US strikes kill 21 in Sanaa as Trump vows action against Houthis

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The death toll of US strikes on Yemen has risen to at least 20 people now, Houthi media said on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to inform him about American strikes on Yemen's Houthis as well as next steps following meetings in Saudi Arabia, the US State Department said.

A State department spokesperson said Rubio and Lavrov "agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia." 

Yemen's Houthi rebels said Sunday that US strikes had killed at least 15 people, including children, after President Donald Trump announced an attack on the Iran-backed group.

The Houthi's Ansarollah media raised an earlier death toll of nine, reporting strikes hitting the capital Sanaa as well as the northern Saada region.

Mass protests have taken place in New York City over the arrest and detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil's detention comes amid Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters in US universities.

"Are we tired? NO!”, "are we scared? NO!, "are we gonna stay in the streets? YES!", protesters yelled.

“Are we tired?” “NO!”
“Are we scared?” “NO!”
“Are we gonna stay in the streets?” “YES!”

A massive crowd of New Yorkers rallies to demand the release of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil! pic.twitter.com/fWj5JBU3w8

— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) March 15, 2025

Israel is prepared to continue Gaza ceasefire talks based on the mediators' response to a US proposal for the release of 11 living hostages and half of the deceased, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday.

 An unfolding US. military campaign of strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis could last days and maybe weeks, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

President Donald Trump announced the start of the operation earlier on Saturday, warning the Houthi attacks against Red Sea shipping needed to stop or "hell will rain down upon you."

Yemen's Houthis vowed to respond to deadly strikes on the capital Sanaa on Saturday after US President Donald Trump said Washington had launched a "decisive" action against the Iran-backed rebels.

"This aggression will not pass without a response, and our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation," the rebels' political bureau said in a statement on their Al-Masirah television.

US President Donald Trump has issued a warning against Iran to "stop supporting" Yemen's Houthis, after he announced military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Trump said: "To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes."

"If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!" he added.

At least nine civilians were killed and nine injured in US strikes on Yemen's Sanaa on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said on X.

The United States has launched "decisive and powerful military action" against Yemen's Houthi rebels, President Donald Trump declared on Saturday.

"We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective," he said in a social media post, accusing the Iran-backed movement of threatening Red Sea shipping.

The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.

Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called "special government employee," a position that would not need Senate confirmation.

"Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

"Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home."

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian group Hamas.

An attack targeted the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said on Saturday, without providing further details.

Hamas has called on the international community to step in and save the ceasefire, which it said is being violated by Israel on a daily basis.

"The daily violations, the occupation's criminal behavior, the tightening of the siege on Gaza, and its reneging on the agreement must prompt the international community and the agreement's guarantors to take immediate action to salvage the ceasefire agreement," Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou wrote on his Telegram channel.

Al-Qanou described Israel's attack on the aid convoy in Beit Lahia today as a "heinous massacre".

Nine people were killed in the Israeli drone strike, including three journalists and a number of aid workers.

Thousands of people took to the streets of central London on Saturday to protest against Israel's war on Gaza and its treatment of the Palestinians.

The demonstration, organised by a coalition of pro-Palestine campaign groups, saw thousands of people march from Piccadilly to Whitehall to demand the British government hold Israel to account.

Protesters held signs and banners that read 'Stop Arming Israel' and 'Free Palestine'.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a cabinet meeting later today to discuss developments in the ceasefire talks, Israeli media is reporting.

Ministers will be briefed on the current status of the talks by the negotiating team, which has returned from Doha.

We'll bring you more as we hear it.

The airport in Syria's second city Aleppo is set to reopen next week, the state news agency reported Saturday, after it was shut during the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad.

"The Syrian Civil Aviation Authority announced the resumption of operations at Aleppo International Airport starting Tuesday, 18 March," the official news agency SANA reported.

"The airport is ready to receive flights, after the completion of all technical and administrative preparations," the authority told SANA.

The reopening of the airport in the northern city will see the arrival of domestic and international flights, the authority said, adding that it welcomes all airlines wishing to operate flights to the facility.

