Israeli soldiers stormed and burned a hospital in isolated northern Gaza after forcibly removing staff and patients on Friday, Health Ministry officials said. The Israeli military said the hospital was being used by Hamas fighters as a base, although it did not provide evidence.
Gaza's Health Ministry said Israeli troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan Hospital, including the lab and surgery department. Israel's military said there was only a small fire in an empty hospital building, and was unaware of any Israeli gunfire causing the blaze.
Meanwhile in Israel, an 83-year-old woman was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian from the West Bank, and police say the suspect was arrested.
Early Saturday, Israel's military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen's Houthi rebels, as sirens woke Israelis yet again. On Thursday, Israeli warplanes bombed key infrastructure in Yemen. The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won't stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has killed over 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
Hamas ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage by Palestinian militants. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although only two-thirds are believed to still be alive.
Here’s the latest:
Sirens sounded in Israel yet again shortly after midnight on Saturday, as the military intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the military said in a statement. The Israeli Air Force said it shot down the missile before it crossed into Israeli territory, while sirens were sounded near Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
UNITED NATIONS — Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport just as a civilian Airbus 320 with hundreds of passengers on board was landing, according to the top United Nations humanitarian official for Yemen.
Julien Harneis witnessed the strikes Thursday, which slammed into the Sanaa airport as a U.N. delegation led by the head of the World Health Organization was waiting to leave.
“Fortunately, that plane was able to land safely and the passengers were able to disembark, but it could have been far, far worse,” Julien Harneis told U.N. reporters Friday
Harneis said the staff in the airport's control tower were killed — the U.N. has said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded. Harneis said shrapnel hit a crew member from the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service, who suffered a serious leg injury and lost a lot of blood.
Israel said it bombed the airport because it is used by Yemen's Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and have been attacking Israel as well as shipping in the Red Sea.
Harneis emphasized that the airport is civilian, not military, and is used for transporting U.N. and other humanitarian workers, and for one civilian flight — Yemenia Airways to and from Amman, Jordan. It operates as a result of an international agreement and thousands of Yemenis have used the flight to get advanced medical treatment abroad, he said.
Israel’s military says it wasn’t aware the WHO chief or the delegation was at the location in Yemen. The U.N. team, including the wounded air crew member, have since left Yemen for Jordan.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Displaced Palestinian families living in makeshift tent camps along the desolate beach in Deir al-Balah say there's no way to stay warm as winter hits the Gaza Strip.
Wind from the sea whips through shelters of torn tarps and bedsheets, held together with rope and wooden frames. They offer little insulation to Muhammad al-Sous, his wife and their five kids. Their tent is right on the beach beside a sandy bluff, just meters (yards) from the waves, and he says high seas washed away most of their belongings.
“These children, I swear to God, their mother and I cover ourselves with one blanket and we cover them with three blankets that we got from neighbors,” he said. The kids collect plastic bottles to burn for warmth in front of their tent.
“Everyone has nothing but what they are wearing. When my wife bathes them, she washes their clothes and hangs them up to dry while they stay here under the covers until their clothes are dry,” said al-Sous, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya.
At least three babies died from the cold this week while sleeping in tents, according to doctors at Nasser Hospital. A nurse who worked at the European Hospital also died of exposure in a tent. Overnight temperatures have dipped as low as 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) in the territory.
Meanwhile, Atta al-Hassoumi, another man displaced from Beit Lahiya along with eight family members, said they pray for mild weather without rain or storms.
“We are shivering from the cold and from the situation that we are in. … I'm unable to work or do anything in war, and I am unable to do anything for them,” he said.
SANAA, Yemen — Tens of thousands of people in Yemen joined a weekly demonstration in the Houthi rebel-controlled capital of Sanaa on Friday to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
This week’s protest came a day after a new round of Israeli airstrikes in the country targeted Sanaa and multiple ports. At least three people were reported killed and dozens injured in the airport strike. The U.S. military has also bombed the Houthis in recent days.
Protesters chanted anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans and burned Israeli and U.S. flags. They were seen carrying rifles, Palestinian, Lebanese and Yemeni flags as well as banners.
Yemen’s Houthis have been a key component during the Middle East wars of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” that includes the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel, as well as attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
UNITED NATIONS – The head of the U.N. World Health Organization says the high-level team that was at Yemen’s main airport during Israeli airstrikes has arrived in Jordan with an injured air crew member.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his arrival on X on Friday and said the injured crew member of the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service “will receive further medical treatment” in Jordan.
