Israel bombs houses, maims children in Abu Obeida 'assassination'

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The UN's World Food Programme said that Yemen's Houthis detained one of its employees in the capital Sanaa on Sunday, with more staff members feared apprehended elsewhere in the country.

"WFP's offices in Sanaa were entered by local security forces who have detained a staff member, with reports of other detentions (of staff) in other areas," the agency said in a statement to AFP.

It added that it was "urgently seeking additional information" from the Houthi authorities, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now control large parts of Yemen.

A security source told AFP that seven WFP employees and three UNICEF workers were arrested on Sunday after their offices had been raided.

The WFP statement said that "the arbitrary detention of humanitarian staff is unacceptable. The safety and security of personnel is essential to carrying out life-saving humanitarian work."

Following an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the Iran-backed group's prime minister, a Yemeni security source told AFP that Houthi authorities had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa and other areas "on suspicion of collaborating with Israel".

Trump is pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to defeat Hamas in weeks, according to unamed sources speaking with Israel's Channel 12. 

The source said that this follows the failure of ceasefire talks in recent weeks, which saw Israel reject a proposal agreed to by Hamas.

Additionally, Trump believes that Hamas can be defeated, "perhaps even within two weeks," according to the Times of Israel reporting the comments, and that he doesn't think Hamas will return all of the hostages.

Trump's pressure is also reportedly a primary reason for Netanyahu's push for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip.

The Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Eyal Zamir, vowed Sunday to target Hamas leaders abroad after the military killed Abu Obeida, spokesman for the group's military wing, in Gaza the day before.

"In the Gaza Strip, yesterday we struck one of Hamas's senior leaders, Abu Obeida. This is not the end, most of Hamas's leadership is abroad, and we will reach them as well," Zamir said during a situational assessment at the army's Northern Command centre, according to a statement released by the military.

A post-war plan for Gaza is circulating within President Donald Trump's administration that would see the US administer the war-torn enclave for at least a decade, the temporary relocation of Gaza's population and its rebuilding as a tourist resort and manufacturing hub, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The Washington Post said that according to a 38-page prospectus it had seen, Gaza's 2 million population would leave either through "voluntary" departures to another country or into restricted areas within the territory during reconstruction.

Reuters previously reported that there is a proposal to build large-scale camps called "Humanitarian Transit Areas" inside - and possibly outside - Gaza to house the Palestinian population. That plan carried the name of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, a controversial US-backed aid group.

Anyone who owns land would be offered a "digital token" in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, the Post reported, adding that each Palestinian who left would be provided with $5,000 in cash and subsidies to cover four years of rent. They would also be provided with a year of food, it added.

The Post said the plan is called the "Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust," and was developed by the GHF. GHF coordinates with the Israeli military and uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get food aid into Gaza.

Israel is considering annexation in the occupied West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognising a Palestinian state, according to three Israeli officials speaking with Reuters, and the idea will be discussed further on Sunday, another official said.

Extension of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank - de facto annexation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war - was on the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet meeting late on Sunday that is expected to focus on the Gaza war, a member of the small circle of ministers said.

It is unclear where precisely any such measure would be applied and when, whether only in Israeli settlements or some of them, or in specific areas of the West Bank like the Jordan Valley and whether any concrete steps, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, would follow discussions.

Any step toward annexation in the West Bank would likely draw widespread condemnation from the Palestinians, who seek the territory for a future state, as well as Arab and Western countries. It is unclear where US President Donald Trump stands on the matter.

A spokesperson for Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar did not respond to a request for comment on whether Saar had discussed the move with his US counterpart Marco Rubio during his visit to Washington last week.

Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the prime minister supports annexation and if so, where.

The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Sunday his group would keep launching attacks against Israel, a day after confirming that an Israeli strike had killed their government's prime minister in Sanaa.

In a televised speech on the Huthis's Al-Masirah TV, Abdul Malik al-Huthi vowed to continue "targeting Israel with missiles and drones" and to escalate these attacks, adding that recent Israeli strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen would not weaken the group or discourage its fighters.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida was killed in Gaza.

UNRWA has said in a post on X that Israel has blocked aid entry into Gaza for six months, urging the Israeli government to allow the entry of aid.

The agency added that children were being forcibly displaced again, saying that "they are once again being forced to find somewhere safe. But there is nowhere. There is not enough space. There are not enough tents."

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that in the last 24 hours Israeli attacks on the enclave have killed 88 people and wounded a further 421, raising the total death toll to 63,459 killed and 160,256 wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had carried out a strike on Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz Ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

"We have struck the Hamas spokesman, the spokesman for this criminal and murderous organisation, Abu Obeida. I hope he is no longer with us, but I notice that there is no one on the Hamas side to clarify this matter," Netanyahu said according to a readout of a government meeting.

A flotilla of ships was preparing to set sail for the Gaza Strip Sunday with humanitarian aid on board, while Israel stepped up its offensive on Gaza City and is limiting the deliveries of food and basic supplies in the north of the Palestinian territory.

The Global Sumud Flotilla will try to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory and bring humanitarian aid, food, water and medicine to Gaza.

The maritime convoy, made up of delegations from 44 countries, will be joined by more ships from ports in Italy, Greece, and Tunisia in the coming days, on its route from the western end of the Mediterranean to the Gaza Strip, according to organizers. They expect around 20 vessels in total once all are together.

Hours before their departure, boats flying Palestinian flags began docking in line at a pier in Barcelona, while hundreds of supporters wearing keffiyehs chanted "Free Palestine!" and "Boycott Israel!"

"The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive," said Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a press conference.

"The story here is how the world can be silent and how those in power ... are in every possible way betraying and failing Palestinians and all oppressed peoples of the world," added Thunberg, who will be one of the most recognizable figures on the expedition, alongside actors Susan Sarandon and Liam Cunningham, as well as activists, politicians and journalists.

Israel's security cabinet meeting will be held in an alternative site, according to Israel's public broadcaster Kan. The decision comes after Israel killed the Prime Minister of Houthi-controlled Yemen this week.

A child has died from starvation in Gaza, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. The outlet added 333 Palestinians have died from starvation since the war began, including 125 children.

20 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, according to Al Jazeera, including 13 aid seekers.

Hamas on Sunday confirmed the death of Mohammed Sinwar, its presumed leader in Gaza, more than three months after Israel said it had killed him in an air strike.

Pictures released by the Palestinian Islamist group on Saturday showed him alongside other political and military leaders described as "martyrs of the military council".

Mohammed Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked Israel's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.

He reportedly led the Al-Qassam Brigades' military council after the death of commander Mohammed Deif.

Israel said it had identified Mohammed Sinwar's body in June in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, central Gaza. The military said it had "eliminated" him on 13 May.

An Israeli soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident in southern Gaza, according to Haaretz, which noted he is the 900th soldier to be killed since the war began.

Israeli forces have arrested nine Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank, with six arrested in several towns near Bethlehem, two in Halhul near Hebron, and one in the Am'ari refugee camp near Ramallah.

The Israeli army said it carried out a strike on a site run by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Sunday.

"A short while ago, the IDF (army) struck military infrastructure, including underground infrastructure, at a Hezbollah site in which military activity was identified, in the area of the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement.

"The existence of the site and the activity within it constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," it added.