Israel rejects genocide case as Mideast tensions rise after U.S.-led strikes in Yemen

In the second day of hearings Friday at the United Nations' top court, Israel rejected allegations levied by South Africa that its campaign against Hamas amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people, saying that, if anything, it is Hamas that is guilty of genocide.

Although the case is likely to take years to resolve, South Africa is asking the International Court of Justice to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip. It's unclear if Israel would comply with any court order.

Meanwhile, the United States and British militaries launched strikes on sites used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen in retaliation for their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas, but their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack from Gaza into southern Israel that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage by militants. Israel's air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 people, some 70 per cent of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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Here's the latest:

THOUSANDS RALLY IN INDONESIA DEMANDING CEASEFIRE

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- At least 5,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied Saturday in front of the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in downtown Jakarta to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Organized by the Indonesian Mass Organization Council, a conservative Muslim forum, the protesters wore black and white as they joined the Global Day of Action Stop the War on Gaza. Waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags, they held signs that read "Boycott Israel," "End the Genocide of Palestinians" and "Ceasefire Now."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, has long been a strong supporter of Palestinians and does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

U.S. SAYS ITS MILITARY STRUCK ANOTHER HOUTHI SITE IN YEMEN

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military has struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen that was determined to be putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk.

The strike happened early Saturday, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an operation that hadn't yet been publicly announced.

Associated Press journalists in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, heard one loud explosion.

The first day of strikes on Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets. However the U.S. determined the additional location, a radar site, still presented a threat to maritime traffic, one official said.

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By Tara Copp, Lolita C. Baldor, Jon Gambrell and Aamer Madhani.

ISRAEL'S ORDERS FOR DISLACEMENT IN GAZA POTENTIALLY AMOUNT TO A WAR CRIME, U.N. SAYS

UNITED NATIONS -- Israel's orders for massive displacement of more than 1 million people in Gaza without ensuring access to food, health care, shelter or safety fail to meet international legal requirements and "potentially amount to forcible transfer, a war crime," a senior UN official said Friday.

Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris also expressed alarm at "incendiary statements" by some Israeli officials pushing for Palestinians to be resettled overseas.

"Palestinians' right to return to their homes must be subject to an ironclad guarantee," she told a Security Council meeting on the threat of forced displacement.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the council that "what has been unfolding in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is a war conducted with almost no regard for the impact on civilians."

As a result of Israel's unrelenting evacuation orders, he said, more people "are being crammed into an ever-smaller sliver of land, only to find yet more violence and deprivation, inadequate shelter and a near absence of the most basic services."

Griffiths also said the statements by Israeli officials on encouraging Palestinians to go to other countries raise "grave concerns" about possible "forcible mass transfer or deportation, something that would be strictly prohibited under international law."

U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY WAS IN HOSPITAL WHEN HE ORDERED STRIKES ON YEMEN, PENTAGON SAYS

WASHINGTON -- From his hospital room, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time as the U.S. retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded Thursday night.

It was the latest in a series of responsibilities Austin has carried out from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been recovering from complications due to treatments for prostate cancer that he initially did not disclose.

On Friday, President Joe Biden said it was a lapse in judgment for Austin to keep his hospitalization a secret, but said he still has confidence in the Pentagon chief.

Austin's delays in disclosing his prostate cancer and his hospitalization have roiled the administration, Pentagon and Congress. Pentagon officials have repeatedly said that Austin has been performing his duties for the last week, even as he remains hospitalized.

ISRAEL KILLS 3 PALESTINIANS AFTER THEY ATTACK WEST BANK SETTLEMENT, ARMY SAYS

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli army said Friday it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired on soldiers.

The soldiers were attacked while patrolling the settlement of Adora in the southern West Bank and they returned fire, killing three men, according to Israel's Army Radio.

One 34-year-old Palestinian man involved in the attack was wounded with a shot to the leg, Israel's medical rescue service said, without providing more information.

The attack came amid surging violence in the occupied territory nearly 100 days into Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has held the West Bank under a tight grip ever since Hamas' deadly cross-border attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7. The army frequently stages deadly military raids it says are aimed at stamping out militancy.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed 344 Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7.

GERMANY TO JOIN UN CASE ON ISRAEL'S BEHALF, SAYS 'NO BASIS' FOR GENOCIDE CHARGE

BERLIN -- Germany's government said Friday that it will request to join the International Court of Justice case as third party on Israel's behalf, saying there is "no basis whatsoever" for genocide accusations.

Under the court's rules, if Germany files a declaration of intervention in the case, it will be able to make legal arguments to support Israel.

"Hamas terrorists brutally attacked, tortured, killed and kidnapped innocent people in Israel," German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement Friday. "Since then, Israel has been defending itself against the inhumane attack by Hamas."

"We know that different countries assess Israel's operation in Gaza differently," Hebestreit said. "However, the Federal Government firmly and expressly rejects the accusation of genocide that has now been made against Israel at the International Court of Justice."

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Germany "sees itself as particularly committed to the Convention against Genocide." He added: "We firmly oppose political instrumentalization,."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement, saying "all of the citizens of Israel are touched" by the gesture.

UN SAYS 'DESPERATION' AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN, NEW MOTHERS AND OTHERS IN GAZA

UNITED NATIONS -- Returning from a week in Gaza, a senior official for the UN agency that focuses on sexual and reproductive rights for women warned that the situation "is beyond any of our worst nightmares -- and it's getting worse."

Dominic Allen, the UN Population Fund's representative covering the Palestinian territories, told reporters in a video briefing from East Jerusalem on Friday that "desperation is everywhere," from pregnant women, doctors and midwives to humanitarian workers and people who have fled their homes and are moving to the southern part of Gaza.

Many pregnant women who should be getting extra nutrition are suffering from thirst, malnutrition and lack of health, Allen said. "If the bombs don't kill them, if disease hunger and dehydration don't catch up with them, simply giving life will -- and we can't let this happen."

He repeated his message several times: "The world needs to help Gaza. It needs to help at scale, and it needs to help now."

Allen said he is "terrified for the 1 million women and girls in Gaza," including 690,000 who are of menstruating age but have almost no sanitary supplies, and 5,500 pregnant women due to give birth in the coming months -- which means 180 births every day in Gaza.

Since Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise invasion of south Israel and Israel's military response, UNFPA estimates there have been 18,000 births, he said. While the agency has been able to provide supplies for more than half of those deliveries, "much more is needed."

One of the few functioning hospitals in southern Gaza that he visited is overwhelmed with 70 to 80 births a day, including 20 cesarean sections, Allen said, and women can only spend a few hours in the hospital because of the overcrowding. That means the mothers and their mainly underweight babies aren't getting the post-natal care they need, he said.

IRAN PRAISES YEMEN'S HOUTHIS IN WAKE OF U.S.-LED BOMBING

TEHRAN -- Iran's foreign minister on Friday praised Yemen's Houthi rebels for their support for the Palestinians in Gaza, an apparent reference to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Houthis say are aimed at stopping Israel's war on Hamas.

However, Hossein Amir Abdollahian also said in a post on X that the Houthis are "fully committed to marine and shipping security," without elaborating.

The foreign minister said the United States, instead of striking Yemen, should halt its military support for Israel's operations in Gaza and the West Bank in order to restore security to the entire Mideast.

In Tehran, a group of people gathered outside the British Embassy in Iran to protest London's role in this week's airstrikes on Yemen. Carrying Palestinian flags, they burnt flags of Britain, U.S. and Israel. Similar rallies were held earlier on the day after Friday prayer ceremonies in the capital Tehran and other major cities of the country.

KEY HOSPITAL LOSES POWER IN CENTRAL GAZA, DOCTORS WARN PATIENTS WILL DIE WITHIN HOURS

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza -- Power cut off at the main hospital in central Gaza on Friday after it ran out of fuel for its main generator, according to an Associated Press journalist at the hospital, and doctors warned that patients would soon die if electricity isn't restored.

The cut came soon after Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah warned that its fuel supply was about to run out. It said the UN had told it a fuel delivery was expected but it had not arrived by Friday night.

After the facility went black after nightfall, staff kept ventilators and incubators operating using batteries charged by solar power during the day. But they warned that would last only a few hours. "In two hours at most, if the electricity doesn't come back, and the oxygen, these patients you see here will die," said one doctor, Taiseer Abu Sweirih, speaking to the AP in front of bed-ridden patients on life support.

The hospital has been overwhelmed with wounded from Israel's bombardment and ground offensive across the central portion of Gaza.

Last week, the WHO said half of Gaza's 36 hospitals are out of action, while the remaining 13 are only partially functional.

Gaza's health sector has been decimated by the three month war between Israel and Hamas, with many hospitals unable to treat the rising number of casualties or re-stock supplies including basic medicine.

UNITED NATIONS CHIEF SAYS YEMEN'S HOUTHIS MUST HEED CALL TO STOP ATTACKING SHIPS

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations chief says Yemen's Houthi rebels must comply with the Security Council resolution demanding an immediate halt to all attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took note of Thursday's U.S. and British airstrikes, with support from other countries, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Friday. Guterres called on all nations that are "defending their vessels from attacks to do so in accordance with international law, as stipulated in the resolution."

The Security Council approved the resolution by a vote of 11-0 vote Wednesday with Russia and China among the four countries that abstained. In addition to condemning and demanding a halt to Houthi attacks, it implicitly condemned the Houthi's main weapons supplier, Iran.

Dujarric said the secretary-general also calls on all parties "not to escalate even more the situation in the interest of peace and stability in the Red Sea and the wider region" and "to avoid acts that could further worsen the situation in Yemen itself."

DEAL TO DELIVER MEDICINE TO HOSTAGES IN GAZA IS IN THE WORKS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND QATAR

JERUSALEM -- Israel and Qatar are working on a deal to deliver much-needed medication to Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli government and a diplomat said Friday.

Hamas and Israel have both shown willingness to allow the delivery of the medicine, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were still ongoing. Logistics are still being worked out, including the types of medications needed and how to deliver them, the diplomat said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had assigned the head of the Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, to discuss the entry of medicines to the hostages with the Qataris, who have acted as mediators with Hamas in previous negotiations over hostage releases. In a statement, the office said the delivery could take place in the coming days.

The diplomat said the move for a deal came after families of hostages met with Qatar's prime minister and raised their worry that some of their loved ones are in need of important prescription medication.

Hamas and other militants abducted around 250 men, women and children during their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. During a ceasefire, around 100 hostages were freed in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, leaving around 130, mostly men, including 10 over the age of 75. Since then, Israel has announced that 20 died in captivity, leaving around 110.

The diplomat said discussions were also underway with international NGOs about delivering the medicines. During a round of swaps of hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel in November, the International Committee of the Red Cross served as the go-between, receiving freed hostages from Hamas and transporting them out of the territory.

The ICRC's spokesperson in Geneva, Jason Straziuso, would not comment on the reported deal but said that since the start of the war, the group has been calling for three things -- "that the hostages be released, barring that, that we be allowed to visit them and deliver medications as needed, and that the hostages be able to communicate with their family."

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Associated Press writer Isabel Debre contributed.

NEW MISSILE ATTACK AGAINST VESSEL OFF YEMEN'S COAST, U.K. SAYS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A new missile attack has been reported off Yemen. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, reported the attack Friday night.

It said the missile was fired toward a ship 90 miles (145 kilometres) southeast of Aden, Yemen, while the ship was being followed by three small vessels.

The ship reported no injuries or damage from the attack, the organization said.

"Vessels are advised to transit with caution," it warned.

The U.S. Navy has warned American-flagged vessels to stay out of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours, a notice to shippers issued by the U.S. said. The warning came over the airstrikes launched by a U.S.-led coalition against the Houthis.

GAZA LOSES PHONE AND INTERNET DUE TO FIGHTING, CUTTING OFF COMMUNICATION 

The Palestinian telecoms provider, Paltel, said Friday all communication services across Gaza have dropped due to ongoing fighting, isolating the besieged territory from the outside world.

"We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the ongoing aggression" Paltel said in a post on X. "Gaza is blacked out again."

Communication services in Gaza have completely dropped at least seven times since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Paltel.

The telecom company is used by people in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and The Gaza Strip.

ISRAEL SAYS IT COMPLIES WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THAT A RULING OF GENOCIDE WOULD SET A BAD PRECEDENT

JERUSALEM -- Israel argued on Friday that South Africa was trying to defame Israeli leadership and society by accusing the country of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Making Israel's closing statement, attorney Gilad Noam said South Africa's case against Israel made the nation look like a state "singularly consumed with destroying an entire population. That is patently false."

Noam, Israel's deputy attorney general for international law, argued that compliance with the law was woven deeply into the fabric of the Israeli military apparatus and a core component of the Israeli state since the war that led to Israel's creation. That war forced an estimated 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in what is known by Palestinians as the "Nakba," Arabic for "catastrophe."

"When the cannons roar in Gaza, the law is not silent," Noam said. "This has been the case since 1948."

On Thursday, South Africa's legal team alleged that Israeli leadership had demonstrated "genocidal intent," pointing to statements made by top officials. But Noam said Israel has no tolerance for statements calling for harm to civilians in Gaza and that the Israeli justice system could consider them to be incitement.

Noam said an order by the court asking Israel to halt hostilities in Gaza would lead to a "perverse situation" in which Hamas would continue to attack citizens of Israel, hold about 136 hostages in the Gaza Strip and prevent displaced Israelis from returning to their homes. It would also set a precedent, he said, in which militant groups like Hamas turn to the international court for protection.

"Yes, there is a heart-wrenching armed conflict," Noam said. "But the attempt to classify it as genocide will turn an instrument adopted by international community to prevent horrors of the kind that shocked the conscience of humanity during the Holocaust into a weapon in the hands of terrorist groups who have no regard for humanity or the law."

HAMAS CONDEMNS STRIKES ON HOUTHI TARGETS

CAIRO -- Hamas has condemned U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, saying Washington and London are responsible for any repercussions in the wider region.

"We consider it (the attack) a crime and a blatant aggression against Yemeni sovereignty, and a threat to the security of the region," the Hamas militant group said in a statement on Telegram.

Hamas and the Houthi rebels are allies, brought together by a common enemy, Israel, and backed by a common sponsor, Iran.

The Houthis have launched at least 27 attacks against commercial shipping since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7. The group says the attacks are in response to the war in Gaza but many of the ships targeted have no connection to Israel.

RUSSIA CONDEMNS STRIKES ON HOUTHI REBEL POSITIONS

MOSCOW -- The Kremlin on Friday condemned the U.S.-led strikes on Houthi rebel positions in Yemen, calling them "illegitimate from the point of view of international law."

"The countries that struck, they tried to put their actions on the basis of international law," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, referring to a UN resolution adopted earlier this week that demanded an immediate halt to attacks by the Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea. "This attempt was unsuccessful, because the adopted resolution does not provide any right to strike," Peskov said.

However, he described the rebels' attacks on ships in the Red Sea as "extremely wrong" and added that Russia "repeatedly called on the Houthis to abandon this practice."

BRITAIN'S SUNAK SAYS ATTACKS ON HOUTHI REBELS WERE `PROPORTIONATE AND TARGETED'

KYIV, Ukraine -- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said attacks by Houthi rebels could not continue with impunity and that overnight strikes by the U.S. and Britain should "degrade and disrupt" their ability to endanger shipping through the Red Sea.

"Over the last month, we've seen a significant increase in the number of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea," he said while on a visit to Ukraine. "That's putting innocent lives at risk, it's disrupting the global economy and it's also destabilizing the region."

He said this "type of behaviour can't carry on" and reiterated his view that the strikes, which involved British Typhoon jets flying from a British base in Cyprus, were "proportionate and targeted."

Sunak said initial indications are that the strikes were successful.

"People can't act like this with impunity and that's why together with allies we've decided to take this action," he added.

He said he will make a statement to Parliament about the strikes on Monday.

WHO SAYS GAZA'S MAIN HOSPITAL IS PARTIALLY FUNCTIONING AGAIN

JERUSALEM -- The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that Gaza's main hospital has begun partially functioning once again, after an Israeli operation in early November forced it to shut down.

Director Tedros Gebreysus wrote on X, formerly called Twitter, that the organization has delivered 9,300 litres (2,460 gallons) of fuel to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, allowing a 60-person medical team to begin treating over 1,000 patients. He said Shifa now has a working emergency room and a surgical ward with 40 beds.

The hospital was the site of a major Israeli raid in November. Israel said it targeted the facility because it was hiding a Hamas command and control center, but evidence provided by Israel of rooms in tunnels underneath the hospital did not fully prove the claim.

"We insist, once again, that health must be protected and never targeted or militarized," Ghebreysus said, calling for increased fuel and medical supplies for hospitals in Gaza.

RELATIVES AND SUPPORTERS OF HOSTAGES HELD BY HAMAS MARCH IN ISRAEL

JERUSALEM -- Relatives and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group marched in Israel on Friday to bring attention to the 136 people remaining in captivity ahead of the war's 100-day mark.

In one march near Kibbutz Urim in southern Israel, participants sought to focus attention on physical and sexual violence that hostages may be experiencing while in captivity. They bound themselves with red tape and marched behind a woman who writhed in a mobile cage. "Bring our sisters home now!" they chanted.

The marches began as Israeli lawyers sought to defend the country against charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Protesters denounced the allegation, brought by South Africa.

"It's a shame, it's a shame. We are the one who were murdered, who were kidnaped, who were raped, and we're going to trial and not the terrorist organization, what is wrong with you?" said Eleanor Sela, one of the marchers.

ISRAEL ACCUSES SOUTH AFRICA OF USING SELECTIVE FACTS IN GENOCIDE ALLEGATION

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Israel is accusing South Africa of cherry-picking facts in its case accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Attorney Galit Raguan told the International Court of Justice on Friday that in its presentation, South Africa barely mentioned Hamas outside of its initial attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which started the ongoing hostilities.

She said South Africa has also ignored Israel's attempts to mitigate civilian harm in its ground offensive in Gaza by warning of attacks in advance, working with hospitals to provide assistance and urging evacuations in advance of operations.

South Africa "paints a dire picture, but it is a partial and deeply flawed picture," she told the court.

She accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to launch military operations and shelter fighters, and suggested the militant group sought civilian casualties to help sway opinion against Israel.

"Hamas has built a military strategy founded on embedding its assets and operatives in and amongst the civilian population," she said.

"Urban warfare will always result in tragic deaths, harm and damage, but in Gaza, these undesired outcomes are exacerbated because they are the desired outcomes of Hamas."

GERMANY BACKS THE U.S.-LED STRIKES

BERLIN -- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that Germany backs the United States-led strikes on Houthi targets in the Red Sea.

"The reaction has our political support," Baerbock said from Kuala Lumpur after a meeting with Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Mohamad Hasan, according to the news agency dpa.

She criticized the Houthis for "contributing to the destabilization of an already tense regional situation" with their attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, calling on the group to "stop these attacks immediately."

Baerbock said German and European Union leaders are working to quickly determine "how we ourselves can strengthen stabilization in the Red Sea and can contribute to this stabilization."

ISRAEL REJECTS SOUTH AFRICA'S ALLEGATIONS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Israel is rejecting allegations levied by South Africa that its campaign against Hamas amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people, saying that, if anything, it is Hamas that is guilty of genocide.

• Complete coverage of the Israel-Hamas war

Israeli representative Tal Becker asked for a dismissal of the case, calling it "a libel" in his opening statement Friday to the International Court of Justice.

He told the court that Hamas started the violence with its surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed, while showing the court images of those people slain.

Becker accused Hamas of hiding its fighters and military assets throughout Gaza in densely populated civilian areas, and making use of mosques, homes, UN facilities and hospitals. He also showed the court video of Hamas official Ghazi Hamad vowing to continue attacks and annihilate Israel, while discounting the reported death toll of more than 23,000 Palestinians as "unverified statistics provided by Hamas itself."

"If there is a threat to the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, it stems primarily from the fact that they have lived under the control of a genocidal terrorist organization that has total disregard for their life and well-being," Becker, who is the legal adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the court.

ISRAEL ARGUES ITS OFFENSIVE

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Lawyer Malcolm Shaw defended Israel from the charge of genocide launched by South Africa at the International Court of Justice by saying Israel's blistering offensive on Gaza was a legitimate use of armed force in self-defence.

Over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli air and ground offensive, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, two thirds of whom are believed to be women and children.

Shaw, the second of six members of the Israeli legal team to speak, said that the high death toll does not amount to genocide.

"Armed conflict is brutal and costs lives, particularly when the militia in question targets civilians," Shaw said.

He accused South Africa of cheapening the charge of genocide -- which he called the "crime of crimes" -- by applying it to the Israeli offensive. He said the "real genocide" occurred when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people.

Shaw rebutted South Africa's charge that Israeli officials had displayed genocidal intent by calling the statements referenced by South Africa's legal team "random quotes not in conformity with government policy." He dismissed them as emotional wartime statements without legal significance.

Shaw said that the Israeli war cabinet and military were operating in accordance with international law and trying to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza by referring to statements from top Israeli officials. But he did not provide evidence that such statements were backed up by Israeli policy on the ground.

FRANCE CONDEMNS HOUTHI ATTACKS

PARIS -- France condemned Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and demanded an immediate halt Friday. France has warships in the region that protect commercial vessels and are working with American and British partners.

"Through these armed actions, the Houthis bear an extremely heavy responsibility for regional escalation," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It noted that this week's United Nations resolution gives countries "the right to react to these attacks."

"France will continue to assume its responsibilities and contribute to maritime security in this zone in conjunction with its partners," it said.

9 PALESTINIANS KILLED

RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- Nine members of a Palestinian family have been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza.

Relatives gathered Friday at the Abu Yousef Al-Najar Hospital in Rafah to grieve for their loved ones who were killed the day before, their bodies laid out on the ground covered in white sheets.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where Israel has told people to seek refuge. Israeli military operations in Gaza have lately focused on the southern city of Khan Younis and urban refugee camps in the territory's centre.

The Israeli military said Friday that, over the past day, it had killed dozens of militants in Khan Younis and the Maghazi camp.

Since the Oct. 7 attack launched by Hamas into southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed, at least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel has reported 184 soldiers killed since the beginning of its ground operations.

RUSSIA CONDEMNS U.S. STRIKES

London -- Speaking Friday about the strikes on Yemen, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova strongly condemned "these irresponsible actions by the United States and its allies" in the Middle East.

Speaking during her weekly briefing, Zakharova said that "a large-scale military escalation in the Red Sea region could reverse the positive trends that have recently emerged in the Yemeni settlement process, as well as destabilizing the situation throughout the Middle East region." She also said the "U.S. position in the UN Security Council on the Red Sea is only a pretext for further escalation of tensions in the region."

NORWAY, SWEDEN CALL FOR END TO ATTACKS

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide described the situation in the Mideast as "a low-intensity conflict" that was "now spreading to neighbouring countries."

"The basic conflict is the one we see in Gaza and in the Middle East itself. We must do everything we can to solve it," Barth Eide said. "At the same time, it is not acceptable that there are regular attacks on shipping through the Red Sea."

His Swedish colleague Tobias Billstrom said in a statement to the Swedish news agency TT that the responsibility for the situation "lies with the Houthis. Their attacks in the Red Sea must stop."

HOUTHIS SAY STRIKES KILLED 5

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- United States-led airstrikes on Yemen killed at least five people and wounded six others, military spokesperson from the Houthi rebels Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Friday in a videotaped address.

"The American and British enemy bears full responsibility for its criminal aggression against our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered and unpunished," Saree said.

He described 73 strikes hitting five regions of Yemen under Houthi control. He did not elaborate on what the U.S.-led strikes targeted.

TESLA ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION STOPPAGE

BERLIN -- The electric vehicle company Tesla announced it will halt most of its production for two weeks in its factory near Berlin, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11, due to the developing conflict in the Red Sea.

"The armed conflicts in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also affecting production in Grunheide," Tesla said in a statement Thursday night. "The significantly longer transport times create a gap in the supply chains."

Normal operations are expected to begin again on Feb. 12, Tesla said in the statement.