The U.N. said at least three people were killed and dozens injured in Thursday’s Israeli attack on the international airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa where the WHO director-general and the U.N. team were about to depart.
Israel said it was targeting the airport because it is used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the capital and have been launching missiles and drones at Israel.
U.N. associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay told reporters later Friday when asked whether Tedros was still in Jordan: “My understanding is that he is on his way to Geneva.”
DAMASCUS, Syria — Hundreds of members of the main insurgent group that overthrew former President Bashar Assad from power marched through the streets of the capital in a show of force.
The fighters with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, gathered at the Abbasiyeen square on Friday afternoon before they driving vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns through different neighborhoods of Damascus.
The show of force by HTS came days after members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect protested in different parts of the country, leading to exchanges of fire in some areas.
Until Assad’s fall earlier this month, Alawites held senior positions in the military and security agencies in Syria. HTS fighters are Sunni Muslims who are the majority sect in the country.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Hundreds of Syrian demonstrators gathered after Friday payers in several cities calling for unity against sectarian divisions and to memorialize rebel fighters who have died.
It marked the third consecutive Friday of demonstrations since Bashar Assad’s government was overthrown in a sweeping offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Many Syrians are fearful that the relatively peaceful conditions since Assad’s fall could break down into sectarian fighting.
Mass rallies took place in the capital Damascus, Hama, Daraa, and Homs, with participants carrying the new Syrian flag and chanting slogans in support of the country’s new leadership, as seen by an Associated Press journalist and reported by Syria's state media.
Scores of former rebels took part in the protest in Damascus, marching in crisp camouflage uniforms and raising weapons and flags.
“These people shed their blood for such a day," said Mohammad Abu Safi, a protester in Umayyad Square. "We must remember them and keep them in our minds.”
A group of people held a large wooden cross next to a copy of the Quran, chanting for unity. Other participants carried banners with slogans rejecting division and extremism, urging Syrians to unite against the remnants of the Assad government.
Sawsan Abbasi held posters of her cousin Rania Abbasi and her six children who went missing during Syria’s civil war. “We don’t know what happened to them. We have six missing children. We want to find them,” she said.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops stormed and set fire to one of the last hospitals operating in the northernmost part of Gaza on Friday, forcing many of the staff and patients out of the facility, the territory’s health ministry said.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops, according to staff. Israel says it is waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods.
Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the area of the hospital, without providing details. It repeated claims that Hamas fighters were operating inside Kamal Adwan , though it provided no evidence.
Hospital officials have denied the accusations.
The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the hospital yard and remove their clothes amid the winter temperatures. They were led out of the hospital, some to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israeli raid earlier this week.
The ministry said troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the hospital’s lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there. The ministry’s account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to contact hospital staff were unsuccessful.
Israel’s military said there was only a small fire in an empty hospital building, and was unaware of any Israeli gunfire causing the blaze.
Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the north Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and levelled large parts of the districts.
Last week, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders accused Israel of systematically attacking Gaza’s healthcare system and restricting essential humanitarian assistance.
DAMASCUS—Dozens of relatives of missing Syrians gathered Friday in Damascus to demand answers about the fate of their loved ones, as many Syrians have been missing for years, some disappearing after being detained by the now-toppled government of Bashar Assad.
The gathering comes nearly three weeks after insurgents freed dozens of people from Syrian prisons following the fall of Assad’s government. Since then, no additional detainees have been found, leaving thousands of families still in anguish over the fate of their missing relatives.
Relatives have been traveling across Syria in search of information.
“We accept nothing less than knowing all details related to what happened to them,” said Wafa Mustafa, whose father, Ali Mustafa, has been missing for over a decade.
“Who is responsible for their detention? Who tortured them? If they were killed, who killed them? Where were they buried?” Mustafa said, speaking at the gathering held at Al-Hijaz Station in Damascus.
In 2023, the United Nations established an independent body to investigate the fate of more than 130,000 people missing during the Syrian conflict.
Marah Allawi, whose son Huzaifa was detained in 2012 at the age of 18, said she saw “how they tortured young men, how they put them in cages and tortured them.”
She called on the international community to act. “I call on the whole world to know where our sons are.”
SANAA, Yemen -- The international airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeida resumed operations Friday, a day after being struck by Israeli missiles, Yemeni officials said.
