Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 5, wound 19 and other Mideast developments
Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 19 others in Gaza, officials at two hospitals said, the latest of almost-daily attacks since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago.
On an Israel-bound flight Wednesday, a pilot stabbed another pilot and then apparently tried to crash the aircraft carrying dozens of Israelis, the Israeli prime minister said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker and the plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, in Iran, authorities executed two people accused of violence against security forces during the country’s January protests. And the last U.S. forces left Iraq, under a Washington-Baghdad deal from two years ago.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available here.
Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 19 in Gaza, hospital officials said Wednesday, the latest of almost daily attacks since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago, halting the heaviest of the fighting.
Officials at Shifa Hospital said an Israeli strike killed a woman and critically wounded her husband in Gaza City, while another struck a bus, killing four and wounding at least 14. Elsewhere in the territory, a strike in Khan Younis wounded four Palestinians, officials at Nasser Hospital said.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to questions about the bus strike, but said it was reviewing information about the strike in Khan Younis.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks over the same time period, while two more were killed by friendly fire.
Hundreds of mourners in Gaza City held a vigil Wednesday for 105 people killed during the war and whose bodies were recovered in the past several days from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Their remains were wrapped in white bags and draped with Palestinian flags. Plastic candles and red lights from the ambulance trucks provided lighting. Attendees gathered around the bodies, some piled atop the rubble their loved ones were originally found in.
Mass funerals have become more common in Gaza, where Israel has not allowed in the heavy machinery needed to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings and recover the dead.
A pilot on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed another pilot Wednesday and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner carrying around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The FlyDubai flight landed safely after issuing an emergency alert and abruptly descending thousands of feet (meters). Israel scrambled warplanes over concerns of a possible hijacking.
Yasmin Abukasis said her daughter who was on the flight told her in a phone call that she could hear someone screaming “help!” Abukasis said that her daughter told her that the plane started to lose control, but eventually two people were able to wrest control of the plane, while others attempted to subdue an attacker on the floor of the plane.
— By Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.
Baghdad touted the move as a sign of the country’s growing strength and sovereignty. It was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups, but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the withdrawal in a social media post, saying it “marks the end of a very expensive excursion into Hell.”
“It has been a long time, with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place, but soon, that will be part of History,” Trump said.
Iran executed two men Wednesday over what it said was their role in violence during nationwide anti-government protests in January, state media reported.
IRNA, citing the judiciary, said the men took part in unrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad that left four security officers dead. The judiciary said the men confessed to the violence, including setting fires and damaging public property. It also said one confessed to stabbing a member of Iran's paramilitary force. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentences before they were carried out Wednesday morning.
The unrest began Dec. 28 amid anger over Iran’s collapsing currency and worsening economy and quickly spread across the country. Iranian authorities responded with a deadly crackdown.
Dozens of Iranians have since been executed in connection with the protests, according to state media in Iran. Executions aren't uncommon in Iran, where rights groups say the accused are often tried in secretive courts based on forced confessions extracted through torture.
Alternate export routes and a U.S.-protected route through the Strait of Hormuz have helped restore oil and fuel exports from the Gulf to near pre-war levels, according to figures from data firm Kpler.
Exports through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal — along with a pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman and a U.S.-protected route that guides tankers at night — have been a key workaround after the threat of Iranian attacks disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Kpler said during a Tuesday podcast.
About 21.8 million barrels per day of crude and fuel products made from crude are being shipped weekly, on average, compared to the pre-war baseline of 23.3 million barrels per day, Kpler said.
“We are not at pre-conflict levels, but we are getting close to there,” said Matt Smith, Kpler's director of commodity research.
Still, the workarounds are time consuming and expensive.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de-facto ruler says his kingdom is capable of deterring its enemies as the oil-rich country remains embroiled in a proxy war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“Your country possesses highly efficient human and military capabilities, capable — by the grace of God Almighty — of repelling threats and deterring them completely, regardless of their sources,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new session of the unelected advisory Shura council.
The Houthis recently captured the strategic port city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands, extending their reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a maritime route through which about 12% of global trade passes. They, along with allied militias in Iraq, also have attacked Saudi oil facilities and sought to prevent Saudi tankers from using the strait, disrupting the kingdom’s oil exports.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says that the Suez Canal has lost a cumulative $20 billion in revenue since the Hamas-led attack on Israel unleashed the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and because of maritime navigation disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
During a televised meeting on Tuesday with Cabinet members, top military leaders and local governors, el-Sissi blamed the government’s tight budget and little education and health spending on the volatile geopolitical situation that led to increases in food and energy prices.
“Does that affect us? Of course it does affect us severely,” el-Sissi said.
Traffic was significantly disrupted after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels began targeting vessels heading to Israel through the Suez Canal after the start of the war in Gaza.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
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