Houthis claim to have targeted Ben Gurion airport after Israel hits Sana’a
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IDF says missile was intercepted before it reached Israeli airspace, as Netanyahu says strikes on Yemen will continue. Houthi rebels in Yemen claim to have retaliated against Israeli airstrikes on Sana’a’s airport early on Friday with a missile aimed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and a drone attack on Tel Aviv.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said their defences intercepted the ballistic missile before it reached Israeli airspace, though residents in the centre of the country were ordered into shelters for fear of falling debris. There were no reports in Israel of hostile drones over Tel Aviv.
It was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat exchanges. Thursday’s Israeli airstrikes were in retaliation for a Houthi missile and drone launch against Israel on Wednesday. The Houthis began mounting attacks aimed at Israel and Israeli shipping at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
A Houthi statement on Friday said Israel’s strikes “will only increase the determination and resolve of the great Yemeni people to continue supporting the Palestinian people”. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed that Israeli strikes on Yemen would continue, saying Israel’s aim in Yemen was the elimination of the Houthi threat, which he called a “terrorist entity in Iran’s axis of evil”.
“We will persist until we complete the job,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu and his defence minister, Israel Katz, monitored the Israeli attacks on Yemen on Thursday from the air force command centre. According to Israeli press accounts, 25 fighter jets took part in 2,000km sorties that hit an array of targets across Yemen. The primary target was Sana’a international airport, where the attack left the top of the control tower a bombed-out shell and shattered windows in terminal buildings. Airport authorities said four people were killed and 20 injured.
