موقع وجه أفريقيا موقع وجه أفريقيا هو موقع مهتم بمتابعة التطورات في القارة الأفريقية
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Muhamad Yehia
A wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s main airport Thursday just as the World Health Organization’s director-general said he was about to board a flight there. One of the U.N. plane’s crew was wounded, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.
The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the international airport in the capital Sanaa, as well as power stations and ports, alleging they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials.
Last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.
Israel’s latest wave of strikes in Yemen follows several days of Houthi launches setting off air-raid sirens in Israel. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count
UN says at least 3 reportedly kille in Israeli airstrikes on airport in Yemen
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. says at least three people were reportedly killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes on the international airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
A high-level U.N. delegation led by U.N. World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at the airport Thursday waiting to depart when the airstrikes took place, and a U.N. Humanitarian Air Service crew member was among the injured, U.N. associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said.
The rest of the U.N. team left the airport and are “safe and sound” in Sanaa, and the injured crew member is being treated in a hospital, she said.
Tremblay said an assessment of damage to the airport will be made Friday morning to see whether Tedros and the U.N. team can leave Yemen
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns the escalation in attacks between Yemen and Israel and says Thursday’s attacks on Sanaa International Airport, Yemen’s Red Sea ports and power stations in the country “are especially alarming,” Tremblay said.
The U.N. chief appealed to all parties to respect and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, as required under international law, she said.
Guterres called for a halt to all military actions, and for “utmost restraint,” she said.
Displaced Syrians face dire winter conditions in tent camps, UN says
UNITED NATIONS – An estimated 730,000 people living in tents in camps for the displaced in northwest Syria are experiencing dire conditions this winter including from flooding, the U.N. humanitarian office said.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said Thursday that more than 200 family tents in camps in Idlib and northern Aleppo were damaged by flooding from heavy rainfall on Dec. 23.
“Since the start of 2024, flooding and strong winds have damaged more than 8,800 family tents – including nearly 2,000 that were fully destroyed – across 260 camps,” OCHA said.
On another issue, OCHA quoted a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain, that since Dec. 8 – when Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted — episodes involving explosive ordnance have killed more than 70 civilians including a dozen children and five women, with scores more injured
OCHA said mine experts have identified 109 new minefields across Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia since Nov. 26. So far, it said experts have destroyed more than 850 individual items of explosive ordnance.
Elsewhere, OCHA said Israeli forces on Wednesday reportedly wounded six civilians when they opened fire in Al-Suweisah town in Quneitra province, which includes the Golan Heights. It said residents were ordered to evacuate and Israeli forces imposed a curfew
Israeli attorney general orders investigation after TV report alleges that Netanyahu’s wife harassed political opponents
JERUSALEM — Israel’s attorney general has ordered police to open an investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife on suspicion of harassing political opponents and witnesses in the Israeli leader’s corruption trial.
The Israeli Justice Ministry made the announcement in a terse message late Thursday, saying the investigation would focus on the findings of a recent report by the Uvda investigative program into Sara Netanyahu.
The program uncovered a trove of WhatsApp messages in which Sara Netanyahu appears to instruct a former aid to organize protests against political opponents and to intimidate Hadas Klein, a key witness in the trial.
The announcement did not mention Sara Netanyahu by name, and the Justice Ministry declined further comment.
However, earlier Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the Uvda report as “lies
The US says it pushed retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza. Aid groups express concern.
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials say they asked for — and got — the retraction of an independent monitor’s warning of imminent famine in north Gaza.
The Famine Early Warning System Network issued the warning this week. The new report had warned that starvation deaths in north Gaza could reach famine levels as soon as next month. It cited what it called Israel’s “near-total blockade” of food and water.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, criticized the finding as inaccurate and irresponsible. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the famine-monitoring group, told The Associated Press it had asked for and gotten the report’s retraction.
USAID officials tell AP that it had asked the group for greater review of discrepancies in some of the data.
Humanitarian and human rights officials expressed fear of U.S. political interference in the world’s monitoring system for famines. The U.S. Embassy in Israel and the State Department declined comment. FEWS officials did not respond to questions.
FEWS Net said in its withdrawn report that unless Israel changes its policy, it expects the number of people dying of starvation and related ailments in north Gaza to reach between two and 15 per day sometime between January and March.
The internationally recognized mortality threshold for famine is two or more deaths a day per 10,000 people.
FEWS was created by the U.S. development agency in the 1980s and still receives funding from it. But the monitor is intended to provide independent, neutral and data-driven assessments of hunger crises, including in war zones.
