In the early hours of Thursday, Israelis in and around Tel Aviv rushed to bomb shelters as an incoming rocket was shot down by anti-aircraft defenses.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the missile was fired from Yemen toward Israeli territory and that it was partially intercepted.
Fragments fell in central Israel, including a rocket warhead that directly hit a school in the Ramat Efal neighborhood of Ramat Gan, the report added. No casualties have been reported.
Two hours after the attack, the IDF announced that its fighter jets had struck Houthi military targets on Yemen’s west coast and inside the country.
According to the Houthi-run Al Masirah, seven people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Red Sea port of Salif, while two people were killed and one wounded at the nearby Ras Issa oil terminal. Two others were reportedly injured in the southern port of Hudaydah.
The channel also reported that the strikes hit power plants in Haizi and Dahban, south and north of Sana’a.
The director of the General Electricity Corporation, Meshaal al-Rifi, said that the local power supply was affected by damage to power distribution stations and fuel tanks.
“The Houthis are attacking Israel in violation of international law, and the Houthi regime is a threat to peace and security in the region,” IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“Today, the IDF conducted precision strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen, including ports and energy infrastructure in Sana’a, which the Houthis used in ways that effectively facilitated their military operations.”
An Israeli military official said the operation was “planned” and that the 14 jets and other aircraft involved “were already in the air” when the Houthis launched their missile, the Financial Times reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last arm of the Iranian axis of evil. They are finding out and learning the hard way that anyone who harms Israel will pay a very high price.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, warned Houthi leaders that “Israel’s long arm will reach out to you as well.”
