The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
CENTCOM says Houthis fired ballistic missile at US destroyer in Red Sea
The US Central Command says the Iran-aligned Houthis fired one close-range ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, but it did not hit the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported.
“United States Central Command and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen,” CENTCOM adds in a statement early on Wednesday.
Biden wins enough delegates to secure 2024 Democratic presidential nomination
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden, who took office aiming to steady a nation convulsed by the coronavirus pandemic and the January 6 insurrection, clinches a second straight Democratic nomination and sets up an all-but-certain rematch with the predecessor he blames for destabilizing the country.
Biden became his party’s presumptive nominee when he won enough delegates in Georgia. That pushes Biden’s count past 1,968 for a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, where his nomination will be made official. Former president Donald Trump is expected to clinch the Republican nomination shortly.
Biden, who mounted his first bid for president 37 years ago, did not face any serious Democratic challengers to his run for reelection at age 81. That’s despite facing low approval ratings and a lack of voter enthusiasm for his presidency — driven in part by his age.
EU chief accuses Israel of using ‘starvation as a war arm’ in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS — The European Union’s foreign policy chief accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and of blocking overland routes that are the best way to get food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing famine in the Gaza Strip.
Josep Borrell tells the UN Security Council that humanitarian assistance must get into Gaza where there is no natural disaster, flood or earthquake.
“This is a man-made crisis,” Borrell says. “And when we look for alternative ways of providing support by sea or by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support to roads is being closed — artificially closed — and starvation is being used as a war arm.”
He says that this practice is being condemned in Ukraine, and the same words have to be used in Gaza.
Borrell says the EU is waiting for the results of three investigations into Israeli allegations that 12 staff members from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, participated in Hamas’ October 7 attacks in southern Israel, which sparked the ongoing war. But he stresses that UNRWA only exists because there are Palestinian refugees, the definition of which includes not only those who fled or were displaced from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s founding but also all their descendants — which is not the norm with most refugee populations worldwide.
And if UNRWA disappears, the refugees will still be there, Borrell says. “In fact, there is only one way to make UNRWA disappear – making those refugees citizens of a Palestinian state that co-exists with an Israeli state.”
To make this a reality, Borrell says the first step should be for the UN Security Council to unanimously adopt a resolution endorsing a two-state solution and “defining the general principles which might lead to this result.”
Stressing the very wide support for a two-state solution, he says that would be “a wonderful opportunity to show that our principles are not empty words.”
Dutch PM slated to visit Israel and Egypt for talks on Gaza war
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is visiting Israel and Egypt on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East.
Rutte will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before traveling to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
The Dutch government information service says that the “humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of an immediate pause in fighting and the release of all hostages will be discussed.”
Rutte also will discuss the “need to prevent regional escalation and find a lasting solution to the conflict.”