombing

A relative of a victim of Israel’s attack on Hodeidah says residents of the port city were “shocked and horrified by the bombing”.

“We already have a severe fuel crisis, a severe electricity crisis and severe living crisis. Yemen is exhausted and this attack has further depleted the fuel and essential supplies needed by the people,” Ali Al Saqqaf told Al Jazeera, adding that lines had formed at petrol stations due to fears of a shortage.

“The American and Israeli strikes are happening in front of the world with no deterrence in place,” he said.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said the Israeli attack targeted oil storage facilities and a power plant in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, igniting a fire.

It was the first known direct attack by Israel against the Houthis since October, while the Iran-aligned Houthis have been targeting ships in the Red Sea in what they say is a bid to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza for months.

_{An explosion is seen after Israeli raids on Hodeidah, Yemen}

How's that carbon target going...

Saudi Arabia not involved in attack on Hodeidah, official says

Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, the spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry, said the kingdom “has no relation or participation in targeting Hodeidah” in Yemen.

He added that Saudi Arabia will not allow its airspace to be infiltrated by any party.

Israel must have violated someones airspace to get to Yemen

Unless the attack was launched from US aircraft carrier.

UN’s Guterres ‘deeply concerned’ by Israeli attacks on Hodeidah

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over Israel’s air attacks in and around the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, according to a statement sent to journalists.

“The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure,” Guterres said in the statement, while also calling for “utmost restraint” from all parties.

Guterres acknowledged Israel had “claimed responsibility for the strikes” and noted it was “in response for previous Houthi attacks on Israel”.

Yemen’s government denounces Israel, Houthis after Hodeidah attack

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has strongly condemned Israel over the attack on Hodeidah and warned the Iran-aligned Houthis against plunging the Yemeni people “into absurd battles in the interests of the Iranian regime”, according to the official Saba news agency.

The Yemeni government also warned Israel and Iran against “any attempt to turn Yemeni territory into an arena for their absurd wars and their subversive projects in the region”.

The government has been based in the southern city of Aden since 2015, when Houthis overtook the capital, Sanaa. The Houthis now control the country’s most populous areas.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir threatens to dismantle Palestinian Authority if US imposes sanctions

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has warned that if the US imposes sanctions on ultranationalist ministers including himself, they would respond by “completely dismantling the Palestinian Authority, including all its institutions and economy”, Israeli media has reported.

Reports suggest the Biden administration has been considering imposing sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in response to their policy of expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“The very act of imposing sanctions on Israeli citizens by the American administration, which has already begun, constitutes a severe violation of Israeli sovereignty,” Ben-Gvir said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

He added that the US was seeking to “impose sanctions on Israeli leaders who ‘sinned’ by demanding a more decisive war against terrorism”.

Sanctions do not violate sovereignty... Unless Ben-Gvir considers the USA to fall under Israeli sovereignty...

Israeli antigovernment protesters rally in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in the cities of Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem for a weekly demonstration calling on Netanyahu’s government to bring back the captives held in Gaza.

In Jerusalem, protesters carried a banner that said, “No flight without a deal”, urging Netanyahu to secure an agreement with Hamas before his departure to the US.

“Only an end to the war will bring the hostages home,” Mai Alvini-Peri, the grandson of slain captive Haim Peri, was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel.

“An end to the war will also bring an end to the government,” he added. “So you all can understand why this war is continuing so long, and why there still isn’t a hostage deal.”

_{Protesters hold placards and the Israeli flag as they gather during an antigovernment rally in Tel Aviv on July 20}

Brother of Israeli captive turns down trip to Washington with Netanyahu

Carmen Gat’s brother told Israel’s Ynet broadcaster that he will not accompany Netanyahu on his trip to Washington, DC, because the prime minister is blocking progress on a US-proposed ceasefire deal.

“Netanyahu invited me on the flight and at first, I thought it could help, that we would be able to impact things,” Alon Gat told Ynet.

“I believed that on the flight, he would announce that he was signing the deal. But as the deadline approached, we realised that this wasn’t going to happen, and instead, the opposite is true – he is hindering progress and isn’t making any decisions.”

According to Israeli media, families of several captives will accompany Netanyahu on his trip to Washington, DC, where the Israeli prime minister is expected to address the US Congress.

