- Twenty-one Israeli soldiers have been killed during intense fighting in Gaza, a Military Spokesperson has said – making it the deadliest day for the IDF inside the strip since the conflict began.
- It comes amid fresh UK-US airstrikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen
- ‘Expect a response every minute’ – Top Houthi official reacts to US and UK strikes
Twenty-one Israeli soldiers have been killed during intense fighting in Gaza, an Israeli Military Spokesperson said on Tuesday morning.
The figure marks the highest number of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers killed in a single day since fighting began in the enclave.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Hamas fighters had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank.
At the same time, an explosion occurred in a two-storey building, causing it to collapse on the Israeli troops, he added.
“We are still studying and investigating the details of the event and the reasons for the explosion,” he said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and UK have carried out joint attacks on Houthi military targets in Yemen for the second time, US officials have said.
The strikes targeted Houthi missile sites, the Associated Press reported.
It follows the targeting of international shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea.
Warship and submarine Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets were used to take out Houthi missile storage sites and launchers, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
This is just as a top Houthi official has told the U.S. and the UK to “expect a response every minute” after the countries carried out strikes on sites associated with the group last night.
Mohammed Ali al Houthi, the head of the rebel’s supreme revolutionary committee, warned that the response will “inevitably be a loss and a calamity” for the nations.
“We say to the American and the British… Trust well that every operation and every aggression against our country will not be without a response, and expect a response every minute, if not every second, then every minute it must,” he wrote on X.
Mohammed Ali al Houthi
The US and the UK said they struck eight Houthi targets in Yemen, including an underground storage site.
The strikes have been conducted in retaliation to the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis have linked their attacks to the Israel-Hamas war, claiming they are being carried out in solidarity with Palestinians.
However, the ships they have targeted increasingly have tenuous links to Israel – or none at all.