(AFP)

A blast in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia killed at least three people and injured 12 on Saturday, state media reported, with the cause still unclear.

"The blast in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Latakia city has so far resulted in three deaths and 12 injured," state news agency SANA said, citing provincial authorities.

It added that "civil defence teams and residents are still searching for others injured and missing".

A resident of the city, Ward Jammoul, 32, told AFP that she heard a "loud blast", adding that she "headed to the site and found a completely destroyed building".

She said civil defence personnel and ambulances were present at the site, alongside "a large number of people who had gathered to look for those trapped under the rubble".

An image carried by SANA showed a large plume of smoke rising over a populated neighbourhood.

No other details could immediately be confirmed.

(AFP)

A Palestinian media monitor said Saturday that three journalists were killed in Israel's attack on a vehicle in Beit Lahia.

"Israel killed three journalists in an airstrike on a media team documenting relief efforts in northern Gaza," the Palestinian Journalists Protection Centre said in a statement.

"The journalists were recording humanitarian relief efforts for those affected by the Israeli genocide war," it added.

Hamas said Saturday that "the ball is in Israel's court" after it offered to release an Israeli-US prisoner and return the bodies of four others in return for Israel engaging in negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire.

"We want to solidify the ceasefire agreement and force [Israel] to implement its terms," Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP, accusing Israel of delaying its enforcement.

Israel is refusing to enter talks to negotiate the second phase of the truce in violation of the agreement signed in January.

Instead, it is trying to pressure Hamas into accepting an extension of the current phase and on Friday complained that the Palestinian group had "not budged a millimetre" following a 'bridging' proposal from the Trump administration.

Israel's attack in Beit Lahia this morning killed a number of journalists and several workers from the Al-Khair Foundation, Gaza's civil defence has said.

"Nine martyrs have been transferred [to hospital], including several journalists and a number of workers from the Al-Khair Charitable Organisation, as a result of the occupation targeting a vehicle with a drone in the town of Beit Lahia, coinciding with artillery shelling on the same area," a civil defence spokesperson told AFP.

The local health ministry confirmed that nine bodies had arrived at the Indonesian Hospital in the north of the enclave, as well as several injured.

Hamas described the attack as a "horrific massacre" and "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement".

An Israeli strike targeting a vehicle killed one person in south Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, according to state media.

"A strike by the Israeli enemy on a car in the town of Burj al-Muluk (near the Israeli border) led to the death of one citizen," the ministry's emergency unit was quoted as saying by state news agency NNA.

The Israeli army later claimed it targeted a Hezbollah member behind "militant activity" in the border village of Kfarkela.

مراسلة «الأخبار»: شهيد و جريح بحالة خطرة جراء استهداف مسيّرة إسرائيلية سيارة من نوع رابيد على طريق برج الملوك pic.twitter.com/Mutt7CLcw5

— جريدة الأخبار - Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) March 15, 2025

Hamas accused Israel of a "blatant violation" of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, after the Palestinian territory's civil defence agency reported that nine people were killed Saturday in Israeli strikes in the northern town of Beit Lahia.

"The occupation (Israel) has committed a horrific massacre in the northern Gaza Strip by targeting a group of journalists and humanitarian workers, in a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

The Palestinian media worker killed in this morning's Israeli drone attack has been named as photojournalist Mahmoud Islim.

Islim was among at least nine killed in the attack, which reportedly targeted a car in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

استشهاد المصور الصحفي محمود إسليم في قصف إسرائيلي على بيت لاهيا شمالي قطاع غزة#الجزيرة pic.twitter.com/s6DMn0gfUH

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 15, 2025

The death toll from an Israeli drone strike in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza has risen to nine, according to local reports.

Two journalists are among those killed in the attack. Several others were wounded.

The UN's Palestinian refugee relief agency (UNRWA) has set up nearly 400 'temporary learning spaces' across Gaza to continue providing education services to Palestinian children.