Bahrain welcomes ICJ advisory opinion on Israeli occupation

Bahrain has joined several other countries in welcoming the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement shared on X, Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the court’s findings support the “right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their independent national state, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Kingdom of Bahrain welcomes ICJ’s advisory opinion on legality of Israel’s policies and practices in occupied Palestinian territories. pic.twitter.com/u7I66qbUki

— Permanent Mission of Bahrain to UN in New York (@BahrainMsnNY) July 20, 2024

All states obligated to end Israeli apartheid after ICJ ruling: Palestinian lawyer

Ardi Imseis, the legal counsel for the State of Palestine, has told Al Jazeera’s Inside Story that the ICJ’s advisory opinion creates obligations for “all states on earth” to end Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian territory.

“The court has determined that Israel’s presence in the territory is accompanied by a regime of racial discrimination, racial segregation and apartheid [that] must be brought to an end forthwith by the international community,” said Imseis, who is also an associate professor of law at Queen’s University in Canada and the author of the book The United Nations and The Question of Palestine.

Imseis acknowledged that advisory opinions themselves are “on their face non-binding”, but said that some “aspects of the ruling are binding”. These include instances where the court made an “authoritative determination on how to interpret relevant international legal principles, which are themselves already binding”.

Algeria welcomes ICJ ruling on Palestine

The Algerian Foreign Ministry “strongly welcomed” the World Court’s advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, saying the ruling did justice to the Palestinian people by recognising their legitimate and inalienable rights.

“This important historic step serves to remind the international community that the essence of the conflict lies in [Israel’s] expansionist occupation policies, which are based on annexing Palestinian lands by force and usurpation, and building settlements without any borders or restrictions,” the ministry said in a statement.

The goal of these systematic violations is to destroy the Palestinian national project and eliminate the two-state solution, the ministry said.

It added that Algeria will continue its efforts in the Security Council to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people.

Oxfam accuses Israel of ‘weaponising water’ in Gaza

A recent report by Oxfam accuses Israel of weaponising water in Gaza, highlighting a dramatic reduction in water supply by 94 percent. The charity notes that most water facilities are in ruins, with Israel persistently obstructing the delivery of aid to the Strip.

Al-Aqsa Hospital receives injured children after air attack on Bureij

Video footage verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, shows a baby in critical condition and other injured children awaiting treatment in Deir el-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Hospital.

They are some of the victims of an Israeli air attack on the Abu Mosleh family home in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Girl killed in Israeli bombing of house in Nuseirat refugee camp

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian girl bombing a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Earlier, our colleagues on the ground reported that Israeli forces shelled the Ein Jaalut towers in southern Nuseirat as well as the ad-Dawa area, near the power plant and Salah al-Din Street northeast of Nuseirat.

Paramedics describe ‘horrific’ situation in Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp

Hani Mahmoud, our correspondent in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, has spoken to a paramedic and an ambulance driver who described “a horrific situation” at the Bureij refugee camp.

“Many of the wounded are left in the streets bleeding to death” in the camp located in the centre of the enclave, they told him.

Israeli heavy artillery is targeting residential homes, streets and public facilities, he added.

At least 25 people killed in Israeli strikes overnight

At least 25 Palestinians were killed overnight across Gaza and the death toll is likely to rise because there are more people trapped under the rubble.

Israeli forces have been targeting residential houses and shelters, so people don’t know where to go as they are targeted everywhere they flee to.

The situation is horrifying even in the hospitals they go to when they are injured. In Deir el-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Hospital, there are not enough beds, so injured people are lying on the floor. There are also no medical supplies in the facility.

_{Mourners carry bodies of family members to a burial ground in Khuzaa, in southern Gaza}

Israel killed 64 people across Gaza in past 24 hours: Health Ministry

At least 38,983 Palestinians have been killed and 89,727 others injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

It said 64 people were killed and 105 others were injured in the past 24 hours.

Number of killed journalists rises to 162: Gaza Media Office

Gaza’s Government Media Office has confirmed that Israeli forces killed Palestinian journalist Mutasim Mahmoud Gharab.

It said in a statement the number of journalists killed since October 7 has risen to 162.

The office added that Gharab had been working for years as a journalist for various media outlets.

Israeli authorities force family out of home ahead of demolition in Qalqilya, West Bank

Israeli forces have raided the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank and forced a family to leave their home in preparation for its demolition, according to Palestinian media reports.

The raid comes amid a recent spate of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes and reports that Israel has illegally seized more land this year in the occupied West Bank than in the previous 20 years combined.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that some of Israel’s recent expansion in the occupied West Bank was retaliation against the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic role in the growing international condemnation of Israel’s actions.

