The Israeli military says it has begun vaccinating its soldiers in Gaza against polio after health agencies said the virus was detected in the besieged and bombarded densely populated territory.
Army authorities have started “a broad vaccination operation for all ground troops, both regular and reserves,” it said in a statement, without providing a figure.
The statement said the order was given after the army carried out sample tests in Gaza where most of the population is displaced and health and sanitary infrastructure has been decimated by the war.
UN agencies said this week that the Global Polio Laboratory Network found type-2 poliovirus in six environmental samples collected on June 23. Israel’s health ministry said it had made similar findings. No human cases have been reported.
The Israeli army, whose attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 39,000 people and wounded about 90,000, said it was also working with other organisations to take vaccines for the population in the territoty.
The highly contagious virus is caught by drinking contaminated water or through oral contact. It can cause paralysis and in extreme cases death.
Waste water now runs in between tents in many camps for the displaced and fresh water is increasingly scarce. With fuel limited, aid agencies rarely send out trucks with water and pumps at wells cannot be used. Many people walk long distances to get safe water from points set up by volunteers.
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against receiving first draft orders
About 100 ultra-Orthodox Jews have blocked an intersection near the military recruitment office in northern Israel’s Tel HaShomer neighborhood in Ramat Gan, protesting the first draft orders sent to them.
This is according to Israel’s Army Radio.
We have reported earlier that about 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews were due to receive draft orders today after a recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling which found they were not exempt from military service, according to The Times of Israel.
Houthis promise to keep attacking Israel with ‘no red lines’
Houthis will continue to attack Israel and will not abide by any rules of engagement, the group’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam has told Al Jazeera.
Abdulsalam said there would be “no red lines” in the Houthis’ response to Israel.
Satellite images show flames, smoke rising from Yemen’s Hodeidah port
Satellite images taken this morning show the extent of extensive damage to oil warehouses and refineries in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah after the Israeli raids.
The images were verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, Sanad.
If you’re just joining us
- Yemen’s Health Ministry says the Israeli air attack on the rebel-held port of Hodeidah has killed six people, with three others missing and 83 injured.
- Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry calls on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war”.
- The port of Eilat in southern Israel plans to lay off half of its workers this week due to Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, its chief executive officer says.
- Israeli forces have killed Mutasim Mahmoud Gharab, taking the number of journalists killed since the Gaza war began to 162, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office.
- The Israeli military has claimed to have attacked a Hezbollah cell in Hula in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s NNA reported a drone strike on a house in Hula, causing injuries.
- Hezbollah has announced the killing of Mustafa Hassan Fawaz, also known as Fidaa, without elaborating on the place or time of the fighter’s death.
Paramedics describe ‘horrific’ situation in Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp
Hani Mahmoud, our correspondent in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, has spoken to a paramedic and an ambulance driver who described “a horrific situation” at the Bureij refugee camp.
“Many of the wounded are left in the streets bleeding to death” in the camp located in the centre of the enclave, they told him.
Israeli heavy artillery is targeting residential homes, streets and public facilities, he added.
Yemen’s Health Ministry confirms 6 deaths in attack on Hodeidah
Yemen’s health authorities confirm that the death toll from the Israeli air attack on Yemen’s rebel-held port of Hodeidah has climbed to six.
The Health Ministry spokesperson, Anis al-Asbahi, explained to Yemeni news agency Saba that the victims were civilians.
He also said three people were missing and 83 others were injured, most of them seriously.
Saudi Arabia calls for ‘maximum restraint’ after Israeli attacks in Yemen
Reacting to the Israeli attacks on Hodeidah, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement it is following developments “with great concern”.
It called on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to distance the region and its people from the dangers of war”.
Its statement also called on the “international community and influential parties to fulfill their responsibilities to end conflicts in the region”.
WATCH: How will Israel’s strike on Yemen affect the region?
Middle East studies professor at Hamad bin Khalifa University, Marc Owen Jones, has analysed the latest attacks by Yemen’s Houthis and Israeli forces.
Over 9,750 Palestinians arrested in West Bank since October 7: Prisoners’ groups
Israeli forces have arrested more than 9,750 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 7.
That’s according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
They said in a joint statement that Israeli forces arrested 26 Palestinians in the West Bank in the past two days.
Israel’s Eilat port to dismiss half of its workforce
The port of Eilat in southern Israel plans to lay off half of its workers this week due to Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, its chief executive officer has said.
“Eilat Port is Israel’s southern gateway to the Far East, Australia and Africa,” Gideon Golber told Israeli daily Maariv.
“All activity stopped because ships could no longer pass in any direction to reach Eilat Port or travel towards Europe through the Suez Canal. Therefore, the port halted its operations and income stopped,” he added.
Golber said the port would lay off 50 percent of its workers this week due to economic losses. Currently, approximately 120 people are employed at the port.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles towards Israel and at Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in a show of support for Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
LISTEN: Where can Palestinians find safety?
Schools run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, have been havens for civilians fleeing Israeli bombing in Gaza. But a string of UNRWA-run schools sheltering displaced Palestinians have been bombed and the agency’s headquarters in Gaza City was destroyed.
Listen to the episode of our podcast series The Take below to find out more:
Number of killed journalists rises to 162: Gaza Media Office
Gaza’s Government Media Office has confirmed that Israeli forces killed Palestinian journalist Mutasim Mahmoud Gharab.
It said in a statement the number of journalists killed since October 7 has risen to 162.
The office added that Gharab had been working for years as a journalist for various media outlets.
Editor’s Choice: What to read right now
Over the past day, we’ve published several pieces covering various aspects of the war.
Here are a few highlights:
- Latest from Gaza: ‘Torn up bodies’ – Israel intensifies bombing campaign
- Regional tensions: Israel strikes Yemen’s Hodeidah in response to Houthi attacks
- Explainer: Who are Israel’s ultra-Orthodox and will conscripting them sow discord?
- Reaction: ‘Impunity must end’ – World on ICJ ruling against Israeli occupation
Israel claims attack on Hezbollah ‘cell’ in Hula
The Israeli military has claimed to have attacked a cell of the Hezbollah armed group in southern Lebanon’s Hula town.
The air attack was conducted shortly after the identification by the fire brigade forces of Division 91, the army claimed on X.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that a drone targeted a house in Hula with two missiles, causing injuries.
Smotrich slams potential US sanctions as ‘fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty’: Report
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reacted to reports that the White House had discussed sanctioning him and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, saying it is “politically motivated”, according to The Times of Israel.
“This is an unfortunate decision that stems from the internal political needs of those who claim to lead the largest democracy in the world and operate with distinctly anti-democratic tools against a brave partner who is the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said in a statement cited by the daily.
Boasting his activities on behalf of the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Smotrich said he was proud of his efforts “to prevent the establishment of a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of the State of Israel, and I am ready to pay any price for that”, the report said.
He was also quoted as saying that imposing sanctions on a minister in the Israeli government “constitutes a fatal injury to Israeli sovereignty and relations between the countries and this will have serious consequences in many areas”.
“I discussed this with the prime minister and things will be clarified in a way that is not ambiguous,” he warned, according to the report.
Israel must face consequences to deter others from ‘such cruelty’: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel must face punishment for its actions to deter anyone “from considering such cruelty again”.
Erdogan also commented on an advisory issued by the International Court of Justice that affirmed Palestinians’ right to self-determination and ruled that illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory must be evacuated.
“I hope this decision and previous ones not implemented by Israel will bring an awakening in the international community,” he said.
