NEW YORK: In a dramatic constitutional move, the UN secretary-general has invoked one of the few powers that the Charter gives him, to call on the Security Council to declare a ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that could have “potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region.”

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi group launched several ballistic missiles at military posts in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the group’s military spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, the Mason, a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group, a US official said.
There were no injuries or damage and it was not clear what the drone was targeting.

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories: A plastic sheet rigged up as a tent, branches gathered from here and there to make a fire — at the southern tip of Gaza, displaced Palestinians are settling in as best they can.
Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Khan Yunis — Gaza’s main southern city, now surrounded by the Israeli army — toward Rafah, less than 10 kilometers (six miles) away on the territory’s closed border with Egypt.
Many among them had already been displaced once in recent weeks, heading south to escape heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas in the north.

JERUSALEM: Freed Israeli hostage Mia Leimberg credited her pet dog Bella with providing “moral support” during the weeks she spent in captivity in the hands of Gaza militants.
Leimberg, her mother Gabriela and her aunt Clara Marman were among the Israeli hostages released by Hamas and its allies under a temporary truce deal before it fell apart on Friday.

BEIRUT: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told The Associated Press on Wednesday there is no safe haven in besieged Gaza for civilians — not even in UN shelters and so-called “safe zones” designated by Israel.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an interview with the AP that since the outbreak if the Israel-Hamas war, more than 80 UN facilities in the Gaza Strip have been hit.