Houthis say Israel will 'pay price' after bombing Yemeni port city

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Saudi Arabia is not linked to or participating in targeting Hodeidah in Yemen, Ministry of Defence spokesperson Turki al-Malki said on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia will not allow its airspace to be infiltrated by any party, he added.

Three people were killed and 87 wounded in Israeli airstrikes near the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, Al-Masirah TV reported on Sunday, citing Yemen's health ministry.

Israel's military said on Saturday there was no indication of a security incident in the Red Sea port city of Eilat after reports of explosions were heard there.

"A short while ago, reports were received regarding explosions heard in the area of Eilat. It was found that no projectiles were fired toward the area of the city and no interceptor was launched. There is no indication of a security incident," the military claimed.

Videos shared online alleged that Israel activated air defense systems to intercept a projectile over Eilat.

A few minutes ago in Eilat, in the south of Israel, air defense systems were activated. Explosions occurred in the city. pic.twitter.com/bDIXnAnDMK

— S p r i n t e r (@SprinterFamily) July 20, 2024

The Israeli military said on Saturday it was looking into initial reports of explosions heard in the Red Sea port city of Eilat.

JUST IN 🚨

Israeli air defenses seen working in Eilat pic.twitter.com/Y1GiTMujye

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 20, 2024

Israeli strikes late on Saturday targeted a depot storing ammunition belonging to Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, three security sources told Reuters.

The strikes on the town of Adloun, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Lebanon's border with Israel, set off a string of loud explosions heard by witnesses across the south of Lebanon.

At least four civilians in Adloun were wounded in the strikes, a medical source and a security source told Reuters.

مشاهد أولية.. غارة إسرائيلية على بلدة عدلون الساحلية وسماع أصوات انفجارات متتالية في المنطقة pic.twitter.com/lgd3UT18nD

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) July 20, 2024

Lebanon's Hezbollah group said Saturday's strikes by Israel on its Yemeni allies, the Houthis, marked a dangerous turn nine months into the Gaza war.

"The foolish step taken by the Zionist enemy heralds a new, dangerous phase of a very important confrontation across the entire region," the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

At least 80 people were wounded in Israeli strikes that hit the Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Saturday, the health ministry run by the rebel group said.

The strikes, which triggered a massive blaze in the port area, left "80 wounded, most of them with severe burns," the rebel ministry said in a statement carried by Houthi media.

It did not report any deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday that Israel will "defend ourselves by all means", hours after fighter jets bombed a port in Yemen.

"I have a message for Israel's enemies: Make no mistake. We will defend ourselves by all means, on all fronts. Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression," he said in a televised address the day after a drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.

Yemen's Houthis will not hesitate in attacking "vital targets" in Israel, a military spokesman for the movement said on Saturday after Israel carried out airstrikes on the port city of Hodeidah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed a port struck by Israeli fighter jets in Yemen on Saturday was used as an entry point for the Houthi militia to receive Iranian weapons.

Netanyahu said the strike, some 1,800 km (1,120 miles) from Israel's borders, was a reminder to enemies that there was no place that Israel could not reach.

The Supreme Political Council of Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday there would be an "effective response" to Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah port.

Israel's military said Israeli fighter jets had struck Houthi military targets in the area of Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to hundreds of attacks carried out against Israel in recent months.

The top UN court's ruling that Israel's 57-year occupation of Palestinian land was "illegal" is "largely consistent with EU positions", the bloc's foreign policy chief said Saturday.

The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs said that the bloc had taken "good note" of the court's ruling and urged further backing for the court's opinion.

"In a world of constant and increasing violations of international law, it is our moral duty to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to all ICJ decisions in a consistent manner, irrespective of the subject in question," Josep Borrell said.

He added in a statement that the opinion "will need to be analysed more thoroughly, including in view of its implications for EU policy".

The United States criticised "the breadth" of the top UN court's opinion in which the International Court of Justice said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, with Washington saying it will complicate efforts to resolve the conflict.

