Israeli airstrikes on Yemen kill at least 35, Houthi officials say
[September 11, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and LORNE COOK
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched another round of heavy
airstrikes in Yemen on Wednesday, killing dozens just days after Houthi
rebels carried out a drone attack that struck an Israeli airport.
The Israeli strikes killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 130
others, the Houthi-run health ministry said. Search crews were
continuing to dig through the rubble.
Most of those killed were in Sanaa, the capital, where a military
headquarters and a fuel station were hit, the health ministry said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said she
would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over
the war in the Gaza Strip. The move adds to Israel’s already
unprecedented global isolation as it grapples with the fallout from its
strike targeting Hamas leaders in U.S.-allied Qatar on Tuesday.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, said one of the
strikes on Yemen hit a military headquarters building in central Sanaa.
Neighboring houses were also damaged, it reported.
Israel has previously launched waves of airstrikes in response to the
Houthis’ firing missiles and drones at Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis
say they are supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,
and on Sunday, sent a drone that breached Israel’s multilayered air
defenses and slammed into a southern airport.
‘No safe zone’
Israel reiterated its calls for some 1 million people to evacuate Gaza
City, where it has been bombing high-rises and ramping up a new
offensive aimed at taking over the largest Palestinian city, already
devastated from earlier raids and experiencing famine.
The Israeli military said Wednesday it soon will increase the pace of
targeted strikes near Gaza City as it readies for the next phases of its
operation in what it calls Hamas’ last remaining stronghold.
Palestinians have been ordered to head south to a designated safe zone
where hundreds of thousands already live in squalid tent camps and where
Israel regularly strikes what it says are militant targets. Many have
refused to leave Gaza City, saying they no longer have the strength or
money to relocate.
“There is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” Fawzi Muftah said as people
walked alongside a line of vehicles loaded with mattresses, carpets and
other belongings. ”Danger is everywhere."
Amal Sobh, displaced with 30 relatives — including 13 orphans — said a
three-wheel vehicle carrying their belongings broke down and they have
no fuel, leaving them stranded.
“We don’t have good blankets or good beddings, and winter is coming,
what do we do for our children? We don’t even have a proper tent to
shelter us,” said Sobh, whose husband was arrested during the war.
Airstrikes on Yemen
Israel’s strikes in Yemen followed earlier attacks that killed the
Houthi prime minister and other top officials in a major escalation of
the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed
militant group.
The strikes on Wednesday hit a station that provides fuel to hospitals
in the capital, Essam al-Mutawakel, spokesman for rebel-run Yemen
Petroleum Company, told the Al-Masirah news channel. Residents said they
heard violent explosions in multiple areas of the city, with fire and
smoke in the skies.
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Flames and smoke rise following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen,
Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo)
The Houthi media office said Israel also hit a government facility
in the strategic city of Hazm, the capital of northern Jawf
province. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said
rebels fired surface-to-air missiles at the Israeli fighter jets.
Houthi-backed President Mahdi al-Mashat vowed on Wednesday to
continue the attacks, warning Israelis to “stay alarmed since the
response is coming without fail.”
‘Man-made famine’
The Gaza Health Ministry says 126 Palestinians, including 26
children, have died of causes related to malnutrition since
international experts announced famine in Gaza City on Aug. 22. A
total of 404 people, including 141 children, have died of causes
related to malnutrition since the war began.
“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the
children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop,” von der Leyen
said Wednesday, to applause in the European Parliament at its
meeting in Strasbourg, France.
Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza and says it allows in
enough humanitarian aid. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a
social media post, said von der Leyen had succumbed to pressures
that undermine Israel-Europe relations.
Von der Leyen plans to freeze support to Israel given by the
European Union’s executive branch although it was not immediately
clear how much it provides to Israel and what it is used for.
The 27-nation EU is deeply divided in its approach to Israel and the
Palestinians, and it’s unclear whether a majority will be found to
endorse the sanctions and trade measures called for by von der Leyen.
Outrage over strike on Qatar
The strike on Qatar, a U.S. ally, drew widespread condemnation from
countries in the Mideast and beyond. It also marked a dramatic
escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending
the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas claims its senior leadership, who were weighing a new U.S.
ceasefire proposal, survived the strike, which killed two
lower-ranking members and three bodyguards.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern
Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200,
mostly civilians. Forty-eight hostages are still held inside Gaza,
around 20 of them believed to be alive.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,600
Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does
not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and
children make up around half the dead.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for
their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated
areas. Large parts of major cities in Gaza have been completely
destroyed.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Cook from Brussels.
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