We’ll be back with more updates on the war between Israel and Hamas.
We had previously reported that the Houthis had attacked what they said were two U. S. shipments and one Israeli shipment (see message at 8:44 p. m. ).
Now we’re getting more on this.
The Iranian-aligned organization said the U. S. sent the Maersk Yorktown, a U. S. destroyer in the Gulf of Aden, and that Israel sent the MSC Veracruz to the Indian Ocean.
Spokesman Yahya Sarea said, “The Yemeni armed forces verify that they will continue to save Israeli shipping or any shipping heading to the ports of occupied Palestine in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean. “
Separately, British maritime security company Ambrey said it was aware of an incident southwest of the port city of Aden, a domain where the Houthis attack ships they believe are connected to Israel or the United States.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks, after postponing the vacation because of a broken rib.
Sullivan told reporters that he was feeling much better after his rib injury and that he had recovered about 80 percent.
He is expected to hold talks with Saudi officials on whether an agreement for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia can be reached.
By Dominic Waghorn, International Affairs Editor
Deep in Jerusalem, Israeli doctors are at their worst.
Sky News has been granted the exclusive right to an underground hospital where they are expanding their capacity should the existing conflict escalate.
In a bunker beneath the Herzog medical center the number of beds has risen to 350, of which 100 are on the way.
“Because it’s built to deal with biological and chemical attacks,” Dr. Yehezkel Caine told Sky News as we entered the compound.
“We have an airlock made up of two separate blast doors. “
Beyond that, they installed a new ward point underneath the existing underground hospital, a logistical site, and installed more beds and equipment.
The bunkers would be activated if other hospitals closer to the front were evacuated. At worst, these are scenarios such as an all-out war with Hezbollah.
“The hospitals in the north will be scourged by the wounded and they themselves will be set on fire. In this case, they will have to evacuate their patients to the center of the country, as we did in the first weeks of the war in the south. “Dr. Caine said. “
Dr. Caine and his team know that after October 7 and the Iranian attack, everything is for the Israeli people.
He said: “For the civilian population, since the war of independence, we have never been in a place where the risk to the civilian population has been so great. “
On the surface, Herzog Medical Center continues its peacetime specializations.
It has the largest ventilation unit in Israel, which treats adults and children, but also excels in psychotrauma treatment and geriatric rehabilitation.
Many other people who suffer from PTSD as a result of the trauma of this confrontation receive treatment here.
If Jerusalem itself is attacked, the hospital can evacuate even the most vulnerable to bunkers in just a few hours. Bunkers can be completely cordoned off for up to 96 hours in what is known as the Noah’s Ark procedure.
Herzog trains his staff, preparing for a truth whose hope will never come true.
But developments on the northern border seem worrisome.
Israel has carried out one of its largest bombings against Hezbollah after bombing communities in northern Israel.
Low-level warfare continues with the ever-present danger of escalation to much greater levels.
If that happens, doctors at Jerusalem’s underground hospital say they will be prepared.
The Houthis said they found a U. S. warship in the Gulf of Aden today.
In a televised address, the Iranian-aligned group’s army spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said the Maersk Yorktown container was also attacked.
They also claimed that Israel sent the MSC Veracruz to the Indian Ocean.
The parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin called on leaders to “come to an agreement” and bring the hostages back, just as they called on their son to “stay and survive. “
Reacting to the video released today by Hamas, which features his son, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, they said watching Hersh’s video today was “disturbing. “
Polin said: “We are relieved to see him alive, but we are also concerned for his health and well-being, as well as that of all the other hostages and all those suffering in this area.
“We are here to appeal to all the leaders of the parties that have negotiated so far, including Qatar, Egypt, the United States, Hamas and Israel.
“Be brave, lie down right now and come to an agreement to reunite us all with our loved ones and end the suffering in this region. “
Speaking directly to Hersh, his mother told him, “If you can hear that, we hear your voice for the first time in 201 days and if you can hear us, I’m telling you, we’re telling you, we love you, stay strong, survive. “”.
The IDF leader and the head of one of Israel’s intelligence agencies traveled to Cairo to discuss the planned operation in Rafah, according to the Axios news site.
Three senior Israeli officials told the outlet that Herzl Halevi and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar had met with Egyptian officials, who fear that an operation could cause tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians to flee to their territory.
Egypt has warned Israel to oppose an operation in Rafah, with which it shares a border and where more than a million Palestinians have been displaced.
An Israeli government spokesman said later that day that Israel would continue its planned operation in the city (see message at 2 p. m. ).
At a press briefing, deputy spokesman Vedant Patel also said Washington was continuing to press the Israeli government for more data on reports of mass graves in Gaza.
Explained: Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was pushing to start the procedure of legalizing outposts in the West Bank.
Smotrich has sent orders to various ministries asking them to begin preparations, The Times of Israel reported, citing Israel’s Channel 12.
There have also been reports of mass graves discovered in the Khan Younis domain in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said the claim that infantrymen buried Palestinian bodies was “baseless and baseless. “
Hamas posted a video showing an Israeli-American hostage on its Telegram account.
The short, undated video purportedly shows alive Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was captured by Hamas at the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 attacks.
It shows the 23-year-old, a native of California, without the forearm that was ripped off in the attack.
Speaking under duress while in captivity, Goldberg-Polin says he finds himself in an “underground hell” and without the remedy he needs.
“Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will be ashamed because they have bypassed us and thousands of other citizens,” he said, urging the Israeli prime minister to resign after “rejecting” the hostage release deals.
Every day that the hostages are in Gaza, they are “and ignored,” he said.
“You don’t know our blood. . . Do what is expected of you and take us home immediately, or is it too vital for you?”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society released photographs showing plumes of smoke rising into the air after a space was reportedly bombed.
The bombing took place in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
After weeks of relative calm, Israel intensified its attacks on Monday night, focusing on areas, specifically in the north, from which it had in the past withdrawn its troops.