Tel Aviv:
At least eight people were wounded after a ballistic missile launched from Yemen struck near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, following which the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government announced a “sevenfold retaliation”. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it demonstrated their ability to strike sensitive targets in Israel.
The missile struck near Israel’s biggest airport after multiple interception attempts by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) failed, prompting a temporary halt in all takeoffs and landings at the country’s main international airport. Around an hour after the strike, the Israel Airport Authority said the airspace was reopened and flight operations resumed.
Local media said though a direct hit on terminal infrastructure was averted, the missile impacted a grove adjacent to an access road within the airport’s perimeter.
Following the strike, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, in a terse statement, said, “Whoever harms us, we will strike them sevenfold.”
So far, Israel has refrained from launching retaliatory strikes on Yemen despite a series of Houthi attacks, as the United States leads a broader military campaign against the Iran-backed group.
Houthis Claim Responsibility
Meanwhile, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior official in Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement, told the Qatari Al-Araby TV channel that the attack demonstrated their ability to strike sensitive targets in Israel and that the Iran-backed group has “no red lines” in its fight against Israel.
Nasser al-Din Omar, media head for the Houthis, also reportedly warned the airlines against operations in Israel, saying it endangers the safety of their aircraft.
Palestinian group Hamas also praised the ‘precision’ strike by Yemen’s Huthis on the Israeli airport.
Israel Probing Incident
The Israeli Air Force’s aerial defence units are now probing the reasons behind the unsuccessful interceptions of the missile fired by Houthis that breached Israel’s air defence near one of the country’s most sensitive zones.
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency service, reported that eight people were injured in the attack.
Houthi Attacks On Israel
The Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians. On Saturday, the Huthis claimed a third missile attack on Israel in two days.
The vast majority of missiles fired by the Huthis since the start of the Gaza war in 2023 have been intercepted by Israeli air defences. The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump. Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
