The Associated Press /
Palestinians sit beside the bodies of members of the Ahmed family, including the parents and their two children, who were killed in an Israeli army strike, Thursday at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
An Israeli strike killed at least four people in northern Gaza, including two children, hospital officials said Thursday. The Israeli military said the attack killed a militant.
Separately, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha, according to Houthi and Yemeni officials, bringing the rebels closer to controlling a critical waterway to the Red Sea.
Two children are killed in a Gaza strike
Two children were among the dead after Israel carried out a new strike in the northern Gaza community of Beit Lahiya, according to Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
The strike killed a husband and wife, alongside their two daughters, aged 8 and 12.
“There is nothing that can justify Israel attacking this home,” said Zuheir al-Heisami, a neighbor of the family, at the hospital. He said the strike happened at about 2 a.m. “These were two children and their parents that were killed while they were asleep.”
The Israeli military in a statement said the strike in Beit Lahiya “eliminated” a militant who had taken part in attacks against its forces.
Israel’s military in the past has said it carries out strikes in response to threats against its forces under the fragile ceasefire that has been in place since October.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels take key port city
The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group on Thursday took over Yemen’s port city of Mokha, Houthi and Yemeni officials said.
Mokha is about 50 miles from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic waterway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden through which about 12% of the world’s oil and other goods are shipped.
The Bab el-Mandeb has become even more important for global energy supplies since shipping through the nearby Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by Iran after it was attacked by the United States and Israel in February.
The Houthis’ takeover of Mokha was confirmed to The Associated Press by Ahmed Baash, a commander with the National Resistance Forces allied with Yemen’s government, and Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau.
Hans Grundberg, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, warned that the nation now faces the “harsh reality” of a return to war. Grundberg told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Thursday afternoon that the international community must address this “new and more dangerous phase — one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen’s borders.”
Neighboring Saudi Arabia said it would take all measures necessary to deter Houthi attacks. Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil told the U.N. Security Council that the kingdom reaffirms its right to protect its “territorial integrity in accordance with the (U.N.) Charter and international law.”
Clash at UN Security Council over Iran
Nearly a year after the U.N. Security Council reimposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the U.S., the U.K. and their council allies called on Tehran to implement the tough measures and allow inspectors into all its facilities.
But Russia and China reiterated their claim that reimposing sanctions against Iran was illegal. Russia vowed to oppose any actions to legitimize the “snapback” of sanctions.
The meeting Thursday followed a decision by the U.N. nuclear agency’s board to report Iran to the Security Council for the first time in 20 years, citing its failure to explain uranium traces inspectors found at undeclared sites.
British U.N. Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh said the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report needs addressing with “utmost urgency.” Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the report “politicized.”
Iran says it is not pursuing nuclear weapons and its program is entirely peaceful.