Expanding military operations decried

GAZA/JERUSALEM — Reports that Israel is expanding military operations in Gaza have alarmed the United Nations chief, a UN spokesman said, as the Israeli military carried out airstrikes against the port of Hodeidah in Yemen.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a daily briefing: "I can tell you that the secretary-general is alarmed by these reports of Israeli plans to expand ground operations and prolong its military presence in Gaza. This will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza."

It is imperative to end violence, civilian deaths and destruction, Haq said.

"Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state. The secretary-general continues to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire. The hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally."

The reaction came after it was reported that Israel's security cabinet had voted to expand the military offensive in Gaza to seize and occupy the territory.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that the country's new offensive would be "intensive".

"We are on the eve of an intensified incursion into Gaza," Netanyahu said in a video posted on the social media platform X, adding that the goals of the operation are to "defeat Hamas and, in the process, secure the release of the hostages".

Under the plan, Israel would shift its current strategy, moving from withdrawal after destroying Hamas' military capabilities to retaining control over seized Gaza territory, he said.

A Hamas official said on Tuesday that the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the world to halt Israel's "hunger war" against Gaza.

"There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip," Agence France-Presse quoted Basem Naim as saying.

The world must press the government to end the "crimes of hunger, thirst and killings" in Gaza, he said.

Mediator Qatar on Tuesday said it was still pursuing efforts for a Gaza ceasefire.

Humanitarian aid blocked

There were also reports that Israel would continue to block humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza, which it has forbidden since March 2, and to privatize the operation using US contractors instead of it being supervised by the UN and other humanitarian organizations.

Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2 and faces a severe humanitarian crisis.

Nearly all of the territory's inhabitants have been displaced, often numerous times, since the start of the conflict sparked by Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct 7,2023.

The Israeli military said it carried out airstrikes against Yemen's Hodeidah Port on Monday, a day after the Houthis fired a missile that struck near Israel's main airport.

The strikes killed at least one person and injured at least 35 people, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said, citing the health ministry.

The Houthis shut down the area around the port and cement factory following the strikes, three sources said.

The extent of the damage at the port was unknown, but the intensity of the strikes and fire caused severe damage to the containers' berth, they said.

Two other sources estimated the damage at 70 percent of the port's five docks, warehouses and customs area. The strikes occurred as two ships were unloading their cargo, with traffic at the port at a complete standstill, a worker at the port said.

The port is the second-largest in the Red Sea after Aden and is the entry point for about 80 percent of Yemen's food imports.

More than 10 strikes targeted Hodeidah Port and the Al Salakhanah and Al Hawak neighborhoods in the city of Hodeidah, five residents told Reuters. Four strikes also targeted a cement factory east of Hodeidah.

"The attack was carried out in response to repeated attacks carried out by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel in which surface-to-surface missiles and unmanned aircraft were launched at the territory of the state and its citizens," the Israeli military said.

On Tuesday, Iran condemned the strikes. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, called them "a blatant crime and a gross violation of the principles and rules of international law".

Agencies - Xinhua