Nine Israelis were injured while panic running for shelters during Christmas day rocket fire from Yemen.
Reported by Turkish news platform Anadolu Agency, the Yemeni attack caused air-raid sirens to sound across the Tel Aviv metropolitan area which sparked the hysteria leading to nine fleeing Israelis being hurt.
According to Israel, air defences managed to intercept a ballistic missile fired from Yemen before it even entered Israeli airspace.
However, Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah group says it fired the hypersonic ballistic missile with the aim of hitting a military target in central Israel.
In a televised statement, General Saree confirmed that the operation, which utilised a Palestine-2 hypersonic missile, successfully achieved its objectives.
“This is a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters, and a response to the Israeli enemy’s crimes against our brothers in Gaza.”
The statement also emphasised the continued commitment of Yemen to their “religious, moral, and humanitarian duty towards the oppressed Palestinian people.”
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This Christmas day attack on Israel comes amid rising tit-for-tat violence between Yemen and Israel.
On Monday, the Yemeni group said that it had launched two combat drones towards military targets in Jaffa and Ashkelon in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to act against the Houthis in Yemen.
This came after Israel attacked several targets in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and vital port city Hudaydah on December 19, killing at least nine people.
Houthis vow further attacks
The Houthis have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones in a show of support with the Gaza Strip, where over 45,300 people have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war since October 7, 2023.
The Houthis, also known by their preferred name the Ansarullah, are an armed and political group in north Yemen which seized power during the 2014 to 2015 coup or “revolution” which occurred in the wake of the Arab Spring and the downfall of former dictator of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The group is considered Iranian-backed and its leadership espouse a similar anti-U.S. and anti-Israel political rhetoric.
Despite huge risk of inviting major attacks from Israel and its allies, the UK & U.S., Yemen remains the only Muslim/Arab country in the world offering continued military assistance to Gaza.
Unlike Yemen’s Houthis, Iran and it’s regional proxies, Lebanon’s Hezbollah or the various Shia militias in Iraq, have climbed down from fighting Israel following a serious of stinging military attacks inflicted by Israel in Lebanon and Syria.
Following the Christmas day attack on Israel, the IDF’s official X account admitted that for the fifth time in a week, millions of Israelis were sent fleeing to shelters over Yemen’s attack.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday Israel will begin targeting leaders of Yemen’s Houthi group, vowing that Israel will not allow missile and drone fire on Israel to continue unchecked.
“Just as we took care of (Yayha) Sinwar in Gaza, (Ismail) Haniyeh in Tehran and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen.”
This statement was also the first time a senior Israeli official has admitted the targeted assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh who was killed during a diplomatic visit to Iran in July 2024.
Katz also issued a threat at the Houthis’ supporters in Iran, vowing that “whoever sponsors the Houthi terror in Hodaydah or Sanaa will pay the full price.”
