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Israel-Gaza live updates: Israel strikes Yemen in retaliation after drone attack

Houthis took responsibility for a drone that flew into Tel Aviv undetected.

Last Updated: July 20, 2024, 1:57 PM EDT

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

1:18 PM EDT

Israel strikes Yemen in retaliation after drone attack

Israel has officially taken responsibility for airstrikes that hit Hodeidah, Yemen, Saturday saying it is in retaliation for the "hundreds of attacks carried out against" Israel in the last few months.

A strike reportedly hit the port city of Hodeidah, on the country's western coast, hitting oil storage tanks near the port, according to Al Masirah TV, a media outlet affiliated with the Houthis, and Yemeni national news agency Saba news.

PHOTO: A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center show a huge column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024.
A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center show a huge column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024. A series of strikes targeted Hodeida on July 20, said an AFP correspondent and Huthi-run media, which reported a fuel depot in the port had been hit.
Ansarullah Media Centre/AFP via Getty Images

The airstrike comes after the Houthis took responsibility for a drone that flew into Tel Aviv undetected on Friday, killing one person and injuring 10 others.

-ABC News' Dana Savir, Bruno Nota and Victoria Beaule

Jul 19, 2024, 5:06 PM EDT

Israeli soldier who refuses to serve in Gaza speaks out

Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist who was called up to fight in southern Gaza, told ABC News he decided to leave the Israel Defense Forces when his unit was asked to set fire to a Palestinian house there.

Green served as a combat medic in Khan Younis, Gaza, last November and December.

Yuval Green, seen here in an undated picture from his time in Gaza served as a combat medic as a combat medic.
Courtesy of Yuval Green

"They gave us an order to burn down a house, and I went to my commander and asked him, 'Why are we doing that?'" Green said. "And the answers he gave me were just not satisfying enough, were not even close to being satisfying enough. And I said, 'I'm not willing to participate in that. If we're doing that, I'm leaving.'"

In June, Green cosigned a letter with 40 other reservists, who remained anonymous, refusing to serve in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

He said he refused to serve any more in the IDF after his commander was unable to explain why they burned down a house.
Courtesy of Yuval Green

The IDF told ABC News that its "actions are based on military necessity and in accordance to international law" and there was "no IDF doctrine that aims at causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity."

Exceptional incidents were investigated by an independent body, the IDF said.

-ABC News' Guy Davies and Britt Clennett

Jul 19, 2024, 5:01 PM EDT

Biden and Netanyahu to discuss cease-fire and hostage deal next week

President Joe Biden's focus next week in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be on nailing down the specifics of a ceasefire that could bring the hostages home, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday.

"The overriding focus of the meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be about the cease-fire and hostage deal," he said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Palestinians sits outside a building destroyed in previous Israeli bombardment, overlooking a pool of stagnant water in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 19, 2024.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu will meet with Biden in Washington, D.C., on July 22.

"We are mindful that there remain obstacles in the way, and let's use next week to try to clear through those obstacles and get to a deal," Sullivan added.

The details that will be discussed between Biden and Netanyahu include Israel’s military presence in Gaza after a cease-fire, access to humanitarian aid, the "long-term disposition" of Gaza and how to execute the remaining hostage and prisoner swap as part of phase two.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

Jul 19, 2024, 12:38 PM EDT

Top UN court says Israel's presence in occupied Palestinian territories is 'unlawful'

The top U.N. court said Friday that Israel's presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is "unlawful" and should end.

The International Court of Justice said several policies, including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the use of the area's natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, violated international law.

The 15-judge panel said Israel's "abuse of its status as the occupying power" renders its "presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful." It says its continued presence was "illegal" and should be ended as "rapidly as possible."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the court's ruling in a statement.

"The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland. No absurd opinion in The Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home," he said.

-ABC News' Morgan Windsor, Bruno Nota and Dana Savir

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