US Navy helicopters sank three small boats used by Iran-backed Houthi militants to attack a Maersk merchant vessel in the Red Sea, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Yemen-based Houthis said 10 militants were “killed or missing” following the US strike. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Read our blog for all the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
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Israel is prepared to let ships deliver aid to Gaza "immediately" as part of a proposed sea corridor from Cyprus, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday, under an arrangement first suggested by Nicosia in November. Cohen named the UK, France, Greece and the Netherlands as potential participants in the plan.
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Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza received the bodies of 35 people on Sunday, hospital officials said, as fighting raged across the Palestinian territory amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
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US Navy helicopters sank three boats used by Houthi militants to attack a merchant vessel in the southern Red Sea, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday. CENTCOM said helicopter fire killed the crews of the three boats; a Houthi military spokesman said 10 militants were “killed or missing” following the US strike.
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The Maersk Hangzhou container ship had reported being struck by a missile while transiting the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Maersk said the ship was undamaged and able to continue its journey but said it would suspend transit through the Red Sea strait for 48 hours.
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Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the Philadelphi Corridor buffer zone that runs along Gaza's border with Egypt must be in Israeli hands.
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Israeli officials say 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 21,822 people have been killed and 56,451 injured in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
Yesterday's key developments
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Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said, after the army reported he allegedly carried out a car ramming. The incident came a day after Israeli troops shot dead another Palestinian who the military said rammed a car into people near Hebron, wounding four according to medics.
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Air strikes in eastern Syria that a rights monitor said were "likely" launched by Israel on Saturday killed at least 19 pro-Iran fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters, including four Syrians and six Iraqis, were killed in at least nine strikes overnight near the Iraqi border.
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Israeli tanks pushed deeper into districts in central and southern Gaza overnight under heavy air and artillery fire, residents told Reuters. Fighting late on Friday and early Saturday was focused in al-Bureij, Nuseirat, Maghazi and Khan Younis, backed by intensive air strikes that filled hospitals with injured Palestinians.
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The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, Reuters)