Some 660,000 children are out of education due to Israel's war on Gaza.

More than 50,000 children are attending classes at the temporary sites.

The Israeli military has almost completely wiped out the territory's education infrastructure, damaging or destroying almost 90% of the schools over the course of the 15-month war.

660,000 children, half of them UNRWA students, are out of school due to the war in #Gaza.
To help children continue to learn, UNRWA has provided:
📚 397 Temporary Learning Spaces for over 50,000 children
📚 Distance learning, with over 277,000 children enrolled
📚 Psychosocial… pic.twitter.com/BP2vZ16oZh

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 15, 2025

An Israeli drone shot and killed five civilians, including two journalists, in Beit Lahia in north Gaza on Saturday, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

We'll bring you more as we get it.

The mayor of Rafah has warned of a "looming humanitarian disaster" after fuel deliveries to water wells in the southern governorate were halted due to Israel's blockade.

Israel last week reimposed a near-total siege on Gaza, blocking all goods from entering the strip and cutting the power.

Turkish police detained five suspects Friday on charges of espionage for the Iranian intelligence service, local media reported.

Officers carried out operations in Turkey's largest city Istanbul as well as in Antalya and Mersin in the south, and detained five people, the DHA news agency reported.

The suspects allegedly collected information about military bases and key regions in Turkey and abroad, before passing it on to the Iranian intelligence service, the report said.

There was no immediate information about the nationality of the suspects.

(AFP)

Jewish pro-Palestinian campaign group Jewish Voice for Peace has shared a video of Mahmoud Khalil's "horrific" arrest by US immigration authorities.

The video, filmed by Khalil's wife, shows federal agents arrest the Columbia graduate school at his home in New York.

"[Department for Homeland Security] agents ripped Mahmoud Khalil from his home, threatening his immigration status, and detaining him, solely because of his political beliefs," JVP wrote in a post on X.

"This is a clear attempt by President Trump to silence dissent, chill speech, and attack our freedoms."

Free Mahmoud Khalil! There is no other way to put it: Mahmoud Khalil’s illegal detention at the hands of the Trump administration is horrific.

DHS agents ripped Mahmoud Khalil from his home, threatening his immigration status, and detaining him, solely because of his political… pic.twitter.com/b9ZYpsDXSL

— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) March 14, 2025

Hamas will only free further captives if Israel agrees to negotiate to enter the second phase of the ceasefire, the Associated Press quotes a senior Hamas official as saying.

The Palestinian group said the talks would need to start on the day the captives are released and last no longer than 50 days.

It is also demanding Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and end its blockade on aid and electricity entering Gaza.

Israel will impose sweeping restrictions on humanitarian organisations helping Palestinians, according to The Washington Post.

The measures empower the government to effectively ban any organisation with employees who have called for Israeli soldiers to be held accountable for their conduct in Gaza, questioned the "Jewish and democratic" nature of the state, or expressed support for the boycott.

The bill follows a number of moves by the government to impede the international delivery of aid to Palestinians, including the banning of UNRWA and the reimposition of the blockade on Gaza.

Hamas has rejected the US proposal extend the Gaza truce for several weeks in exchange for the release of 15 captives and a resumption of aid into Gaza, according to reports on Friday.

US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly proposed extending the truce until 20 April in return for the Palestinian group releasing five Israeli captives and 10 bodies.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected US and Israeli proposals to extend the first phase of the ceasefire.

Israel had agreed in January to negotiate the terms of the second stage of the truce but is now refusing to do so.

Read more here.

The United States is proposing a "bridge" plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The proposal was presented on Wednesday by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Trager, according to a statement issued by their offices.

"Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners, Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this “bridge” would have to be implemented soon - and that dual US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately," it added. 

(Reuters)

Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians in northern Gaza on Saturday in what was the latest in a string of ceasefire violations by the Israeli military.

Four died in a drone strike in Gaza City while a fifth was killed on the coast by the Israeli navy.

Tank and gunfire have also been reported in Rafah in southern Gaza. No casualties have been reported from the south.