Yemen continues to fire rockets and drones at Israel amid fears of a Gaza City invasion, while Tel Aviv considers the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal.
Israel said on Friday that it faced missile and drone attacks launched from Yemen, with air raid sirens sounding in several areas of central Israel and flights suspended at Ben Gurion International Airport.
A military statement confirmed that a missile was launched from Yemen toward central Israel. The army said the sirens were triggered in accordance with protocol and that initial reviews suggested the projectile most likely fragmented in mid air and caused minimal damage.
During the incident several attempts to intercept the missile were made by aerial defence systems. Israeli reports also cited shrapnel falling in several areas as alarms sounded across central districts.
The national ambulance service Magen David Adom said several people sustained minor injuries while rushing to shelters. Its teams responded as the alerts sent residents to protected spaces.
Following the attack, Yemen’s Army Spokesman Yahya Saree said: “Yemen, its loyal people, its Mujahid army, and its faithful leadership, will stand with Palestinians until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”
Yemen’s de-facto government in Sanaa headed by the Houthi AnsarAllah movement is the last Muslim force still fighting Israel in an effort to apply pressure for a ceasefire and an end to the siege which has caused a deadly famine in the Strip.
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Saree announced that his group had fired what he described as a hypersonic ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
He claimed the missile was not intercepted by Israeli defences.
He added that two drones were fired at separate Israeli sites in Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.
In his statement he said both drones hit their targets successfully. Israel claims to have successfully downed a drone before it hit any targets in Israel.
This latest attack comes after the Israeli Navy carried out strikes targeting Houthi sites in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on 17 August.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the strikes targeted the Haziz Central Power Station in the Sanhan district, south of Sanaa. Citing local sources, the agency reported that the attack hit electricity generators, putting them out of service.
A source in Yemen’s Civil Defence Authority said that firefighters managed to extinguish blazes caused by the strike at the facility.
Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, wrote on X that the “criminal and bankrupt enemy is only targeting service facilities and civilian structures such as electricity and water.”
The Israeli attack came after an earlier missile attack on Israel by Yemen’s army.
Since November 2023 the Houthis have launched missile and drone strikes on Israeli targets and targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea as part of their plan to militarily assist Gaza.
The group has pledged to continue targeting Israel with missiles and drones as long as the war in Gaza continues. That pledge has been repeated in statements alongside claims of responsibility for launches.
In response to Yemen’s persistent attacks on shipping, U.S. President Trump gave the green light to Western attacks on Houthi targets between March and May 2025.
The attacks, which included UK and Israeli airstrikes on targets across north Yemen, eventually ended when Trump claimed to have brokered a deal with Sanaa’s leadership – western attacks would stop and the Houthis would leave Red Sea shipping alone.
However, since then, Yemen has continued to launch projectiles at Israel and a vessel was sunk in the Red Sea off the coast of Hodeidah in July.
Ceasefire deal or further conquest?
Egypt has urged Israel to approve a new Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap proposal which has reportedly already been accepted by Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed the “need for the Israeli side to accept the deal approved by Hamas based on the proposal of U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff” to immediately reach a ceasefire in Gaza, allow the flow of humanitarian aid, and release a number of hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The ministry said the ceasefire will “contribute to maintaining security and stability” in the region and revive the path for a two-state solution based on relevant UN resolutions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will give final approval for the seizure of Gaza City while also restarting negotiations with Hamas aimed at returning all the remaining captives and ending the nearly two-year-old war, but on “terms acceptable to Israel”.
According to Egyptian media, the proposal calls for Israeli forces to reposition near the border to facilitate humanitarian aid entering Gaza and a temporary halt to military operations for two months to facilitate a prisoner-hostage exchange.
According to Israeli estimates, around 50 captives remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive, while Israel is holding more than 10,800 Palestinians in its prisons under dire conditions, with rights groups reporting deaths due to torture, hunger and medical neglect.
U.S. President Trump has expressed support for an ed to the situation in Gaza but hasn’t clarified exactly whether he backs Israel’s total conquest option or the latest ceasefire effort but comments to press at the White House appeared to side with Netanyahu’s Gaza takeover plan.
“The situation has to end. It’s extortion and it has to end. We will see what happens. I actually think that they (the hostages) are safer in many ways if you went in and really went in really fast.”
Israel has killed more than 62,100 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
