Israeli fighter jets struck the presidential palace in Yemen’s capital for the first time since the Houthi rebels joined the regional war, after the Iran-backed group fired a missile carrying a cluster warhead.
The Israeli air force said it attacked “military and energy” facilities in the capital of Sanaa, which has been held by the Shia offshoot militants since their takeover in 2014, hitting the presidential palace and a site for fuel storage and power plants, as seen in footage showing large fireballs above the capital.
“The strikes were conducted in response to repeated attacks by the Houthi regime,” a statement read on Sunday, “including the launch of surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs.”
Six people were killed and dozens wounded, Houthi health officials said.
Israeli jets launched strikes against Sanaa after a reported missile attack by Houthi rebels on Israel
ALAMY
On Friday, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile armed with a cluster warhead for the first time since they joined the war against Israel alongside Iran’s allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Cluster munitions were last used against Israel during the war with Iran in June, causing widespread damage and multiple deaths by dispersing large numbers of tiny bomblets from a missile that scatters mid-flight over a wide area. The Houthis did not comment on the claim, while Israel said the missile was not intercepted and shrapnel was found in central Israel.
The Houthis have been consistently targeting maritime routes, threatening global shipping and American and Israeli assets, claiming to have joined the war against Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They have only frozen their launches during the two brief ceasefire periods.
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On Sunday, Israel escalated its attacks on Gaza City before an operation to conquer what Israel says is Hamas’s heartland. In Jabaliya, a densely populated refugee camp north of Gaza City, there were reports of heavy explosions overnight, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) saying it razed booby-trapped houses.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the Houthis were “learning the hard way that it will pay and is paying a very heavy price for its aggression against Israel”.
Civilians who have not fled south said that Israeli aircraft and tanks hit the eastern and northern outskirts after the IDF bolstered its troop presence and blew up buildings. Many say they fear the once bustling urban area will look like Rafah’s moonscape after Israel’s intense military operation all but bulldozed the city in May last year. Similar operations also took place in Zeitoun and Shejaia, in northern Gaza. Israel plans to mobilise tens of thousands of reservists in early September to scale up the attack.
Yemenis protest against Israel and in support of Palestinians in Gaza
MOHAMMED HUSAIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Also on Sunday, the Hamas-run health ministry said a further 30 people were killed, including children, while seeking aid. The UN body in charge of humanitarian affairs warned that there is a “man-made” famine in parts of Gaza, a result of “systematic obstruction, indifference and delay”.
OCHA, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, echoed an earlier confirmation from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), also a UN-backed body, that famine exists and is likely to spread in the coming weeks, barring a let-up in the war.
Israel denies that there is starvation in Gaza, accusing Hamas of a propaganda campaign to de-legitimise what it says is a war of self-defence after it killed more than 1,100 Israelis and captured some 250 on October 7, 2023.
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On Sunday, the military body which controls aid into Gaza said many of those Hamas has marked as killed by starvation had pre-existing illnesses, publishing the medical history of a three-year-old boy who had a hereditary disease called Fanconi syndrome which showed he had failed to gain weight, dated May 2023 — before the war.
Unverified reports also suggested Hamas had executed four Gazans, including a 32-year-old humanitarian aid worker, for collaborating with Israel.
The Yemeni capital Sanaa has been held by Houthi militants since their takeover in 2014
AFP
While Israel tries to take control of the last parts of Gaza not yet under military control, efforts are underway to reach a ceasefire deal. Israel has insisted on a comprehensive agreement that would see all the remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, released at once.
The IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said the military action creates the conditions for their release, but much of the Israeli public is now trying to put more pressure on the government to reach a deal.
Protesters gathered in Hostage Square on Saturday night, but their attempts to call for a second nationwide strike Sunday did not gather speed. Instead, hostage families demonstrated outside the homes of key government figures and accused the defence establishment of failing their loved ones.
Meanwhile, a British man has been accused of seeking a rabbi’s permission to assassinate Israel’s attorney-general, Gali Baharav-Miara.
Israel Ezagui, 36, who is studying in Jerusalem, was indicted on Friday for making threats against Baharav-Miara’s life.
Ezagui’s attorney said he had no real intent to murder the attorney-general, who has become a divisive figure after increasing pressure on ultra-Orthodox Israelis who try to dodge military draft.