A drone attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels killed one person in the center of Tel Aviv, Israel's biggest city, and wounded at least 10 others near the U.S. Embassy early Friday, authorities said.
The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel throughout the Israel-Hamas war, but all had apparently been intercepted until Friday. Alongside their attacks on shipping, the Iran-backed Houthis say they're pressuring Israel and the international community to halt the devastating war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the top U.N. court issued a non-binding opinion that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful,” saying Israel could not claim sovereignty in the territories and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.
Friday's decision by the International Court of Justice is separate from South Africa's case saying the Israeli campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, a charge Israel vehemently denies.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza. Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.
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