The foiled attack came as the European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas paid a visit to Israel and the occupied Bank on Monday, where she met with both Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The Israeli military on Monday said it intercepted a long-range missile launched from Yemen over Jerusalem, triggering air raid sirens and explosions over the city.
Local officials said they believed the missile to be from Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a handful of long-range missiles have been fired from in recent days following the resumption of war in Gaza by Israeli forces.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Houthis.
The foiled attack came as the European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas paid a visit to Israel and met with the Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa in the West Bank on Monday.
Kallas, who met with both Israeli and Palestinian officials, conveyed the EU message, saying the bloc “strongly opposes the resumption of war,” which is “causing an appalling and unacceptable loss of life in Gaza.”
“My message(s) during my visit here are very clear. Hamas must release all hostages. Israel must fully reinstate humanitarian aid to Gaza, and negotiations must resume,” Kallas said at a press conference with the Palestinian Prime Minister in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“We cannot remain silent about the grave violations of international law and rights of the Palestinian people,” Mohammad Mustafa, the Palestinian Prime Minister, said.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the Israel-Hamas war after hundreds more deaths were added to the casualty toll following Israel’s resumption of hostilities last week in its surprise wave of airstrikes.
Israel blames Hamas for refusing to release the remaining hostages following the completion of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
The January ceasefire put an end to over a year of fighting that had been sparked by Hamas’ 7 October, 2023, onslaught on Israel, in which militants murdered about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured 251 others.
The majority of hostages were released in the first months following the Gaza war, while approximately 2,000 Palestinian detainees were exchanged for 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in January’s truce deal.
Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents were permitted to return home by Israeli forces.
The sides were supposed to begin negotiations in early February on the ceasefire’s next phase. However, those talks, which called for Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages in exchange for more Palestinian captives, a permanent ceasefire, and an Israeli departure, never began.
35 of those hostages are believed to be dead.