_{Israeli army forces demolish four Palestinian homes with heavy machinery during their raid at the historic Kasr Hisham area in Jericho, occupied West Bank on Thursday}

Clashes as Israeli forces raid Tubas in occupied West Bank

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting Israeli raids in the city of Tubas and the village of al-Mazraa, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

AJA, citing Palestinian media, reported clashes in Tubas between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters, including from the Qassam Brigades and the Tubas Battalion of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Israeli settlers continue West Bank attacks in defiance of ICJ ruling

Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank are relentless. They create what the ICJ has just ruled is a coercive environment meant to displace Palestinians and annex their territory.

Friday’s ICJ ruling was groundbreaking – but it has not changed the violent reality on the ground.

Israeli forces injure Palestinian youth at checkpoint near Bethlehem: Report

Israeli forces have shot and injured a young Palestinian man at a military checkpoint in Jaba village, southwest of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reported quoting Palestinian security sources.

The sources told Wafa that Israeli forces opened fire on the man early this morning, hitting him in the knee. His identity remains unknown.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society took him to Hussein Hospital in nearby Beit Jala for treatment, the report said.

Israeli settlers injure 2 people in West Bank’s Qusra: Report

Illegal Israeli settlers have injured a Palestinian and a foreign activist in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Local sources quoted in the report said the individuals were working to plough and clear weeds from village lands this morning when the Israeli settlers assaulted the two with batons and stones.

ICJ ruling calls on people to fight Israeli apartheid: South Africa

The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion shows that states “must isolate the State of Israel for continuing to… practise apartheid in Palestine,” South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola has said in a statement.

“The people of the world helped us to fight against apartheid. This ruling also called for the people of the world to help the people of Palestine, Gaza [and the] West Bank to fight this enduring apartheid by the state of Israel,” Lamola said.

Lamola added that the court’s opinion also showed that Israel’s argument that it was acting in self-defence did not hold.

“This ruling clearly shows that an occupier can’t act in self-defence,” he said.

The World Court’s ruling on Friday came following a 2022 request from the UN General Assembly and 49 submissions from member states, including South Africa. South Africa has also separately brought another case before the ICJ, alleging that Israel is committing genocide in its war on Gaza.

LISTEN | Minister Ronald Lamola reacts to the International Court of Justice’s advisory ruling on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and settlement. 19/07/2024https://t.co/YmpYyG1bn3 pic.twitter.com/IHZz2X3EnQ

— DIRCO South Africa (@DIRCO_ZA) July 20, 2024

ICJ opinion on unlawful Israeli occupation ‘consistent with EU positions’: Borrell

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, says the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and needs to end is “largely consistent with EU positions”.

“In a world of increasing violations of international law, it is our moral duty to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to all ICJ decisions,” he said on X.

The @CIJ_ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territory is largely consistent with EU positions.

In a world of increasing violations of international law, it is our moral duty to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to all ICJ decisions.

1/2https://t.co/rCJuLfcsmI

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) July 20, 2024

Israel must face consequences to deter others from ‘such cruelty’: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel must face punishment for its actions to deter anyone “from considering such cruelty again”.

Erdogan also commented on an advisory issued by the International Court of Justice that affirmed Palestinians’ right to self-determination and ruled that illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory must be evacuated.

“I hope this decision and previous ones not implemented by Israel will bring an awakening in the international community,” he said.

Israeli army says it intercepted rocket fired from Yemen

Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defence system has shot down a rocket fired from Yemen, Israel’s official Army Radio said in a post on X, as warning sirens reportedly sounded in the Israeli port city of Eilat.

The report comes after Israeli attacks on Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Saturday following a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv by Yemen’s Houthis on Friday.

Yemen’s Hodeidah port is still burning, claims Israel

A post on Israel’s official X account claims that the port of Hodeidah is still burning more than 12 hours after being hit by Israeli air strikes.

The attacks targeted about 20 oil storage tanks inside and near the port and “completely shut down” the port’s ability to receive goods by attacking cranes and other equipment, Doron Kadosh, a correspondent for Israeli Army Radio, said in a post on X.

Houthi-affiliated media reported earlier that civil defence forces and firefighters were trying to extinguish the flames, according to Reuters.

_{lames and smoke seen rising from Hodeidah port after the Israeli attack on Saturday}

Death toll in attack on Hodeidah rises to 6: Report

We have been reporting on the Israeli air attacks on an oil storage facility and a power plant in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, which killed three people and injured more than 80 others.

