- The US launches air attacks on Yemen’s Houthis, with President Donald Trump warning that “hell will rain down” over attacks on Red Sea shipping. At least 19 people have been killed.
- The attacks come after the Houthis threatened to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea over the total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has now entered its third week.
- Israeli forces continue attacks on Gaza despite the ceasefire, killing at least nine people including relief workers and journalists, in Beit Lahiya.
- Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 48,543 Palestinians have been confirmed killed and 111,981 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office has updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli attacks killed 12 in Gaza on Saturday
Here’s a breakdown of the toll:
- At least nine people, most of them aid workers, were killed in an Israeli drone strike on northern Beit Lahiya.
- Two people were killed in an Israeli drone attack in the central town of Juhor ad-Dik.
- A Palestinian boy was shot and killed in Beit Lahiya.
- Another woman was also shot in the back in the same attack, while a second Palestinian was shot and wounded in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah. Eight others were also wounded after an Israeli quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on a tent belonging to the Al-Qan family in the Al-Shakoush area, northwest of Rafah.
Altogether, Israeli forces have killed 150 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect on January 19, according to local authorities.
‘No military or political logic’ to US attacks on Houthis
Nabeel Khoury, a former US diplomat, says Trump’s decision to launch attacks against the Houthis is misguided, and will not subdue them.
“For our president who came in wanting to avoid war and wanting to be a man of peace, he’s going about it the wrong way. There are many paths that can be used before you resort to war,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.
The danger to shipping in the Red Sea is “a justifiable reason for concern”, the former diplomat said, but added that it is a problem that could be resolved through diplomacy.
The Houthis, who have been “bombed severely all over their territory” in the past, are not likely to be subdued through “a few weeks of bombing”, Khoury said.
“If you think that Hamas, living and fighting on a very small piece of land, totally surrounded by land, air and sea, and yet, 17 months of bombardment by the Israelis did not get rid of them. The Houthis lived in a much more rugged space, mountainous regions – it would be virtually impossible to eradicate them,” he said.
“So there is no military logic to what’s happening, and there is no political logic either.”
The last Houthi attack on a US ship was in December
US President Donald Trump ordered these attacks, saying this is to stop the Houthi raids. And the Trump administration has also sent signals that this could be a prolonged campaign.
It’s important to point out that the Houthi attacks have stopped since the ceasefire in Gaza, although the Houthis were threatening to strike again.
His other justification is saying that no US-flagged vessel has transited the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden safely in more than a year.
And then he says another reason is because Houthis attacked a US military warship.
That happened when Trump was not president.
The White House is now putting out more of a communique, saying that before the attacks, there were 25,000 ships that transited the Red Sea annually. Now it’s down to 10,000 so, obviously, sort of shooting down the president’s concept that nobody is actually transiting the region.
And it did list the number of attacks. The US commercial ships have been attacked 145 times since 2023 in their list.
The last one is was December, again, before Trump was inaugurated.
US warplanes raze four areas in Yemen
So far, Ansar Allah (Houthi) media sources say that at least four areas have been razed by the US warplanes that targeted, in particular, a residential area north of the capital, Sanaa.
We are talking about a new escalation and a new wave of air attacks that have been ordered by the newly-appointed US President Donald Trump.
He said that the new air attacks will be different from previous attacks.
The Ansar Allah (Houthis), during the previous speech, said they have imposed a ban on the Israeli maritime vessels in the Red Sea and the Arab Sea.
They also said that this is just one step forward and that they have more options on the table.
So, they are warning that they could further escalate in case the Israeli siege on Gaza is to continue.
Death toll from US attacks on Yemen rises to 19
Earlier, the Houthis reported that at least 13 civilians were killed and nine wounded in the US attacks on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV is now reporting that six others were killed in a US raid on the northern province of Saada.
The victims included four children and one woman.
Eleven others were also wounded.
A recap of recent developments
- US President Donald Trump orders large-scale attacks on Yemen’s Houthi’s, warning “hell will rain down” on the rebel group over its threat to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea.
- The US attacks, including on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, killed at least 13 people and wounded nine others, according to the Houthis.
- Israel continued bombing the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire deal, killing at least nine people, most of them aid workers, in a drone attack on northern Beit Lahiya.
- Palestinians in Gaza are facing a severe water crisis and struggling to get basic items as Israel’s blockade on the Strip enters its third week.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel is ready to resume ceasefire talks based on a US proposal that calls on Hamas to immediately free 11 living captives, as well half of those who are dead, in exchange for extending the truce until mid-April.
- Protesters in the US again took to the streets of New York in support of detained Palestinian student, Mahmoud Khalil, who is facing deportation for taking part in pro-Palestine protests on Columbia University.
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