Deputy Transport Minister Yahya al-Sayani told a press conference that the Israeli airstrikes at Sanaa International Airport hit the control tower, navigation systems and the departures terminal. He said flights resumed on Friday as scheduled.
The strikes Thursday afternoon at the airport and the Hodeida seaport killed six people and wounded 40 others, according to the Health Ministry. The airport’s director, Khaled al-Shaif, said travelers were in the airport at the time of the strike.
Israel said its strikes targeted the infrastructure of Yemen’s Houthi rebels in retaliation for repeated volleys of missiles fired by the rebels toward central Israel in recent days.
The strikes on the airport came as the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was preparing to board a plane nearby. Ghebreyesus said Friday on X that a U.N. colleague wounded in the strike underwent surgery and was in stable condition, but has not yet been evacuated from Yemen.
BEIRUT — Israeli warplanes carried three airstrikes deep into eastern Lebanon on Friday for the second time since a ceasefire ended the war between Hezbollah and Israel a month ago, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said.
No casualties were reported in the strikes on the Bekaa Valley town of Qousaya and the target remained unclear. The Israeli military said its air force struck “infrastructure used to smuggle weapons via Syria” to Hezbollah near the Janta crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, about 9 kilometers (5 miles) north of Qousaya. Israel accused Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 of overseeing smuggling operations from Iran through Syria, adding that it had killed the unit’s commander in early October.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27, the Israeli army has conducted near-daily operations in southern Lebanon, including shootings, house demolitions, excavations, tank shelling and airstrikes. These actions have killed at least 27 people, wounded more than 30 and destroyed residential buildings, including a mosque.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, said it has observed “concerning actions” by Israeli forces, including the destruction of homes and road closures.
On Thursday, the Lebanese army accused Israeli troops of breaching the ceasefire by encroaching into southern Lebanon. Israeli bulldozers erected dirt barricades to block roads in Wadi Al-Hujayr.
The Lebanese army later on Thursday said that following intervention by the ceasefire supervision committee, Israeli forces withdrew, and Lebanese soldiers removed the barriers to reopen the road in the area.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire, which ended the 14-month war, demands that Hezbollah and Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, allowing Lebanese troops to gradually deploy south of the Litani River.
JERUSALEM — Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a missile toward Israel early Friday, hours after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on Yemen’s main airport.
The Israeli military said the Houthi missile was intercepted by air defenses before it entered Israeli territory. Air raid sirens were set off in several areas in central Israel.
A day earlier, a wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport outside the capital, Sanaa, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, according to the U.N.
The strikes hit just as the World Health Organization’s director-general was about to board a flight at the airport. Israel said it attacked infrastructure used bv the Houthis.
For several days this past week, Houthi launches have set off air raid sirens in Israel. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, saying their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.
TEL AVIV — A Palestinian from the West Bank stabbed to death an 83-year-old woman in Israel on Friday, police said.
The attack took place in the town of Herzliya on the Mediterranean coast outside Tel Aviv. Police said the attacker was arrested.
A medic with Israel’s emergency services, Kobi Avriel, said first responders found the woman unconscious on the sidewalk outside a nursing home with stabbing wounds. The Tel Aviv Ichilov Medical Center said she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Israel has experienced an increase in attacks amid a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the military’s nearly 15-month-old war in Gaza.
UNITED NATIONS – An estimated 730,000 people living in tents in camps for the displaced in northwest Syria are experiencing dire conditions this winter including from flooding, the U.N. humanitarian office said.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said Thursday that more than 200 family tents in camps in Idlib and northern Aleppo were damaged by flooding from heavy rainfall on Dec. 23.
“Since the start of 2024, flooding and strong winds have damaged more than 8,800 family tents – including nearly 2,000 that were fully destroyed – across 260 camps," OCHA said.
On another issue, OCHA quoted a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain, that since Dec. 8 -– when Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted --- episodes involving explosive ordnance have killed more than 70 civilians including a dozen children and five women, with scores more injured.
OCHA said mine experts have identified 109 new minefields across Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia since Nov. 26. So far, it said experts have destroyed more than 850 individual items of explosive ordnance.
Elsewhere, OCHA said Israeli forces on Wednesday reportedly wounded six civilians when they opened fire in Al-Suweisah town in Quneitra province, which includes the Golan Heights. It said residents were ordered to evacuate and Israeli forces imposed a curfew.
