- Israel launches air strikes with a squadron of 30 fighters jets on Yemen a day after Houthis attacked its main Ben Gurion airport with a missile.
- Israeli leaders have approved plans to expand the war on Gaza and take over aid deliveries to the devastated territory, but Hamas vows Israel’s attempts will fail and rejects using aid as a “blackmail” tool.
- Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 51 people since dawn, medical sources say.
- Israel’s war has killed at least 52,567 Palestinians and wounded 118,610, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
- An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 taken captive.
Houthi-affiliated media reports two dead in Israeli strike
Al Masirah has reported two people were killed and 42 otehrs were wounded in an Israeli strike on a cement factory in the city of Bajil.
Israel has said it targeted the port of Hodeidah and the Bajil factory with 20 fighter jets.
That came a day after the Houthis launched an attack on Ben Gurion air port in Tel Aviv.
What is Israel’s strategy for fighting on all fronts?
Chatham House’s Yossi Mekelberg says that as Israel ramps up military attacks on opponents throughout the Middle East, the core issue at the heart of the situation is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“The problem is this vicious cycle can escalate very quickly into a full-blown war with no winners,” he told Al Jazeera. “Instead of scaling down and reaching a ceasefire, it’s going to escalate the situation in Gaza, and probably after President Trump’s visit to the region, it will use even more force.”
The question for Israel is what is its strategy for fighting on all fronts, said Mikelberg, noting it plans to fully take control of the territory.
“This is unsettling not only for the Palestinians, it’s unsettling for the region. And right now, you don’t see forces in the region that can stop it … and restore some logic in Gaza.”
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Here are the latest developments:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s expansion of its war in Gaza will be “intensive” and could include an indefinite military presence in the enclave and the forced displacement of its population of 2.3 million people.
- European leaders and the head of the United Nations have voiced alarm over Israel’s plan.
- Israel’s air force has struck Yemen’s Hodeidah, saying it has targeted the city’s main port and a concrete factory.
- Gaza’s Government Media Office warns that hospitals could run out of fuel in two days, saying access to fuel stores in some areas is being blocked.
- A former commander of Israel’s ground forces has called on the government to put an expiration date on the expanded Gaza offensive, saying “enough with the prolongation of the war”.
Gaza media office says hospitals two days away from collapse
Within 48 hours, hospitals across Gaza will be on the “brink of collapse”, according to the Gaza media office, which blamed Israeli forces for refusing to allow the UN and other international organisations to access some fuel stores in the enclave.
“We warn in the strongest terms of an imminent disaster threatening the lives of thousands of sick and wounded in the Gaza Strip,” the office said.
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said last week that aid workers have been repeatedly blocked from accessing fuel in “restricted” areas.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the systematic crime of the occupation of Gaza by preventing fuel from reaching hospitals,” the media office said.
“We consider it a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, a blatant breach of the Geneva Conventions, and a direct contribution to deepening the ongoing health catastrophe,” it said.
Israeli military confirms strikes targeted Hodeidah port, concrete factory
In a statement posed on X, the Israeli military confirmed the series of air strikes, saying they were “in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel”.
The statement did not specifically cite the targeting of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday. It said it struck “terrorist infrastructure” at the Hodeidah seaport, as well as a concrete factory east of Hodeidah.
The factory served as an important “economic resource” for the Houthis and is “used to build tunnels and military infrastructure”, it said.
The Houthis have been operating “with Iranian guidance and funding to harm Israel and its allies, undermine regional order, and disrupt global freedom of navigation”, it added.
Netanyahu: Gaza population to be moved in intensive Israeli attack
The Israeli prime minister says a new offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip will be an intensive military assault aimed at defeating Hamas but stopped short of detailing just how much of the enclave’s territory would be seized.
Netanyahu said Gaza’s population “will be moved for its own protection”.
Netanyahu also said Israeli soldiers would not go into Gaza, launch raids and then retreat. “The intention is the opposite of that,” he said.
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Expanded Gaza war? Situation already ‘catastrophic and tragic’
Gaza residents say they don’t expect Israel’s expanded assault will make any significant change to the already dire humanitarian situation in the territory.
“Israel has not stopped the war, the killing, the bombing, the destruction, the siege and the starvation – every day – so how can they talk about expanding military operations?” Awni Awad said.
Awad, 39, who lives in a tent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis after being displaced by Israeli orders to leave his home, said his situation is already “catastrophic and tragic”.
“I call on the world to witness the famine that grows and spreads every day,” he said.
Aya al-Skafy, a resident of Gaza City, said her baby died because of malnutrition and medicine shortages last week.
“She was four months old and weighed 2.8kg [6.2lb]. Because of severe malnutrition, she suffered from blood acidity, liver and kidney failure, and many other complications. Her hair and nails also fell out due to malnutrition.”
Hamas condemns Israeli attacks on Yemen as ‘brutal aggression’
The Palestinian group has denounced the air strikes, saying they targeted civilian sites in the city of Hodeidah and its port.
“This brutal aggression constitutes a war crime and systematic state terrorism,” Hamas said in a statement on Telegram.
The attacks come after failed attempts by Israel “to dissuade Yemen and brothers in Ansar Allah [the Houthis] from their heroic role in supporting Gaza in the face of the ongoing genocide against innocent civilians”, it said.
The Israeli military said earlier that the air strikes were “in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel”.
It said it struck “terrorist infrastructure” at the Hodeidah seaport as well as a concrete factory.
Palestinian Mujahideen Movement slams Israel attacks on Yemen
The air strikes that targeted the port of Hodeidah as well as civilian facilities and installations are “a blatant assault on Yemeni sovereignty”, a statement by the Palestinian group says.
