Attack on central Israel injures 11 as Iran's leader promises a punishing response

JERUSALEM (AP) — An attack on a central Israeli town early Saturday injured 11 people as Iran's supreme leader vowed a punishing response to Israel's attack last week and Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza and Lebanon.

The predawn strike on Tira was one of several barrages fired from Lebanon. Many of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses as air raid sirens rang out in parts of the country throughout the day, while others landed in unpopulated areas.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel and glass shards in a direct strike on a building in Tira, a predominantly Israeli Arab town. Footage showed significant damage to the roof and top floor of the three-story building and cars below.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Saturday that it had used missiles and explosive drones to target military and intelligence facilities in northern and central Israel.

It claimed responsibility for firing missiles toward the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 base in Glilot, on the edge of Tel Aviv, and for firing rockets toward military facilities in Zvulun. Hezbollah also said it had targeted central Israel's Palmachim Air Base with explosive drones, saying they “scored precise hits on targets."

Israel's military did not confirm whether any of the three Hezbollah targets had been hit and said it had no comment on the group's claims.

Hezbollah said the Saturday dawn missile attack directed at Glilot was in retaliation for the “massacres” that are being committed by Israel. Tira, is about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Glilot.

Tamar Abdel Hai, a resident of Tira, said that the attack was frightening. “I call upon all the leaders in the Arab world and the leaders in Israel and to everyone who can help to end this war. It’s enough,” he said.

Hezbollah also said that its fighters fired salvos of rockets into northern Israeli towns including Dalton, Yesud HaMa’ala and Bar Yohai.

Israeli media showed images of damage reportedly caused by a drone that hit a factory north of Nahariya. The army said several drones crossed from Lebanon into Israel, one was intercepted but “fallen targets were identified in the area.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday afternoon killed one person and wounded 15 others, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israeli planes resumed strikes on the southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight Friday, following a four-day lull in the capital.

In a separate incident, a Lebanese ship captain was seized by armed men who landed on the coast of Batroun, north of Beirut, Lebanese authorities said.

The Israeli military later confirmed it had captured the man, which it described as a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon. It did not name the detainee and said he was being investigated on Israeli territory.

The early Saturday attacks may be only a precursor to a more severe strike against Israel.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Saturday threatened Israel and the U.S. with a punishing response over attacks on Iran and its allies following Israel's Oct. 26 airstrikes that targeted Iran's military bases and other locations.

“The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a video released by Iranian state media.

A further attack by Iran, which has already launched two direct attacks against Israel this year, could push the wider Middle East closer to a broader conflict. Israel is already battling the Iran-backed militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The fight against Hezbollah has weakened the group but has also taken a heavy toll on southern Lebanon and other parts of the country.

On Friday, Israel launched dozens of intense airstrikes across Lebanon’s northeastern farming villages, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores more, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in 2023, more than 2,897 people have been killed and 13,150 wounded in Lebanon, according to a Health Ministry update early Friday. United Nations agencies estimate that Israel’s ground invasion and bombardment of Lebanon has displaced 1.4 million people.

Residents of Israel’s northern communities near Lebanon, roughly 60,000 people, have also been displaced for more than a year.

In recent weeks, Israel has also stepped up its offensive against Hamas’ remaining fighters in Gaza, raising concerns about humanitarian conditions for civilians still there.

A series of Israeli strikes on Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza, killed at least 42 people, more than half of them women and children, in 24 hours, Dr. Marwan Abu Naser, director of Al-Awda Hospital that received the casualties, told The Associated Press. A further 150 were wounded, he said.

Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a street in the nearby Bureij refugee camp killed at least six people, medical officials said. The dead were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah and counted by AP journalists there.

Separately, the Israeli military said that two of its soldiers were killed in southern Gaza.

Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News TV reported Saturday that Hamas has rejected a partial cease-fire deal in Gaza fearing that Israel will resume its operations in the enclave even after hostages are released. The TV channel has close ties to the Egyptian intelligence service and Egypt has been a key mediator throughout the yearlong conflict.

Hours later, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq criticized the temporary cease-fire proposal describing it as “just a smoke screen.” Hamas has continually called for a complete end to the conflict and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any cease-fire deal with Israel.

Meanwhile, The World Health Organization began a scaled-down polio vaccination campaign on Saturday, giving second doses to at-risk children only in Gaza City after providing first doses in multiple parts of northern Gaza, which has seen intense Israeli bombardment.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostages back to Gaza. Health officials inside Hamas-run Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of the dead in the enclave are women and children.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press journalists Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Shlomo Mor in Tira, Israel, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man surveys damage to his car after projectiles fired from Lebanon hit a home in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man surveys a damaged room after projectiles fired from Lebanon hit a home in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A view of a damaged home after projectiles fired from Lebanon in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli police men work at the site where projectiles fired from Lebanon hit a home in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli police men work at the site where projectiles fired from Lebanon hit a home in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man looks at damaged building after projectiles fired from Lebanon hit a home in Tira, central Israel, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital and multiple ports, while the World Health Organization's director-general said the bombardment occurred nearby as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X.

He added that he and U.N. colleagues were safe. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” he said, without mentioning the source of the bombardment. U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later said the injured person was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service.

Israel’s army later told The Associated Press it wasn’t aware that the WHO chief was at the location in Yemen.

The Israeli strikes followed several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military in a statement said it attacked infrastructure used by the Iran-backed Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, along with power stations, asserting they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials.

Israel's military added it had "capabilities to strike very far from Israel’s territory — precisely, powerfully, and repetitively.”

The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned" as his military has battled those more powerful proxies of Iran.

The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah reported multiple deaths and showed broken windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained floor and vehicle. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in recent days.

The U.N. has said the targeted ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged into a civil war in 2014.

Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, while other missiles and drones have been shot down. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The U.N. Security Council has an emergency meeting Monday in response to an Israeli request that it condemn the Houthi attacks and Iran for supplying them weapons.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in Gaza overnight, the territory's Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said all were militants posing as reporters.

The strike hit a car outside Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. Israel's military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings.

Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings visible on the back doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel hasn't allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.

Separately, Israel's military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children, but doesn't say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has caused widespread destruction and hunger and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.

Also Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations in and around Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and it was aware of uninvolved civilians who were harmed in the raid.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the name of the local news outlet is Al-Quds Today, not the Quds News Network.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Smoke rises from the area around the International Airport following an airstrike, as seen from Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. The Israeli military reported targeting infrastructure used by the Houthis at the Sanaa International Airport, as well as ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif, and Ras Qantib, along with power stations.(AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Mourners carry the bodies of eight killed Palestinians, some are wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Mourners carry the bodies of killed Palestinians, some wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A boy walks along of a damaged street after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A mourner cries while she takes the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A Palestinian killed during an Israeli army operation is buried in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A mourner cries after taking a last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Mourners cry while they take the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Locals stand next to a damaged building after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)