"We have been clear that Israel's program of government support for settlements is both inconsistent with international law and obstructs the cause of peace," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Saturday in an email.

"However, we are concerned that the breadth of the court's opinion will complicate efforts to resolve the conflict and bring about an urgently needed just and lasting peace, with two states living side-by-side in peace and security," the State Department added.

Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas said they launched rocket barrages at Israeli positions Saturday to avenge a strike that injured civilians in south Lebanon and the Gaza war toll.

Earlier Saturday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Syrian nationals, including children, had been injured after an "enemy drone targeted an empty four-wheel drive" near their tent, less than four kilometres from the border.

Hezbollah said it launched "dozens of Katyusha rockets" on Dafna, an area in Israel's north that the group said it was targeting for the first time, "in response to the attack on civilians".

Later Saturday, Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they fired a rocket salvo from south Lebanon towards an Israeli military position in the Upper Galilee "in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip".

The Israeli army said a total of 45 "projectiles" had been fired from Lebanon Saturday afternoon, towards the occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee, reporting no casualties.

The army said it struck "the launcher... in southern Lebanon from which the projectiles were launched toward the Golan Heights," also targeting "an additional Hezbollah launcher".

The Israeli military said that F15 fighter jets conducted the strike in Yemen.

Israel updated its allies prior to carrying out a strike against Houthi military targets in Yemen on Saturday, an Israeli military official has claimed.

The official, who declined to be identified by name, gave no further specifics or details.

Some of the targets were "dual-use," including energy infrastructure, the official said.

Israeli strikes on Yemen's Houthi-held port city of Hodeida Saturday will be met with "escalation", an official of the Iran-backed rebel movement said, warning Israel will "pay the price".

"The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities, and we will meet escalation with escalation," Huthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said in a post on social media.

The Israeli military said its warplanes hit "military targets of the Huthi terrorist regime" Saturday, a day after a drone attack claimed by the Yemeni rebels killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.

Israeli "fighter jets struck military targets of the Huthi terrorist regime in the area of Hodeida port in Yemen in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months," a military statement said.

The Houthis have previously claimed attacks on Israeli cities, including Ashdod, Haifa and Eilat, but Friday's strike on Tel Aviv appears to have been the first to breach Israel's vaunted air defences.

Pakistan has announced it will be forming a committee to identify and boycott companies linked to supporting Israel.

"A committee has also been constituted to identify such companies and products in Pakistan that may be directly or indirectly abetting Israel or forces, committing war crimes against Palestinians," said Rana Sanaullah, adviser on political affairs to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The committee will also demand authorities provide more humanitarian assistance for the people of Palestine and ban all products linked to supporting Israel.

The Pakistani government also said it considered designating  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a terrorist.

Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, said on Saturday that a series of airstrikes had targeted the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Oil refineries were targeted.

Al-Masirah TV initially said that US and British forces carried out the strikes but later deleted the reference to them.

A US official has reportedly confirmed to Walla News that "Israeli F-35 fighter jets carried out airstrikes in Yemen in response to the drone attack in Tel Aviv."

Massive fires have erupted following the strikes.

(Reuters)

Lebanon's Hezbollah has taken credit for an attack on an Israeli settlement. 

The attack targeted the Dafna settlement near Kiryat Shmona with dozens of Katyusha rockets.

Writing on Telegram, the group said the attack was in response to Israel's attack on civilians in the Lebanese town of Burj al-Muluk.

The drone targeted an empty SUV on the outskirts of Burj al-Muluk in the Nabatieh governorate.

Families of Israeli captives will be protesting on Saturday to call on the government to accept a captive-release deal with Hamas. 

Opposition leader Yair Lapid is calling on Israelis to join the protests.

"You are welcome to join me and thousands of patriotic Israelis. We will not give up the kidnapped. We will not give up the country. We will not lose hope." Lapid wrote on X.