“This brutal aggression reflects the profound Zionist-American failure and impotence in the face of the steadfast Yemeni will and their inability to break the naval and air blockade imposed by Yemen on the Zionist entity in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.”
Israel and the US have conducted new attacks on various targets in Yemen in response to a missile attack by the Houthi rebels on Sunday that hit the perimeter of Israel’s main international airport.
Bluffs by poker players’: Israel again ups rhetoric on Gaza war
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rami Khouri, a fellow at the American University of Beirut, says Israel is following a familiar playbook in its announcement of expanded attacks and an indefinite occupation of Gaza.
Israel is upping its rhetoric in hopes of getting concessions despite repeatedly failing to meet the goals set out in its threats, he said.
“Israel is trying constantly to achieve impact through its statements that it has not been able to achieve either through the negotiations or through its military acts,” Khouri said.
“Netanyahu laid out his goals early on, and he hasn’t achieved any of them. He doesn’t seem to care any more about the lives of Israeli hostages. … The negotiations don’t seem to be moving very well. He has not eliminated Hamas, and he has not expelled the Palestinians in another ethnic-cleansing process to get them out of Gaza,” he said.
“The statements … should be seen as bluffs by poker players. It’s not all bluffs, but the moves are designed to be intimidating to the opposition and to get some kind of reaction.”
Pro-Palestinian activists allow inspector aboard Freedom Flotilla boat
Pro-Palestinian activists aboard a damaged vessel allowed a Maltese surveyor to inspect it and six crew members have agreed to disembark.
Prime Minister Robert Abela previously said Malta could tow the stricken vessel Conscience to port for repairs once a maritime expert was allowed to board the ship and study the results of Friday’s alleged drone attack.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition planned to pick up supporters, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, in Malta then sail on to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian victims of Israel’s blockade and renewed military assault.
A fire broke out on board the vessel after what the group says was a double drone strike, which the activists said was most likely launched by Israel.
Neither Israel nor Malta, whose vessels intervened to help douse the fire, have confirmed the attack.
Trump talks to Turkiye’s Erdogan on situation in Gaza, Syria
The US president says he has had a “very good and productive” telephone call with his Turkish counterpart over a number of hot-button global issues.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey Recep [Tayyip] Erdogan concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more,” the US president said in a social media post shared on multiple platforms.
“The president invited me to go to Turkey at a future date and, likewise, he will be coming to Washington, DC,” he added.
US did not participate in Israeli attack on Yemen: Defence official
A defence official has denied the US military took part in Israel’s air strikes on Hodeidah.
“US forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes on Yemen today,” the official told Al Jazeera, speaking on condition of anonymity and referring further questions to the Israeli military.
Several news reports earlier said the bombing was a joint US-Israeli operation.
UN chief ‘alarmed’ by Israeli military plan for Gaza
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by Israel’s decision to expand military action in Gaza and seek the “conquest” of the territory, according to a spokesman.
“This will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza,” Farhan Haq said. “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state.”
Netanyahu said earlier that the war’s expansion would be “intensive” after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the enclave as a whole.
Israeli minister predicts little push back from Trump on Gaza plans
Minister Ze’ev Elkin has downplayed the prospect of US President Donald Trump pushing back on plans for Israel’s military to indefinitely occupy Gaza following the war.
“I don’t feel that there is pressure on us from Trump and his administration – they understand exactly what is happening here,” said Elkin.
Trump has previously called for the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.
The White House has not yet responded to Israel’s recent expansion of its military assault on the enclave.
Israeli attack on Yemen will be ‘massive and sustained’
Rami Khouri from the American University of Beirut says Israel’s attack on Yemen was “pretty much inevitable” after Houthis bombed Ben Gurion airport on Sunday.
“Like all Israeli strikes, it’s going to be massive and sustained, destroy a lot of civilian stuff and kill a lot of people who are not involved in the military,” Khouri told Al Jazeera.
“It’s designed to send a message that anybody who hurts Israel is going to get hurt with much greater intensity. This is how Zionism and then the state of Israel has always behaved. They have the power now to do almost anything they want militarily across the Middle East.”
He added: “The combination of the US and Israel, there is no stronger pair of military forces in the world.”
Hodeidah strikes target cement factory
Israeli media report the strikes on Hodeidah have targeted a concrete factory used to support Houthi military industries.
No casualties have been reported so far. Neither Israel nor the Houthis have released official statements on the attack.
Israel Hayom, quoting an unnamed Israeli security source, said the attack on Yemen was carried out in eight waves. Channel 12, also quoting an unidentified official, said 48 bombs were dropped and the port of Hodeidah suffered “a severe blow”.
Why is Israel attacking Yemen?
The Houthis, an Iran-allied Yemeni rebel group, fired a ballistic missile that hit the perimeter of Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday, damaging a road and vehicles and lightly wounding eight people.
In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree warned airlines that Ben Gurion is “no longer safe for air travel”. The attack led to a brief suspension of flights at the airport outside Tel Aviv.
The armed group has been carrying out attacks against Israel in stated opposition to its war and blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Writing on social media, Netanyahu said attacks from the Houthis ultimately “emanate from Iran”.
“Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters,” Netanyahu said.
Nine sites reportedly hit in Yemen attacks
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem has reported that Houthi-affiliated media say a total of nine sites have been hit in the port city of Hodeidah.
Israeli media said at least 30 Israeli fighter jets were involved in strikes on Yemen, which come a day after the Houthis attacked Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv with a missile landing near the facility.
A senior US official told Axios news the raids are being carried out in coordination with the US. Al Jazeera could not immediately confirm that information.