Hadi Says it's Time for Houthis to Drop their Arms

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi at the parliamentary session. Photo courtesy of Yemen’s information ministry
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi at the parliamentary session. Photo courtesy of Yemen’s information ministry
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Hadi Says it's Time for Houthis to Drop their Arms

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi at the parliamentary session. Photo courtesy of Yemen’s information ministry
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi at the parliamentary session. Photo courtesy of Yemen’s information ministry

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who on Friday attended a rare session of parliament in the eastern city of Seiyun, urged Houthi militias to disarm and engage in the peace process.

Hadi accused the insurgents of obstructing peace efforts but told the parliament that Friday’s session was a sign of their “destructive scheme's failure.”

The Yemeni president thanked Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for backing the legitimacy.

Defeating Houthis “remains our top priority,” he said.

“Isn’t it time (for Houthis) to drop their weapons and start the peace (process)?” Hadi asked while extending his hand for peace.

He also urged the Yemeni people to remain hopeful amid Houthi threats and violations.

Despite receiving death threats, being attacked by Houthi-flown drones and having their houses raided, around 141 lawmakers attended the session that was ordered by Hadi in Seiyun, the second largest city of Hadramaut.

At the session, the MPs elected Sultan al-Borkani as speaker, who expressed determination to defeat the militias that carried out their coup in 2014.

He also lauded the role played by the Arab Coalition in defending the legitimacy against the insurgents.

The session of the 301-member assembly was attended by international envoys and security personnel.



Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
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Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building

A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP
A crying Palestinian girl stands over the debris of a house hit by an Israeli strike in the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday. - AFP

The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children.

The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic".

The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield".

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive.

The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime".

Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.

A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.

Israel resumed major airstrikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down.

It also conducted airstrikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defense agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp.

Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by Gaza's health ministry on Tuesday.

In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.