13 killed in Yemen market strike as Saudi-led coalition hits northern town
Houthi forces say airstrikes at a gas station in al-Hazm killed shoppers, while Yemeni officials beg for help as the siege of Taiz tightens.
By Noor Phillips ·
Thirteen people died when Saudi-led airstrikes struck a crowded market in northern Yemen on Wednesday. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the explosions also wounded 16 others, including three women. The ministry stated that shops and nearby houses suffered heavy damage.
The strikes hit a central market near a gas station in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province. The ministry said the area was packed with shoppers at the time. It called the attack a war crime that requires an international investigation. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government did not immediately issue a statement.
Yemeni officials are asking the international community for help to protect civilians in Taiz. The city is a gateway to the south and has taken in about half of the country's displaced population. Governor Nabil Shamsan said residents lost access to roughly 3 million liters of water from wells in Wadi al-Dhubab. He noted that the Houthis now control that area.
Legal affairs minister Eshraq al-Maqtari said more than 2,000 projectiles had struck Taiz city districts in recent days. Shamsan reported that fighting intensified as Houthis deployed reinforcements to multiple fronts, encircling the city on all four sides. The ministry maintains that the Houthis are tightening their siege of the city.
In Gaza, two Israeli strikes in the south killed one person and wounded at least six others on Wednesday. Health officials at Nasser Hospital said the first strike killed a man and critically wounded a woman. The second strike wounded at least five others. More than 1,550 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire with Hamas began in October 2025.
In Belgrade, Serbia, a police officer shot and killed a man who attacked him with a knife just after midnight on Wednesday. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the attacker was a minor carrying two knives who shouted Allahu Akbar. Dacic declared the incident a terrorist attack and raised the threat level to the highest. The officer, from an elite unit, was slightly wounded in the face.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a meeting in Tehran with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey on Monday offered a chance to advance regional dialogue. He argued the countries should handle their own security without extraregional military presence. Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke by phone with Saudi and Emirati counterparts to discuss political solutions to the ongoing crisis.