היום בערב אנאם בהפגנה בקפלן. מוזמנים להצטרף אליי ולאלפי ישראלים פטריוטים. אנחנו לא נוותר על החטופים. לא נוותר על המדינה. לא נאבד תקווה. 🎗️🇮🇱

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) July 20, 2024

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has welcomed the International Court of Justice's ruling calling Israel's occupation of Palestine "illegal".

Writing on X, Shebaz Sharif called the ruling a "vindication of the legitimate struggle of the brave Palestinian people" and urged the international community and the United Nations to implement it to ensure Palestinian self-determination through a two-state solution.

"Proud that Pakistan contributed to the case, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause," Sharif added on X.

I welcome the historic ICJ Advisory Opinion on Israel's policies in Occupied Palestinian Territory. The ICJ ruling that Israel must end its occupation & illegal settlements is vindication of the legitimate struggle of the brave Palestinian people. I urge the international…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 20, 2024

Four children have been injured, and some have died after an Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

The children were believed to have been playing on the roof when the attack occurred,

BREAKING: Casualties among innocent children in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. pic.twitter.com/tlLD4nAOPc

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 20, 2024

Iceland's Foreign Ministry has welcomed the International Court of Justice's "clear" ruling on Israel's occupation of Palestine.

The ICJ deemed the occupation "unlawful," and Ireland agreed, along with its settlement activities.

"Iceland calls on Israel to cease all activity that violates international law," the ministry wrote on X.

The ICJ's Advisory Opinion is clear. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful, and so are its settlement activities. Iceland calls on Israel to cease all activity that violates international law.

— MFA Iceland 🇮🇸 (@MFAIceland) July 20, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stubborn opposition to a Palestinian state does not deter the European Union's Middle East peace envoy from believing a two-state solution remains achievable.

Sven Koopmans, in an interview with AFP, said with the war on Gaza ongoing and Israel needing international support, Netanyahu's government cannot indefinitely disregard European views on resolving the war.

Netanyahu and some ministers in his right-wing government staunchly oppose the creation of a Palestinian state, which many argue has become even more urgent since 7 October.

"I think that recently he was very explicit about rejecting the two-state solution," Koopmans said.

"Now, that means that he has a different point of view from much of the rest of the world."

Qatar has welcomed the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling, calling Israel's occupation of Palestine "illegal" and stressing to end its occupation of the state, including East Jerusalem.

Qatar stressed its “ firm and permanent position in supporting the court's opinion, calling on all countries and international organizations not to recognize or provide support for illegal Israeli practices".

Slovenia welcomed the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel's occupation of Palestine is "illegal", calling for Israel "to comply with its duties and obligations under international law as set out in the advisory opinion".

Slovenia is also calling on all UN member states "to take active steps in order to give full effect to the interpretation of int'l law as laid down by the Court".

Slovenia welcomes the Advisory opinion issued by @CIJ_ICJ on Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

Slovenia calls on Israel to comply with its duties and obligations under… pic.twitter.com/1JmMx3s66c

— MFEA Slovenia (@MZEZ_RS) July 19, 2024

A Palestinian baby was delivered after an Israeli airstrike killed his mother.

The strike targeted the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp Friday night, killing the baby's mother, who was pregnant with him at the time, and forcing doctors to deliver the infant.

The baby was placed in an incubator and is in stable condition. The boy's father is reportedly in critical condition.

This Palestinian baby, whose mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Nuseirat refugee camp last night, did not have the chance to be named by his parents.

The infant, son of Ola al-Kurd, was miraculously delivered alive from his slain mother’s womb by doctors. Meanwhile,… pic.twitter.com/bHzOiSTvv9

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 20, 2024

At least 13 people were killed in three Israeli airstrikes that hit refugee camps in central Gaza overnight into Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials, as ceasefire talks in Cairo appear to make progress.

