Houthis claim hypersonic missile attack against Israel

Yemen’s Houthi group has said it launched a missile attack targeting central Israel, vowing to continue its military operations against the country until the Israeli military ends its war on Gaza.

Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera reported that the missile attack was carried out yesterday. However, no casualties were reported yet.

The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a televised address that the operation on Monday was carried out using a hypersonic ballistic missile called “Palestine 2”.

The Houthis said the attack was in response to Israel’s “massacres” against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging a war for more than a year, killing more than 45,000 people.

The Israeli military said a missile launched from Yemen’s territory was intercepted before it crossed into Israel.

“Alerts for missile and rocket firing were activated due to fears of falling fragments from the interception,” a spokesperson said.

Israeli media reported that the missile activated sirens across Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest city.

However, the Houthis, who present themselves as Yemen’s official military, said the operation “successfully achieved its objectives” without providing details.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces continue to carry out their military operations and strike all targets linked to the Israeli enemy in the occupied territories, and these operations will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted,” the Iran-allied group said.

Since the beginning of 2024, a coalition led by the US has been conducting airstrikes that it said are targeting Houthi locations in parts of Yemen in response to attacks by the group in the Red Sea. The counterattacks have been occasionally met with retaliation from the group.

In solidarity with Gaza, which has been facing an Israeli genocidal war since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, expressing determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.

With the intervention of Washington and London and an escalation of tensions, the Houthis announced that they now consider all American and British ships as military targets.