1:05 PM Today
The Israeli army announced it will attack the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida.
The Israeli military warned Tuesday it was ready to attack the Houthi-held Yemeni port of Hodeida and urged people and boats in the area to evacuate immediately.
“An attack will be carried out in the coming hours in response to the Houthi terrorist regime’s military activity. For their safety, we urge all people in Hodeidah port and on ships anchored there to evacuate the area immediately,” the army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, posted on X.
Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched repeated drone and missile attacks against Israel, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
In response, Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes in rebel-held areas of Yemen, primarily targeting infrastructure such as ports, power plants, and the airport in the capital, Sana'a.
12:42 PM Today
Katz: Hamas must disarm and release hostages, or “Gaza will be destroyed.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Tuesday that the Gaza Strip will be destroyed if Hamas does not release hostages and disarm, as the Israel Defense Forces began its major ground offensive in Gaza City.
“We only need two things from Hamas, and they won’t give them up voluntarily: release all the hostages and disarm,” Katz said during a visit to the headquarters of the 162nd Division, whose forces are currently operating in Gaza City. “The great strength of the attack here… is to directly defeat Hamas, and it also creates greater leverage for the release of the hostages.”
The defense minister explained that the Israeli objective is to “take control of Gaza City because today it is the main symbol of Hamas rule.” “Today, if Gaza falls… they will fall,” Katz said, referring to the Palestinian terrorist group.
Katz also referenced Hamas leaders, saying that the “murderous Sinwar brothers,” Yahya and Muhammad, who led the terrorist group in the Strip before being killed by Israel, “ruined Gaza.” The minister warned that if Izz al-Din Haddad, Hamas’s new military leader in Gaza, “continues like this, he will destroy Gaza.” “They will pay the price and Gaza will be destroyed,” he added.
12:06 PM Today Palestinians pulled bodies from the rubble of Gaza City on Tuesday as drones buzzed over the devastation caused by intensified Israeli bombardment ahead of a ground offensive that day. An overnight strike reduced a residential block in the north of the city to rubble, where at least 12 people, including children, were killed, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency. Abu Abd Zaqout, who was desperately searching for survivors under the concrete slabs, said there were about 50 people inside, including women and children from his uncle’s family.
“There were about 50 people inside, including women and children. I don’t know why they bombed it,” Abu Abd Zaqout told AFP, adding that his uncle’s family lived there. “Why kill children who were sleeping peacefully, turning them into pieces of meat?” he added. “We took the children out in pieces.”
Residents described an “already catastrophic” situation with constant shelling keeping families terrified. Ibrahim Al-Besheiti, 35, of the Al-Sabra neighborhood, told AFP that “the sound of aircraft never stops” and that the pressure of nightly shelling near his home shattered windows and ripped doors from their frames. Maysa Abu Jamaa, 38, of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, reported constant gunfire from military vehicles, drones, and artillery keeping her children “terrified, screaming and crying in fear.”
The civil defense agency reported that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 people since dawn across the Palestinian territory, as part of a war aimed at crushing Hamas that has lasted nearly two years. Israel officially announced Tuesday the launch of its highly anticipated ground offensive in Gaza City, where troops were advancing toward the city center. The United Nations estimates that nearly one million people lived in and around Gaza City, from which Israel has repeatedly warned the population to evacuate to the south. An Israeli military official estimated that more than 350,000 people had fled the city before the ground offensive.
11:46 AM Today
The EU executive will adopt new sanctions against Israel on Wednesday.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel over its war in Gaza, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“Tomorrow, the commissioners will adopt a package of measures on Israel ,” spokesperson Paula Pinho told reporters. “Specifically, a proposal to suspend certain trade provisions from the EU-Israel agreements.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last week that the European Commission will propose sanctioning extremist Israeli ministers and partially suspending the European Union's association agreement with Israel, focusing on trade-related issues.
In her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen also stated that the Commission will suspend its bilateral support for Israel, without affecting its collaboration with Israeli civil society and Yad Vashem, Israel's main Holocaust memorial site.
The Commission had previously proposed restricting Israel's access to its flagship research funding program, but failed to secure sufficient support from EU member states to implement this measure. Von der Leyen stated that the Commission will now do what it can on its own.
11:37 AM Today
The UN human rights chief said evidence of genocide in Gaza is mounting:"Stop the carnage."
The UN human rights chief said Tuesday that “evidence is mounting” of a “genocide” in Gaza and demanded an end to the “carnage” in the Palestinian territory.
“We are seeing war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even more piling up,” Volker Türk told AFP and Reuters, adding: “It is up to the courts to decide whether this is genocide or not, and we are seeing the evidence piling up.”
“The whole world is crying out for peace. The Palestinians, the Israelis are crying out for peace. Everyone is calling for a halt, and what we see is a continued escalation that is completely unacceptable,” added Türk, who called for an end to this “carnage.”
11:23 AM Today
The United Kingdom calls the new Israeli offensive"reckless and appalling."
The British government has called Israel's new offensive in Gaza "utterly reckless and appalling."
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote in X that the attack on Gaza City “will only cause more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians and endanger the remaining hostages.”
The new IDF assault on Gaza is utterly reckless and appalling.
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) September 16, 2025
It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages.
We need an immediate ceasefire, all hostages released, unrestricted humanitarian aid and a path to lasting peace.
He added:"We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, unrestricted humanitarian aid, and a path to lasting peace."
11:13 AM Today
The Human Rights Council holds a debate on the Israeli attack in Qatar
The UN Human Rights Council is holding a debate in which several countries are denouncing last week's Israeli attack in Doha, which killed five Hamas members and a local security official.
Qatar's Minister of State for International Cooperation, Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, told delegates in Geneva on Tuesday that the attack “constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law by targeting a purely civilian area.”
He added that “Attacking the mediating State is attacking the very principle of negotiation.”
The President of the Council noted that the Israeli delegation was not in the room when the statements from the affected countries were heard.
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Meron told reporters before the debate that the Council has been “serving as a platform for anti-Israel propaganda, ignoring the brutal realities on the ground and the atrocities committed by Hamas.”
11:11 AM Today
Marco Rubio met with Qatari authorities after the start of Israel's offensive in Gaza
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, after his visit to Israel.
10:57 AM Today
EU: Israel's Gaza City offensive will bring more"death" and "destruction"
The European Union warned Tuesday that Israel's ground offensive in Gaza City will increase the death toll and destruction and worsen the already "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the territory.
“The EU has consistently urged Israel not to escalate its operation in Gaza City,” said EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni.
“A military intervention will lead to more destruction, more deaths and more displacement, and we have made it clear that this will also worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and endanger the lives of the hostages.”
10:28 AM Today
Israel releases first images of final offensive against Hamas in Gaza City
Israel has released images of its most recent military escalation: after attacking hundreds of Hamas targets and neutralizing “hundreds of fighters,” according to military sources, the Israeli army declared that it began expanding its ground maneuver inside Gaza City as part of what it calls the final offensive.
