Middle East strikes live: Iran-backed Houthis target Greek and British cargo ships in Red Sea

Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen fired six ballistic missiles at two ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, with one ship reporting minor damage.

A Greek-owned bulked carrier was struck by three of the projectiles fired by the Houthis on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the militants struck a British-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea.

The USS Laboon operating near the Greek ship “intercepted and shot down a third anti-ship ballistic missile fired” by the Houthis, the US Central Command said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Cairo on Tuesday for a meeting with Egyptian leaders that U.S. officials said would concentrate mainly on the task of negotiating a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in exchange for the release of hostages held by the militants.

Blinken’s visit also comes amid growing concerns in Egypt about Israel‘s stated intentions to expand the combat in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border that are crammed with displaced Palestinians.

Israel’s defense minister has said Israel’s offensive will eventually reach the town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge and live in increasingly miserable conditions.

UN humanitarian monitors said Tuesday that Israeli evacuation orders now cover two-thirds of Gaza’s territory, driving thousands more people every day toward the border areas.

Israel’s military says 31 of the hostages in Gaza are dead – a fifth of the 136 people still being held captive by Hamas.

It comes after a document compiled by Israeli intelligence officers reported by the New York Times, suggested 32 have died since the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response.

Four military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel was also assessing unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed, the paper reported.

The circumstances of the hostage deaths remain unclear with the Israeli authorities suggesting that many of those deaths had occurred during Hamas’s deadly attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and at least another 240 taken hostage.

The Israeli military told the New York Times that it was “deploying all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information as possible regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.”

“Families and medics in Rafah – the last refuge for Palestinians within Gaza – have warned of catastrophe if Israel fulfils its promise to advance into the border town.

Rafah, which lies along the border Egypt, is now sheltering more than a million people, most of them those who fled other parts of Gaza after Israel unleashed its heaviest ever bombardment of the strip in retaliation for the bloody 7 October attack by Hamas.

Many are sleeping in makeshift tents in schools, hospital courtyards, on the streets, and abandoned buildings, as families described cooking on campfires and washing in the sea.”

The White House has refused to rule out US action inside Iran following a wave of retaliatory airstrikes across the Middle East.

This weekend saw the US hit dozens of Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in response to a deadly attack at a military base in Jordan which left three US service members dead last month.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told US news networks that further military action was likely, and would not rule out the possibility of strikes inside Iran’s borders.

“I’m not going to get into what’s on the table and off the table when it comes to the American response,” he told CBS.

Mr Sullivan called the airstrikes “the beginning, not the end of our response”. However, the US has insisted that it does not want a wider conflict across the Middle East.

Overall input costs rose last month for the first time since September, the latest S&P Global / CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) said on Monday.

Some firms flagged higher costs for imported building materials, mainly from Asia, due to attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have attacked commercial and military ships in what they say is an act of solidarity with the people of Palestine since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

Now retailers are warning consumers of stock delays and higher costs as ships are forced to re-route away from the Red Sea.

PA contributed to this report

Israel’s military says 31 of the hostages in Gaza are dead – a fifth of the 136 people still being held captive by Hamas.

It comes after a document compiled by Israeli intelligence officers reported by the New York Times, suggested 32 have died since the Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response.

Four military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel was also assessing unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed, the paper reported.

Iran is continuing to provide weapons and intelligence to its proxies, a Middle Eastern official, US official and congressional aide with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.

According to the new report, Iran is continuing to back militants and rebels across the Middle East, even as the US conducts airstrikes in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

This assistance allegedly includes providing intelligence to Houthi forces in Yemen to continue attacking military and commercial ships in the Red Sea. It also includes sending weapons to other proxy forces.

The US launched strikes against Houthi militants in parts of Yemen for the continued attack of vessels in the Red Sea.

Additionally, the US conducted airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the killing of three American soldiers in Jordan.

The US Central Command said they struck a Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) that “presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region” on Monday.