Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, setting off sirens late Monday in central areas including Tel Aviv.
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.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 people, over half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli airstrikes and bombardments had killed at least 27 people over the past day alone. Israel says its forces only target militants.
In Syria, Ukraine is pledging support for the new government that ousted Bashar Assad, who had been a key Russian ally in the Mideast. The Ukrainian foreign minister met with Syria’s de facto leader on Monday during a visit to Damascus.
Meanwhile, the United Nations humanitarian agency said Monday that Israel allowed a U.N. and Palestinian Red Crescent team to deliver medical supplies, food and water to critical patients in northern Gaza a day earlier.
The patients had been forced by Israeli soldiers to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and had been taken to the Indonesian Hospital, which is not functioning, the U.N. said. Some of those patients were later detained by Israeli soldiers.
“Ten patients were evacuated from the (Indonesian) hospital, four of whom were arrested by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leaving the area,” the U.N. humanitarian office known as OCHA said.
“Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the facility, which is severely damaged and has no ability to provide medical care,” it said.
The U.N. humanitarian office is warning that the Israeli onslaught on health care and humanitarian access in Gaza, combined with relentless strikes that kill and wound civilians daily, is dismantling the means for Palestinians to survive.