On Sunday the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the latest in a series of such attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The Houthis said they had fired a “hypersonic ballistic missile” towards a power station near the Israeli city of Haifa. The group says it began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and firing projectiles at Israel in response to Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The current war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed more than 45,800 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
On Saturday the Gaza health ministry said all three government hospitals in northern Gaza were completely out of service and “destroyed” by the Israeli military.
The Israeli military has imposed a blockade on parts of northern Gaza since October, with the UN saying the area has been under “near-total siege” as Israeli forces heavily restrict access of aid deliveries to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
Late last month the Israeli military forced patients and medical staff to leave Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, alleging the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold” and arresting the hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya.
It said it had facilitated the transfer of some medical staff and patients to the Indonesian hospital nearby. But the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that that hospital had also been taken out of service, along with the hospital in Beit Hanoun.
World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus again called for an end to attacks on hospitals and health professionals. “People in Gaza need access to health care,” he said.
Israel says its forces operate in accordance with international law and do not target civilians.
On Saturday the Biden administration said it was planning an $8bn (£6.4bn) arms sale to Israel. The weapons consignment, which needs approval from US House and Senate committees, includes missiles, shells and other munitions.
The move comes just over a fortnight before Biden leaves office and Donald Trump takes over as president.
Washington has consistently rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed in Gaza.