Saudi-led airstrikes killed 14 people at a crowded market in northern Yemen. The bloodshed came as Houthi forces tightened Taiz's siege and targeted Aden airport.Dubai,Oct 28, 2026 22:34 ISTSaudi-led airstrikes killed 14 people at a crowded market in northern Yemen on Wednesday, while Yemeni officials sought international support as Iran-backed Houthi rebels tightened their siege of Taiz, news agency Press Trust of India reported.In separate developments, Israeli strikes killed at least four people in southern Gaza, while a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, shot dead a knife-wielding attacker in an incident described by police as a "terrorist attack".Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said on X that the strikes in Yemen killed 14 people, including three children and two women, and wounded 15 others.

The strikes hit a central market near a gas station in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province, around midday when it was packed with shoppers.Yemen's internationally recognised government said the Houthis also carried out two ballistic missile strikes on Aden airport on Wednesday. The Transport Ministry called the attacks "a direct threat to the lives of passengers, aviation crews and workers".

A video released by the ministry and circulated by local media showed two craters on the airport runway. Earlier, Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree had urged civilians to leave the airport, claiming that a Saudi military cargo aircraft carrying weapons was there.

He provided no evidence for the claim.The airport was deserted after the warning, employee Salem Al-Awlaqi said, according to PTI. A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no staff or security personnel remained there.

Flights from Cairo and Mumbai to Aden were diverted to Seiyun Airport in Yemen's Hadramawt province, while a flight to Cairo was cancelled. Yemeni government officials also urged the international community to protect civilians and reopen roads into Taiz as the Houthis tightened their siege.

Taiz province has emerged as a major battlefront in recent weeks. The city, considered a gateway to southern Yemen, has taken in about half of the country's population displaced by the fighting, putting pressure on its limited resources.Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan said residents had lost access to about three million litres of water previously available from wells in Wadi al-Dhubab, which he said was now under Houthi control.

The claim could not be independently verified.Eshraq al-Maqtari, a legal affairs minister in Yemen's internationally recognised government, said more than 2,000 projectiles and explosives fired by the Houthis had struck districts of Taiz city in recent days. She called for steps to stop the supply of weapons and funding to the rebels.

Shamsan said fighting had intensified across the province as the Houthis sent reinforcements to several fronts, leaving the city surrounded on all four sides.In southern Gaza, officials at Nasser Hospital said an Israeli strike near a Red Cross field hospital in Rafah on Wednesday afternoon killed three people and injured 15, including five who were seriously wounded. An earlier strike killed one man and critically wounded a woman, while another strike wounded at least five people.

Israel's military did not respond to a request for comment.More than 1,550 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory's Health Ministry. The ministry maintains records that are regarded as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it was continuing a major operation in the occupied West Bank after an attack last week killed two soldiers and wounded three others.

The operation, centred on Hebron, has displaced thousands of Palestinians and placed tight restrictions on their movement.The two gunmen who carried out the attack were shot dead. The military said on Wednesday that it had arrested six more people allegedly involved in planning terror attacks, including one person with links to Hamas.

It also said weapons, including an M16 rifle, had been seized.In Belgrade, an attacker armed with two knives assaulted a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy shortly after midnight on Wednesday, police said. The officer suffered minor injuries to his face and fatally shot the attacker.Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police were treating the incident as a "terrorist attack" and had raised the terror threat to the highest level.

Security was increased at key locations. Dacic described the attacker as a minor who shouted "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is great", while attacking the member of the Gendarmerie.Wednesday's developments included deadly strikes and intensified fighting in Yemen, further casualties in Gaza, an ongoing Israeli military operation in the West Bank and heightened security in Serbia after the attack outside the Israeli Embassy.With PTI Inputs- Ends