Death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Yemen rises to 35: Houthi statement

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in northern Yemen rose to 35, with 131 wounded, the Houthi-run health ministry said late on Wednesday.

The ministry said most of the casualties were in the capital Sanaa, where 28 people were killed and 113 injured, many of them journalists. In the northern province of al-Jawf, seven people were killed and 18 wounded, described by the ministry as civilian employees. It said the toll was likely to rise as rescue teams searched the rubble.

Witnesses said the strikes in Sanaa hit the defence ministry, the office of Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea, a military camp, and a fuel storage site. In al-Jawf, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that the targets included a government complex, a central bank branch, and a civil status office in the provincial capital al-Hazm. Nearby homes and civilian facilities were also damaged, it said.

Sarea wrote on social media platform X that media offices, including the 26 September and Al-Yemen newspapers, were not used as missile launch pads. He vowed retaliatory strikes.

Eyewitnesses said the National Museum in central Sanaa, located next to the spokesman's headquarters, was badly damaged. The museum authority urged UNESCO to intervene to help protect the building and its antiquities.

Israeli strikes on Yemen have escalated in recent weeks. A raid on Sanaa last month killed 12 senior Houthi leaders, according to the group.