The UN warns that Gaza is heading towards famine as the specter of a wider war looms
The twin specters of a widening regional war and intensifying civilian suffering loomed over the Middle East on Saturday, as the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen threatened to respond to US airstrikes, and a senior UN official warned of a 'horrific' humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. Gaza, which he said was on its way to famine.
A US missile strike launched from a warship in the Red Sea hit a radar station outside the Yemeni capital Sana early on Saturday. The lone attack came about 24 hours after US-led strikes on nearly 30 locations in northern and western Yemen aimed at deterring Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Houthi officials tried to fend off the latest attack, saying it would have little impact on their ability to attack ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, say their goal is to punish Israel for blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza — although Yemeni analysts say the crisis also offers the Houthis a welcome distraction from mounting criticism at home.
The greater risk is likely borne by ordinary Yemenis, who are already grappling with one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters – a dubious distinction that now extends to Gaza.
In northern Gaza, bodies are left on the road and starving people hold up aid trucks “looking for whatever they can get to survive,” Martin Griffiths, the top U.N. aid official, told the United Nations Security Council on Friday. With the risk of famine in Gaza “increasing by the day,” he reiterated previous criticism of Israel, which he said delayed or denied clearance to humanitarian convoys bringing urgently needed aid to northern Gaza.
The arrival of bitterly cold winter weather is exacerbating the struggle for survival, he said, as Israel intensifies its bombing of areas where civilians have had to move for their safety.
The Israeli government denied on Friday that it was obstructing aid, saying its approval was conditional on the security situation, the safety of its troops and its efforts to prevent supplies from “falling into the hands” of Hamas, the armed Islamist group that controls Gaza . Israel launched its attack on Gaza after the October 7 Hamas-led assault, in which Israeli officials say at least 1,200 people were killed and another 240 returned to Gaza as hostages.
Israeli strikes have since killed at least 23,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza health authorities. At least 1.9 million people, or 85 percent of the population, have been driven from their homes, Mr Griffiths said.
Like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis have been supported, financed and armed by Iran for many years. United States officials say Iran provided the intelligence used by the Houthis to target ships 28 times in the Red Sea since mid-November, diverting more than 2,000 other ships to a much longer route around Africa.
The Houthi response to the American-led airstrikes on Friday and Saturday has so far been weak, with a single missile falling about 500 meters from a passing ship in the Red Sea on Friday. Maritime security company Ambrey identified the ship as a tanker sailing under the Panamanian flag with Russian oil – a clear mistake, as Russia, an ally of Iran, had denounced the American-led attacks on the Houthis.
Houthi officials warn a stronger response is coming.
“Washington will deeply regret its provocative practices in the Red and Arabian Seas, as will anyone who becomes involved in them,” Hezam al-Asad, a member of the Houthi political bureau, said in a telephone interview after the latest US strike.
The only way for the United States to stop its attacks on shipping, he said, was “an end to the war in Gaza.”
Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting from new york, and Patrick Kingsley from Jerusalem.