Gaza Restaurants to Reopen as Lockdown Eases

Palestinians shop in the Zawiya market ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, April 22, 2020. (AP)
Palestinians shop in the Zawiya market ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, April 22, 2020. (AP)
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Gaza Restaurants to Reopen as Lockdown Eases

Palestinians shop in the Zawiya market ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, April 22, 2020. (AP)
Palestinians shop in the Zawiya market ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Gaza City, April 22, 2020. (AP)

Restaurants in Gaza were to be allowed to reopen from Monday, the economy ministry in the Hamas-run enclave announced, following pleas from restaurant owners to ease economic suffering.

"It was decided to allow restaurants and cafes in the (Gaza) Strip to reopen their doors to customers starting from today, the ministry said in a statement.

Under the decision based on health ministry recommendations, restaurants must continue to observe social distancing rules, it said.

Since the middle of March, the Hamas government has imposed strict measures to avoid a widespread outbreak of COVID-19.

Schools, universities, mosques and restaurants have been closed.

So far Gaza has recorded only 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, all Palestinians returning from outside the Gaza Strip.

Those who contracted the virus have been placed in isolation immediately upon their return.

There are no confirmed cases among Palestinians who stayed inside Gaza, according to Hamas.

Gaza's population is overwhelmingly Muslim and most people are observing the holy month of Ramadan, including fasting from sunrise to sunset before eating large meals with their families.

Salah Abu Haseera, head of the Committee for Restaurants, Hotels and Touristic Services in Gaza, told AFP the ministry's decision "came after an appeal to open restaurants to avoid further losses and a serious recession".

Restaurants reopening could allow some 2,500 people to return to work, he said.

Gaza, blockaded by Israel for 13 years, suffers from poverty rates close to 50 percent.

Israel says the measures are necessary to isolate Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008.

In the West Bank, the largest part of the Palestinian territories but controlled by a rival government, restaurants remain closed.



US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
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US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthi until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned militias signaled they could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.

The airstrikes, which killed at least 31 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.

The Houthi political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime" and said Houthi forces were ready to "meet escalation with escalation", while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News: "The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting."

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he said. "They better back off."

The Houthis, who have taken control of several regions of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.

They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel's war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians.

Trump also told Iran, the Houthis' main backer, to stop supporting the militias immediately. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

IRAN WARNS US NOT TO ESCALATE

In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis took their own decisions.

"We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats," he told state media.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News' "Face the Nation" program: "There's no way the ... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran: don't keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge an "immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue", Moscow said.

Trump has been pressing Russia to sign a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, which Kyiv accepted last week, but Moscow has said needs to be reworked.

Trump is also increasing sanctions pressure, and hoping to enlist Russian help, to try to bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Most of the 31 people confirmed killed in the US strikes were women and children, said Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry. More than 100 were injured.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a neighborhood known to host several members of the Houthi leadership.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.

In Sanaa, a crane and bulldozer were used to remove debris at one site and people used their bare hands to pick through the rubble. At a hospital, medics treated the injured, including children, and the bodies of several casualties were placed in a yard, wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.

Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz, two witnesses said on Sunday.

HOUTHIS' RED SEA ATTACKS DISRUPT GLOBAL TRADE ROUTE

Another strike, on a power station in the town of Dahyan, led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, often meets visitors.

The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted global commerce and set the US military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.

The militants suspended their campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.

But on March 12, the Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would remain in effect until Israel reapproved the delivery of aid and food into Gaza.

Joe Biden's previous US administration had also sought to degrade the Houthis' strike power. But US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump had authorized a more aggressive approach.

The US military's Central Command described Saturday's strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.

The strikes were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, officials said.

Iran condemned the strikes as a "gross violation" of the UN Charter and international law.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had "no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy".