HUS Navy helicopters have reportedly repelled an attack by Houthi rebel boats on a cargo ship owned by Maersk Shipping in the Red Sea. The container ship Maersk Hanghzou made a distress call saying the vessel was being attacked by small Houthi rebel boats, US Centcom, the regional command of US armed forces, said. They came within 20 meters of the cargo ship, opened fire and tried to board it.
American helicopters from the assisting US aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and the destroyer USS Gravely were also fired upon. They fired back in defence, three boats sank with no survivors and one escaped.
Danish shipping company Maersk said the cargo ship's crew noticed a lightning strike on deck during the evening when the vessel was 55 nautical miles off Al Hodeidah in Yemen. The crew is safe and the ship from Singapore was fully manoeuvrable. According to its own information, the shipping company suspended all voyages through the Red Sea for 48 hours. This route connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal in Egypt and is one of the most important shipping routes for world trade.
In Yemen, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have declared solidarity with radical Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and have repeatedly attacked ships off the coast they control. On December 15, Habakkuk-Lloyd was attacked. According to CENTCOM, this is the 23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since November 19. Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have been attacking ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. They say their strikes were aimed at ending Israel's air and ground offensive against the Gaza Strip following a terrorist attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.
Israeli ground operations in the Gaza Strip
Source: OpenStreetMap; Infographic World
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1:51pm – David Cameron calls on Iran to intervene in Houthi attacks
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron believes it is Iran's duty to help stop attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. He made this clear on Sunday during a conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amrabtollahian, Cameron X wrote on the texting service. Iran has long supported the Houthis. Since the Gaza war broke out, Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly attacked Israel with drones and missiles. More recently, they have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea.
1:47 pm – Israel wants to allow aid deliveries by ship
Israel wants to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip by sea from Cyprus. These could begin immediately, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told radio station 103 FM. Britain, France, Greece and the Netherlands have ships that can land directly on the coast, as Gaza has no deep-sea port. “There is currently a naval blockade and if such a ship comes from Larnaca, it will only be with our consent,” Cohen said. Britain and Greece have already offered their support. The corridor was proposed by Cyprus in November. Aid supplies will undergo security checks in the Cypriot port of Larnaca before being transported to the coast of the Gaza Strip – a distance of 370 kilometers.
11:09 am – Hamas Ministry: Death toll rises to over 21,800
According to Palestinian figures, the death toll in the Gaza Strip war has risen to more than 21,800. At least 21,822 people have been killed in the Palestinian territories since October 7, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The balance sheet has 150 deaths in the last 24 hours. 56,451 people were injured. Information cannot be independently verified.
10:38 am – Israel Katz is set to take office as Israel's new foreign minister
Israel Katz (68) will be sworn in as Israel's foreign minister. The Israeli government approved a related rotation agreement, according to which the previous foreign minister, Eli Cohen, assumed the post of energy minister. The change corresponds to an agreement made a year ago with the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing religious coalition. Katz previously served as Secretary of Energy. The two-ministerial rotation still needs to be approved by Parliament before it can take effect. Katz, from the right-wing conservative ruling party Likud, served as foreign minister under Netanyahu from 2019 to 2021.
9:16 am – Israel's military continues bombing the Gaza Strip
The Israeli army continues to attack. According to the army, the terrorists were re-attacked and destroyed in the area of Gaza City north of the sealed coastal zone by warplanes along with the ground forces. Troops found and destroyed explosives in the kindergarten. Terrorists were also killed in the south and additional tunnel shafts were said to have been found. The Israeli military said it also struck the Islamic Hamas headquarters in the city of Khan Yunis. The terrorist organization's intelligence headquarters is also located there, an Israeli official said Saturday evening.
According to their own statements, the armed forces are currently intensifying their fight against Hamas and are primarily concentrated in the southern part of the coastal strip and the central Gaza Strip. In the north, Israel's military says it is moving to fully control the area. An Israeli military spokesman said the operation was currently focused on Hamas' last stronghold in Gaza City, in the Tufa district.
8:58 am – “WSJ”: The Gaza Strip is a landscape of broken concrete
Weeks of Israeli bombardment have wreaked havoc on the sealed-off coastal area, which is larger than the city of Munich. According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, citing the US intelligence agency Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Israel's military dropped 29,000 bombs in mid-December alone. Nearly 70 percent of the 439,000 houses and apartments were damaged or destroyed. The industrial zone in the north has also been almost completely destroyed, it said, citing a World Bank analysis.
“The word 'Gaza' will go down in history like Dresden and other famous bombed cities,” the paper quoted Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, as saying. Israel has recently come under international criticism, given the devastating humanitarian situation and the large number of civilians affected.
03:17 am – US military: Two Houthi missiles shot down again over Red Sea
According to its own reports, the US military has again shot down two ballistic missiles from Yemen-based Houthi rebels south of the Red Sea. The US Navy responded to a call for assistance from a Danish container ship that had been hit by a missile earlier at sea, the regional command in charge at Platform X said. The container ship “Maersk Hangzhou” reported the rocket impact on Saturday evening local time. However, the ship was said to be seaworthy and no injuries were reported.
It was the Houthis' 23rd “unlawful attack” on international shipping since October 19, according to the regional command. “Maersk Hangzhou” sails under the flag of Singapore and is operated by Denmark.
12:12 am – Israeli army “killed” 8,000 terrorists
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's military has already “eliminated more than 8,000 terrorists” in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli prime minister's office announced that Islamist Hamas would be defeated.
After a year in office, Netanyahu now faces strong distrust in Israel: many accuse the head of the Israeli government of not yet taking personal responsibility for allowing the massacre by Hamas in Israel on October 7. A majority of Israelis want the prime minister to step down once the Gaza war is over, according to polls. But Netanyahu refused to step down. “The only thing I left was Hamas. That's what I deal with,” he said, according to The Times of Israel.
“Hamas will be defeated,” Netanyahu reiterated his goal, echoing the words of his chief of staff, Herzei Halevi: “The war will continue for months.”
8:43pm – Netanyahu: Israel must control border between Gaza and Egypt
According to Netanyahu, Israel should control the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in the future. “The Philadelphia Corridor – or rather, the southern tip of the Gaza Strip – must be in our hands,” Netanyahu said in a televised speech. The area should be covered. “It is clear that no other arrangement will ensure the demilitarization we seek.”
8:01 pm – Netanyahu: War will last months
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the war in the Middle East will last for months. Israel is fighting “on all fronts,” he said in a televised speech.
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