UNRWA: More Than Half a Million People Flee Fighting in Rafah, Northern Gaza 

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
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UNRWA: More Than Half a Million People Flee Fighting in Rafah, Northern Gaza 

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said nearly 450,000 people have fled from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah since Israel launched an incursion there last week.

In a post on the social platform X on Tuesday, UNRWA said: “People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate #ceasefire is the only hope.”

The UN said Monday that another 100,000 people have been displaced in northern Gaza. Israel has ordered new evacuations in the north as it battles a resurgent Hamas in areas that were heavily bombed and cleared by ground troops earlier in the war.

That would mean that nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced in just the last week, more than seven months into the Israel-Hamas war.

The fighting in Rafah has made the two main border crossings into southern Gaza largely inaccessible, while newly opened crossings in the north only allow in a trickle of aid.

Humanitarian organizations say they are struggling to provide dwindling supplies of food, tents and blankets to the large numbers of newly displaced.

Israel has portrayed Rafah as Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza and has said it must operate there in order to defeat the group and return scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.

Before the incursion began last week, Rafah was housing some 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere.



US Launches Airstrikes by Fighter Jets and Ships on Yemen’s Iran-Backed Houthis

 Smoke rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen October 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen October 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Launches Airstrikes by Fighter Jets and Ships on Yemen’s Iran-Backed Houthis

 Smoke rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen October 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from the site of strikes in Sanaa, Yemen October 4, 2024. (Reuters)

The US military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed militias, US officials confirmed.

Military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at roughly five locations, according to the officials.

Houthi media said seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeidah, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base. Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province. The Houthi media office also reported three air raids in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa.

The strikes come just days after the Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel after they apparently shot down a US military drone flying over Yemen. And just last week, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack targeting American warships.

The militias fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three US ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, according to several US officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.

Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started last October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors.

Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.

The Houthis have maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.