Britain will spend £140 million in the coming year to help starving people in Yemen as they suffer "one of the world's worst humanitarian crises", the Foreign Secretary has said. Lord David Cameron announced aid funding for the country will increase by 58% for 2024-2025, which the government hopes will contribute towards treating 700,000 malnourished children.Cash transfers will be provided by Britain, which will help feed up to 864,000 people and support 500 health facilities with medicines, vaccines and nutritional supplements, the Foreign Office said. Yemen has been witnessing a tragic humanitarian situation since the war started in 2015 when the civil war broke out.
Yemen's Houthis on Wednesday claimed they targeted a US Navy destroyer and a commercial ship in the Red Sea, but there was no immediate confirmation that any attacks took place.Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the rebels targeted the USS Mason with missiles and launched an attack on a ship he identified as the Destiny. Multiple vessels have that name in shipping registries. The US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, has been in the Red Sea and the wider region as part of a US-led coalition trying to prevent Houthi attacks on shipping.
Warplanes of the U.S.-British naval coalition on Tuesday launched four airstrikes on the airport of Yemen's Red Sea port city of Al-Hudaydah, which is under the Houthi control, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said. Residents said they heard big explosions and saw fire rising from the facility following the air raids. Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks since November last year in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel killed at least 35000 people since October last year.
Israeli troops battled militants across Gaza on Wednesday, including in the southern city of Rafah, which had been a refuge for civilians. Israeli forces have in recent days pressed into the east of Rafah in pursuit of what they say are four Hamas battalions despite warnings by Israel's main ally, the United States, to hold off to avoid mass civilian casualties. Since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, with at least 82 killed on Tuesday in the highest single-day toll for weeks.