Among the dead in Nuseirat Refugee Camp and Bureij Refugee Camp were three children and one woman, according to Palestinian ambulance teams that transported the bodies to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The 13 corpses were counted by AP journalists at the hospital.

The latest casualties follow a rare moment of hope in war-ravaged Gaza after a medical team recovered a live baby from a heavily pregnant Palestinian mother killed in an airstrike that hit her home in Nuseirat late Thursday evening.

Oman has welcomed the International Court of Justice's ruling on Israel's occupation of Palestine - deeming it to be "illegal".

While the state is welcoming the ruling, Oman is renewing its demand on the international community to "implement international resolutions and conventions calling for an immediate end to the illegal occupation of the occupied territories and an end to settlement and the cycle of violence in the Palestinian territories”.

“The Sultanate of Oman also renews its position calling for granting the Palestinian people their inalienable right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs added on a statement on X.

#بيان || تابعت وزارة الخارجية الرأي الذي قدمته محكمة العدل الدولية إزّاء طلب الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة من المحكمة حول "الممارسات الإسرائيلية التي تمس حقوق الإنسان للشعب الفلسطيني في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة، pic.twitter.com/WIUYtuzdmn

— وزارة الخارجية (@FMofOman) July 19, 2024

At least 38,919 Palestinians have been killed, and 89,622 have been injured since 7 October - according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Protesters in South Korea are demonstrating for Palestine and condemning Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

Demonstrators can be seen raising banners and waving the Palestinian flag in the city of Incheon.

Dozens of demonstrators filled the streets of Incheon, South Korea, expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/sK99wRiyVh

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 20, 2024

Turkey has welcomed the International Court of Justice's ruling on Israel's occupation of Palestine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the international community must take "a firm and resolute stance to put an end to Israel's illegal practices".

"We will continue our efforts to ensure that the crimes committed against the Palestinians....do not go unpunished," the ministry wrote on X.

Regarding the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice https://t.co/8naKZiQH3j pic.twitter.com/QU8Yv0jhUd

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) July 19, 2024

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomes the International Court of Justice's ruling, deeming Israel's occupation of the Palestinian state as "illegal".

Writing on X, the country expresses its welcome on the advisory opinion of the court. 

"The Kingdom stresses the need to take practical and credible steps to reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian use in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and international legitimacy resolutions," the Kingdom's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote, stressing the right to self-determination and establish an independent state.

#بيان | تعرب وزارة الخارجية عن ترحيب المملكة العربية السعودية بالرأي الاستشاري الصادر عن محكمة العدل الدولية، بشأن سياسات وممارسات إسرائيل في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة، وتأكيدها على عدم قانونية الوجود الإسرائيلي على الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة منذ ٥٧ عاماً. pic.twitter.com/U7koeBKag8

— وزارة الخارجية 🇸🇦 (@KSAMOFA) July 19, 2024

A journalist was killed by an Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Israeli forces targeted Muhammad Jasser's family home in the al-Alami area, killing him and his wife and two children.

Over 160 journalists have been killed have been killed since 7 October.

Adidas said on Friday it had dropped vocal pro-Palestinian model Bella Hadid from an advertising campaign for retro sneakers referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The German sportswear giant recently relaunched the SL72, a shoe first showcased by athletes at the 1972 Olympics, as part of a series reviving old classic sneakers.

Eleven Israeli athletes and a German police officer were killed at the 1972 Munich Games after gunmen from the Palestinian Black September group broke into the Olympic village and took them hostage.

The brand has since been accused of racism and succumbing to political pressure, calling for a boycott of the brand.

Yesterday, when I saw it, I was going to tweet 'Adidas is going to backtrack', but I was busy and I forgot to tweet it.

They cannot allow any crack in the wall of apartheid of supremacy. This is their greatest weakness https://t.co/gLzqC4Z6x0

— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) July 19, 2024