SANAA: A shell fired toward a Yemeni general’s headquarters in the capital Sanaa hit a weapons store, setting off explosions that killed at least one soldier and wounded five on Thursday, a Yemeni army source said.
A Reuters witness heard two blasts and saw a large cloud of dust above the camp, where General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar is based.
Other witnesses said they saw at least two unexploded rockets, apparently set off by the blasts in the arms depot, that had landed in parts of the capital, one near the US embassy.
Ahmar defected during last year’s uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh and currently leads part of the army under Saleh’s successor Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
A military source in Ahmar’s force, known as the First Division, said a rocket fired from outside the camp had landed on an ammunition cache, setting off the explosions.
Authorities were still trying to find out who set off the rocket, the source said. One soldier was killed and five others were injured, he added.
The Yemeni defense ministry said the blasts were caused by an accident at the ammunition store, but gave no further details. A statement on the ministry’s website said unexploded shells had landed in some Sanaa neighborhoods and sappers had gone out to disarm them.
Ahmar broke away from the Yemeni army shortly after street protests against Saleh’s 33-year-rule broke out early last year. At the time, he said his move was aimed at protecting demonstrators who had set up a protest camp in the center of the Yemeni capital.
Hadi is trying to reunify the armed forces, which are still partly controlled by relatives of the former president.
Shell hits Yemen weapons store, kills one
Shell hits Yemen weapons store, kills one
Israel’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
