Jassim Al-Budaiwi, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), said that peace talks to end the conflict in Yemen have taken a step backward following the "treacherous" attack by the Houthi group on Bahraini forces stationed on the southern Saudi border. In an interview with "Al-Hadath" TV on Thursday, he said, "A delegation from the Houthi group arrived in Riyadh, and we had positive discussions, with numerous positive signals regarding progress in this matter." He added, "We had anticipated this progress would lead to the resumption of political dialogue among Yemeni parties. However, the Houthi targeting of Bahraini forces has set the dialogue back and affected the course of the negotiations." In late September, Bahrain announced the killing of four of its soldiers and the injury of others due to a drone strike by the Houthi group on forces stationed on the southern Saudi border. The attack received regional and international condemnation and was described as a Houthi attempt to undermine peace efforts to end the conflict in Yemen.
Mohammed Abdul Salam, the Ansar Allah (Houthi) spokesperson, said Yemen will not stand idly regarding the events in Gaza, saying Yemen will provide humanitarian or military supportto Gaza. Abdul Salam said in a post on platform X that there is coordination with the "Axis of Resistance" to support the resilience of the Palestinian people through all possible means to confront "Israeli arrogance". He added, "The Zionist enemy is depriving the Palestinian people of water, electricity, food, and medicine and persists in committing crimes and aggression against the Palestinian people." So far, the Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 1800 people in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of citizens in 13 Yemeni provinces took to the streets on Friday to express their unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people amid the continued siege imposed by Israel on over 2 million people in Gaza Strip. The protesters in Taiz, Ibb, Sanaa, Hadramout, Abyan, Ma'rib, Al-Jawf, Dhamar, Hajjah, Saada, Shabwa, Aden, and Amran condemned the Israeli airstrikes on civilians in Gaza. They raised the Palestinian flag, affirming their support for the Palestinian people. The fresh round of war began on Saturday after Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israeli settlements bordering Gaza.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its ongoing military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. The allegations, which HRW based on verified video and witness accounts from Oct. 10 and 11, have been rejected by Israel's military as "unequivocally false." Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, spoke with TIME to discuss how they verified the allegations, the effect white phosphorus has, and what its use means for the millions of people living in Gaza. He said, "White phosphorus has multiple uses. It can be used for essentially signaling, obscuring, or marking. Or it can be used as a weapon that burns people and objects. But the main thing is it has an incendiary effect."
