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Live blog: US targets Houthi radar sites after merchant sailor goes missing
Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 253rd day, has killed at least 37,266 Palestinians — 71% of them women, children and infants –– and wounded 85,102, with 10,000+ feared dead under debris and 9,500+ Palestinians abducted by Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, allies of Hamas, were seen storming a cargo ship in the Red Sea, in a video released by the group on November 20, 2023. / Photo: Reuters Archive
REUTERS ARCHIVE
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, allies of Hamas, were seen storming a cargo ship in the Red Sea, in a video released by the group on November 20, 2023. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Saturday, June 15, 2024
0441 GMT –– The United States military unleashed a wave of attacks targeting radar sites operated by Yemen’s Houthis over their assaults on shipping in the crucial Red Sea corridor, authorities said, after one merchant sailor went missing following an earlier Houthi strike on a ship.
The attacks come as the US Navy faces the most intense combat its seen since World War II in trying to counter the Houthi campaign — attacks the group says are meant to halt the Israel’s war on Gaza.
US strikes destroyed seven radars within Houthi-controlled territory, the military’s Central Command said.
“These radars allow the Houthis to target maritime vessels and endanger commercial shipping,” Central Command said in a statement. The US separately destroyed two bomb-laden drone boats in the Red Sea, as well as a drone launched by the Houthis over the waterway, it said.
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0038 GMT –– Police detain 30 students during pro-Palestine protest at Stockholm’s KTH University
Police in Stockholm, detained 30 students Friday who were participating in a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH).
The demonstration, which saw students setting up tents on the KTH campus, was disrupted by police early in the day.
Despite warnings to vacate the area, the students, insisting on their right to peaceful assembly, were met with forceful police action.
The 30 students, who resisted by locking arms and hugging each other, were detained and taken to a police station.
The police’s response has sparked further protests. A group of students, condemning the intervention, set up tents in front of parliament in a show of defiance and solidarity with their detained peers.
2344 GMT — WHO voices alarm at swelling occupied West Bank health crisis
The World Health Organization has decried an escalating health crisis in the occupied West Bank, where growing restrictions, violence and attacks on health infrastructure are increasingly obstructing access to care.
In a statement, the UN health agency said it was calling “for the immediate and active protection of civilians and health care in the West Bank.”
It noted that a spike in violence in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem, since October 7 had by June 10 left 521 Palestinians dead, including 126 children.
Palestinian officials have put the occupied West Bank death toll even higher, saying at least 545 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or illegal settlers since the Gaza war broke out.
2303 GMT — ‘We should not lose sight of West Bank’: Bernie Sanders
US Senator Bernie Sanders has voiced concern about recent developments in the occupied West Bank, saying the Israeli premier is breaking international law in besieged Gaza.
“While the world is understandably focused on the destruction unfolding in Gaza, we should not lose sight of what is happening in the West Bank — actions which are in violation of both American and international law,” Sanders said in a statement.
Sanders added that more than 500 Palestinians, including 100 children, have been killed by Israeli security forces and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank.
2232 GMT — Crew evacuated as ship hit by Yemen’s Houthis drifts in Red Sea
The crew of a ship that was holed in an attack by Yemen’s Houthis has been evacuated, and the vessel is drifting in the Red Sea, a security agency said.
The MV Tutor was abandoned after it was struck by a sea drone off Hodeida on Wednesday, causing serious flooding, in the latest in a series of Houthi attacks.
“The crew of the vessel has been evacuated by military authorities,” said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is run by the British Navy.
“The vessel has been abandoned and is drifting.” Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos had earlier pledged to help the Filipino seamen on board and transfer them to Djibouti, across the Red Sea from Yemen, with the UKMTO’s help.
“We are doing everything that we can do,” he said in a statement.
2209 GMT — Casualties as Israel bombs Gaza homes
Israeli military has killed an infant and wounded dozens after striking a home in eastern Gaza City.
Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that an Israeli warplane struck the home in the Tuffah neighbourhood, while dozens of people were inside.
The Civil Defense rescue teams removed the body of the baby and transferred dozens of wounded victims to a hospital , said witnesses.
They added that rescue teams continue to look for the wounded under the rubble.
The Israeli army has also killed five people, including two children and two women, in east of Gaza city, according to reports.
2107 GMT — US removing pier off Gaza as Israel’s killing spree continues
The US military is preparing to “temporarily” remove its pier off the coast of besieged Gaza because of anticipated sea conditions, a US official claimed, the latest challenge to the effort that has been hampered by bad weather since it was put into place in May.
The floating pier on which US spent $230 million had just resumed bringing aid into the enclave after being suspended over the weekend.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the pier would likely be moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod until sea conditions improve.
2101 GMT — Two-thirds of all roads in Gaza damaged or destroyed
Around two-thirds of all roads in besieged Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s war, the UN satellite centre has said in its latest analysis.
The United Nations Satellite Center said its assessment was based on high-resolution satellite imagery collected on May 29.
UNOSAT released a satellite photo of the tiny Palestinian territory overlaid with a colour-coded map of the dense road network. It appears to show nearly all of the roads in Gaza City and areas north of Wadi Gaza have been affected by the war, as well as most of the roads in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Roads were also destroyed in zones running along much of the length of Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt.
UNOSAT identified approximately 1,100 kilometres of destroyed roads, 350 kilometres of severely affected roads and 1,470 kilometres of moderately affected roads. The centre said this totals roughly 65 percent of the road network.
2052 GMT — Rallies in 48 Moroccan cities for Palestinians
Solidarity rallies have taken place in different cities across Morocco in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, who have been experiencing a devastating Israeli onslaught for over 250 days.
In a statement, a Moroccan pro-Palestine group — known as the Moroccan Organization for Advocating the Ummah Causes — said 116 rallies were organised in 48 cities across the Kingdom.
The group said the rallies are organised to affirm the Moroccan people’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and cause.
2038 GMT — Israeli army strikes southern Lebanon
The Israeli army said its jets struck targets of the Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon shortly after what it said was a Hezbollah rocket attack on northern Israel.
In a statement, the army said its warplanes hit a Hezbollah rocket launcher in the Lebanese Yaroun town, following a Hezbollah rocket attack at the Avivim settlement area.
It also said the fighter jets targeted Hezbollah weapons depot in the Houla village, and hit another military infrastructure in the town of Aitaroun.
For our live updates from Friday, June 14, 2024, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
