A long-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen hit central Israel, causing a fire and injuring nine people on their way to shelters, the Israel Defence Forces said.
The missile triggered air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel, including Ben Gurion International Airport, forcing residents to flee for shelter. Nine people suffered injuries as a result. There were no reports of casualties or damage, and the airport authority said normal operations resumed shortly afterwards, the military said.
Footage shows a fire in a rural area near Tel Aviv, with smoke rising from a crater in the ground as firefighters try to extinguish the flames, and shots of a fragment falling onto an escalator at a railway station in the central city of Modiin.
The military spokesman for the group, Yahya Sari, said the rocket struck Israeli enemy military positions near Jaffa with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that managed to bypass Israel’s air defence systems. Shortly after the strike, Houthi leader Nasr Al-Din Amer told Al-Arabi TV on Sunday morning that the attack was the beginning and the Houthis would continue to “force the enemy to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people.”
Israel and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels have repeatedly retaliated against each other since the outbreak of the nearly year-long war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has swept across the region.
Israeli foreign minister accuses Borrell
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz once again accused EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell of “anti-Semitism.” The statement came after Borrell on Thursday expressed outrage over the killing of UN staffers in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip.
Josep Borrell is an anti-Semite and Israel-hater who consistently tries to pass resolutions and sanctions against Israel in the EU, only to be blocked by most member states. There’s a difference between legitimate criticism… and the anti-Semitic, hate-filled campaign Borrell is leading against Israel – reminiscent of history’s worst anti-Semites, according to him.
The attack on Wednesday left part of the UN-run Al-Jawni School destroyed. The Gaza Civil Defence Agency and the United Nations said the strike killed at least 18 people, including women and children, while the Israeli military said Hamas militants were the target.
The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees reported six of its staff were killed in two Israeli strikes on the school, the deadliest incident for the agency in more than 11 months of war. In total, at least 220 of the agency’s staff have lost their lives in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
