Houthi Sports Minister Assassinated in Sanaa

Flood water fills a canal following heavy rains in the Old City of Yemen's capital Sanaa on April 14, 2020. (AFP)
Flood water fills a canal following heavy rains in the Old City of Yemen's capital Sanaa on April 14, 2020. (AFP)
TT
20

Houthi Sports Minister Assassinated in Sanaa

Flood water fills a canal following heavy rains in the Old City of Yemen's capital Sanaa on April 14, 2020. (AFP)
Flood water fills a canal following heavy rains in the Old City of Yemen's capital Sanaa on April 14, 2020. (AFP)

Gunmen shot dead on Tuesday the Sports Minister in the Iran-backed Houthi militias’ illegitimate government.

Hassan Zaid died in hospital from his wounds after gunmen opened fire on his car in an area of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa that houses embassies, two sources close to his family told Reuters.

Zaid’s daughter was also in the car and was seriously injured.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack in the capital that the Houthis have controlled since 2014.

Zaid was wanted by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, which had announced a 10-million-dollar reward for anyone who would step forward with information about him.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”