The Latest | A second ship sinks in Yemen's Houthi rebels' Red Sea campaign against Israel-Hamas war

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

In an apparent escalation by Yemen's Houthi rebels in their campaign targeting shipping through the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, a bulk carrier has sunk after being attacked by the Iranian-backed Houthis, authorities said Wednesday.

With the Israeli offensive now in its ninth month, international criticism has grown steadily over the United States' support for Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza, and the top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying militants operate among the population.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Tuesday that the United States was withholding weapons needed for the war in Gaza. President Joe Biden has delayed delivering certain heavy bombs to Israel since May over concerns about killing civilians in Gaza. However, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that those 2,000-pound bombs are the only weapons under review. He told reporters that “Everything else is moving as it normally would.”

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 37,100 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians who are facing widespread hunger.

Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Currently:

— For a second time, a ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sinks in the Red Sea.

— Muslim pilgrims wrap up the Hajj with final symbolic stoning of the devil and circling of the Kaaba.

— Israel’s Netanyahu blames Biden for withholding weapons, but U.S. officials say that’s not the whole story.

— Sudan accuses the United Arab Emirates of fueling war with weapons to paramilitary rivals.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

Israeli drone strikes kill a Syrian army officer, state media says

DAMASCUS, Syria — A Syrian army officer was killed in an Israeli airstrike Wednesday morning, Syrian state media said.

State news agency SANA reported that Israeli drone strikes hit military sites in the areas of Quneitra and Daraa in southern Syria, killing an officer and resulting in “material damages.”

The Untied Kingdom-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes came after members of factions affiliated with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah transported the wreckage of an Israeli reconnaissance plane to one of the targeted sites to dismantle it.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the strikes. Israel frequently launches strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria but rarely acknowledges them. The strikes have intensified since October against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

For a second time, a bulk carrier attacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels sinks in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A bulk carrier sank days after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels believed to have killed one mariner on board, authorities said early Wednesday, the second ship sunk in the rebels’ campaign.

The sinking of the Tutor in the Red Sea marks what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign targeting shipping through the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The attack comes despite a monthslong U.S.-led campaign in the region that has seen the Navy face its most intense maritime fighting since World War II, with near-daily attacks targeting commercial vessels and warship.

The Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned-and-operated Tutor sank in the Red Sea, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a warning to sailors in the region. The Houthis, quoting foreign reports in media outlets they control, acknowledged the sinking. The U.S. military did not acknowledge the sinking, nor did it respond to requests for comment.

United Nations human rights office spotlights 6 Israeli attacks on Gaza as possible crimes against humanity

GENEVA — The United Nations human rights office has spotlighted six deadly bombing attacks by Israeli defense forces in Gaza during the first nine weeks of the war, saying they could amount to crimes against humanity.

The rights office says that more than eight months into the conflict, and despite commitments from Israel to look into such attacks, authorities have not produced transparent or credible investigations. Volker Turk, the U.N. human rights chief, said the requirement under international law that combatants avoid or minimize harm to civilians “appears to have been consistently violated” in Israel’s bombing campaign.

The comments came along with the release of a new report Wednesday that seeks to highlight the dangers posed to civilians of the use of powerful weapons, including 2,000-pound GBU-31 bombs. It said a Dec. 2 attack on Shujaiya neighborhoods of Gaza City destroyed 15 buildings and damaged 14 others. Three of the strikes, it said, came with no advance warning.

Israeli authorities responded by defending their respect for proportionality and principle of distinction under international law. They also accused the rights office of bias and said it didn’t have full information about the circumstances of the military operations.

The report, while mainly focusing on Israel, also said Palestinian armed groups have fired discriminately into Israel, possibly violating international law.

The office said part of the reason why the six attacks were spotlighted among thousands carried out was because it had extensive information about them.