US strikes Houthi missiles in Yemen

WASHINGTON — The United States military said on Wednesday its forces conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired from Yemen as a shipment of medicine for hostages held by Hamas arrived in Gaza on the same day.

"These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves," the US Central Command said.

Hani Kayed, a 44-year-old resident of the Yemeni port city of Hodeida, told Agence France-Presse he heard an explosion at around 2:16 am in the east of the city near the airport.

Hodeida and the city of Taez were among the targets of the first round of US and UK strikes in Yemen last week. Houthi media outlet Al-Masirah TV said both were hit again in the latest strikes, along with three other areas.

The Houthis earlier on Wednesday said their missiles had made a "direct hit" on the US bulk carrier Genco Picardy.

Shipping operator Genco confirmed the attack, and said its vessel was hit by a projectile while it was transiting through the Gulf of Aden with a cargo of phosphate rock.

The Houthi militants said they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in response to the US and British strikes on the group's positions.

The US announced earlier on Wednesday that it would return the Houthis to the list of "terrorist "entities.

"The Department of State today is announcing the designation of Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" group, effective 30 days from today," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

US officials said naming the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist was aimed at cutting off funding and weapons the movement has used to attack or hijack ships.

A Houthi spokesman told Reuters that attacks on ships heading to Israel would continue and the designation would not affect its position.

Calling for cease-fire

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said an end to the conflict in Gaza was needed to remove the threat to shipping.

"The security of the Red Sea is tied to the developments in Gaza, and everyone will suffer if Israel's crimes in Gaza do not stop," Amir-Abdollahian said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Also speaking in Davos, Blinken said Israel cannot achieve "genuine security" without a pathway to a Palestinian state.

In Gaza, a shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas entered the territory late on Wednesday, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said. The Gulf nation and France worked out a deal between Israel and Hamas to deliver medicine to the hostages and to Palestinians.

The deal could bring respite to some of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in captivity, as well as to Palestinians in Gaza in desperate need of aid. But fighting still rages in many parts of the beleaguered enclave, and an end to the conflict — or the release of the hostages — seems nowhere in sight.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari announced late Wednesday on X that the shipment had crossed into Gaza, without saying when or how the medicine would be distributed.

A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes of medicine would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents.

The agreement came 100 days into the conflict and Palestinian militants are still putting up resistance across Gaza in the face of one of the deadliest military campaigns in recent history. More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed. Some 85 percent of the narrow coastal territory's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and the United Nations says a quarter of the population is starving.

Agencies Via Xinhua