Houthis vow retaliation after PM's death in Israeli attacks

Top officials of Yemen's Houthi group have vowed retaliation as it confirmed on Saturday that Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi of the Houthi-backed government, along with several other ministers, was killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday.

The attack in Sanaa was the first to kill most senior Houthi officials. It came four days after Israeli strikes on the capital on Aug 24 killed 10 people and wounded more than 90, according to Houthi health officials.

In a statement carried by Saba News Agency, the group acknowledged that the officials were hit during a workshop reviewing government activities over the past year, and that several other ministers were wounded and remain in hospital. It did not say how many ministers were killed.

Quoting unnamed sources, Israeli media reported on Friday that the Israeli army attacked the entire Houthi Cabinet, including the prime minister and 12 other ministers.

Meanwhile, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that the group's deputy prime minister, Mohammed Miftah, was appointed to run a caretaker government in Sanaa.

Following the confirmation of the deaths of the senior officials, Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Supreme Political Council — the Houthis' highest governing body in Sanaa — said in a speech aired by al-Masirah TV that "Israel should await dark days".

"Our stance remains as it is and will remain until the aggression ends and the siege is lifted, no matter how great the challenges," Mashat said. "We shall take vengeance, and we shall forge from the depths of wounds a victory."

According to Saba News Agency, the Houthi Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi said forces "are ready at all levels to confront" Israel, whereas Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Gumari, Houthi military chief of staff, said "the Israeli aggression on civilian sites will not pass without punishment".

Israel said its air force carried out a "significant operation" targeting a meeting of the Houthi Cabinet in Sanaa while its members were watching a speech by the group's leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, who vowed to continue support for Palestinians.

On Saturday, Iran strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes against Houthi leaders. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called the attack "a clear example of aggression against the Yemeni people and their legitimate government during a time of intense struggle against Israel", the IRNA news agency reported.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have carried out drone and missile attacks on Israel since November 2023 in what they describe as showing solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza conflict.

Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-held areas, targeting airports, power stations and ports in Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, with Thursday's airstrikes believed to have dealt the most serious blow to the group.

The United States announced a deal with the Houthis to end the strikes in return for an end to attacks on Red Sea shipping in May. However, the Houthis said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets aligned with Israel.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, forcing the internationally recognized Yemeni government into exile in Aden. Since then, the group has controlled much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and Hodeidah, and set up a government in the capital.

Meanwhile, Israel has escalated efforts to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza City. That plan has been condemned by foreign governments and criticized in Israel as unnecessary and costly, as the great majority of Gazans have been displaced at least once and the United Nations has declared a famine.

"It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions," Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.

In Gaza, 66 people were killed on Saturday, the territory's health authorities said. Since Oct 7, 2023, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people and injured over 160,000 others.

Abu Mohammed Kishko, a resident of the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, told Agence France-Presse that the bombardments the previous night had been "insane".

"It didn't stop for a second, and we didn't sleep all night," the 42-year-old said.

At a Saturday rally in Tel Aviv demanding the negotiated release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza, captives' families warned the impending offensive could imperil their lives.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.