Medical sources in Yemen have told Reuters that at least six people were confirmed killed.


Yemen’s Health Ministry confirms 6 deaths in attack on Hodeidah

Yemen’s health authorities confirm that the death toll from the Israeli air attack on Yemen’s rebel-held port of Hodeidah has climbed to six.

The Health Ministry spokesperson, Anis al-Asbahi, explained to Yemeni news agency Saba that the victims were civilians. He also said three people were missing and 83 others were injured, most of them seriously.

Houthis claim strike on vessel in Red Sea, confirm attack on Israel’s Eilat

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have issued a statement, saying they hit Liberia-flagged cargo vessel Pumba with missiles in the Red Sea.

The armed group also confirmed an attack on the Israeli port city of Eilat.

We reported earlier that Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defence system had shot down a rocket fired from Yemen, according to Israel’s official Army Radio, as warning sirens sounded in Eilat.

The Houthi statement said the attack carried out “with a number of ballistic missiles” came in support of the Palestinian people and in response to the US, UK and Israeli attacks against Yemen.

The US and the UK have been targeting the Houthi positions in Yemen since the group started attacking vessels in the Red Sea in opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel attacked Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah yesterday following a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv by Houthis a day earlier.

Israel’s Lieberman calls for destruction of Yemen’s Hodeidah port

Israeli Army Radio has quoted Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, saying the Houthis have caused “tremendous economic damage to Israel”.

“We must not be satisfied with a one-time blow; we must completely destroy the port of Hodeidah,” he said.

He added that the “intelligence failure today against Hezbollah, Syria, Lebanon and the Shia militias in Syria is greater than it was against Hamas on the evening of October 7”.

Israel seeks to justify widening conflict to target Yemen’s Houthis

Foreign Minister Israel Katz says his apparatus “is engaging with countries and organizations worldwide to emphasize the importance and necessity of Israel’s action against the Houthis in Yemen”.

He also said in a post on X that Israel was trying “to highlight Iran’s direct responsibility for the Houthi terror group’s aggression against Israel and international shipping routes”.

“Iran endangers global peace and must be stopped now before it is too late,” Katz claimed.

His remarks came hours after Israel bombed Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port, which is still on fire. The attack was a retaliation for Friday’s Houthi air attack on Tel Aviv.

Israel is endangering what fragile peace is left in the ME by continuing the genocide in Gaza. Israel has nothing but deflection.

Attack on Yemen ‘almost certain’ to escalate into regional conflict: Israeli institute

The Israeli Institute for National Security Research of Tel Aviv University says the attack on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled areas will lead to the armed group’s violent reaction, leading to “an almost certain escalation” in the region.

It contradicted the military claim that the attack on Hodeidah aimed to cut off the arms smuggling route from Iran to the Houthis.

“Smuggling will continue and even increase. The attack will not deter or stop Houthi attacks, but could actually increase them,” it said.

The institute said Israel was sending a message to moderate Arab countries and the West, especially the US, that the policy of containment had failed and “the Houthis must be targeted stronger”.

“Israel will find it difficult to mobilize countries in the region to stand out against the Houthis, although some, especially Egypt, have been affected by their attacks on the Red Sea international trade route more than Israel,” it said. “Arab countries fear the reaction of Iran or their proxies, and want to stay out of the line of fire and hedge risks.”

Israel confirms attack on two military warehouses in southern Lebanon

We have reported earlier that the Israeli raid on the southern town of Aadloun hit an ammunition depot, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency, without saying who it belonged to.

Later, three unnamed sources told Reuters that the strike hit a Hezbollah ammunition depot.

Now, the Israeli military said in a statement on X that its forces bombed two military warehouses in the country overnight, “containing missiles and other means”. It did not say who they belonged to.

Israel claims attack on Hezbollah ‘cell’ in Hula

The Israeli military has claimed to have attacked a cell of the Hezbollah armed group in southern Lebanon’s Hula town.

The air attack was conducted shortly after the identification by the fire brigade forces of Division 91, the army claimed on X.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that a drone targeted a house in Hula with two missiles, causing injuries.

Hezbollah announces killing of its member

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has announced the killing of Mustafa Hassan Fawaz, also known as Fidaa, without elaborating on the place or time of the fighter’s death.

The 49-year-old was from the town of Dabaal in southern Lebanon, the group said on Telegram.