Houthis announce missile launch at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport

“The Yemeni armed forces carried out a qualitative military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport in the occupied Jaffa region with a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on Thursday.

He added the operation “successfully achieved its objective”, without elaborating.

It was the second such attack since the United States began a new campaign of air raids against the rebels earlier this week.

The Israeli military announced it intercepted the missile before it entered the occupied territories early on Thursday. Sirens sounded in several areas in Israel after the projectile was fired, the military said in a post on Telegram.

The Israeli police added sirens were heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel’s ambulance service noted no serious injuries were reported.

The US has targeted Yemen with waves of strikes since Saturday, and the Houthis have declared they will escalate their attacks, including on Israel, in response. The US attacks have killed at least 31 people.

On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile towards Israel and would expand their range of targets in the coming days in retaliation for Tel Aviv breaking the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel’s renewed attacks since Tuesday have killed at least 710 Palestinians and injured more than 900 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on shipping since Israel’s war on Gaza began in late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.