An Israeli airstrike on a fuel depot at the Yemen Port of Hodeida has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in damages to the important facility. Hodeida is a crucial point of entry for food and other goods reaching the Yemeni people.
Port official Nasr al-Nusairi estimated the damage at $20 million. He told AFP there was damage to the dock, two cranes were destroyed, a small vessel was burnt, and a number of buildings were scorched.
Nusairi said the total would be higher once the oil ministry announced the damage to the oil infrastructure that was targeted by Israel.
On July 21, Israel targeted the Port of Hodeida with airstrikes. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the strikes were aimed at the Yemeni economy. Hodeida is the main port for many goods the people who live in Houthi-controlled Yemen rely upon, which is most of the population. Six people died in the bombing.
From 2015-2022, the port was largely blockaded by Saudi Arabia and the US. The restrictions on food and other staples entering Yemen contributed to a massive humanitarian crisis. At least 377,000 people are estimated to have been killed during the seven-year war, more than half from starvation.
The Israeli strikes on Hodeida were a response to a Houthi strike on Tel Aviv that killed one person. Al-Houthi said that Yemen welcomed the war against Israel expanding. Saana says it will continue to attack Israel and disrupt shipping in the Red Sea until Tel Aviv halts its onslaught in Gaza.
Along with Israel, the US and UK have bombed Yemen over 100 times in the past eight months. The strikes have failed to deter the Houthis from targeting Israel and commercial ships near Yemen.
The US has bombed Yemen multiple times in the past week. One of the strikes came just hours before President Joe Biden declared the US was not at war.
