Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against a Houthi attack, saying at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, September 15, 2024, that the Houthis “should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.”
This came as a long-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen hit central Israel, sparking fire.
The missile triggered air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel, including the Ben Gurion international airport, sending residents running for shelter.
There were no reports of casualties or damage, and the airport authority said normal operations resumed shortly after.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the east and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported,” the military said.
The army said in a statement the missile launched by the Houthis early on Sunday at Israeli territory “most likely fragmented in mid-air.”
Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial defence systems, it said, with their “results” and the entire incident currently under review.
The army said fragments from the missile and interceptors were found in open areas and at the Paatei Modi’in railway station. It added that firefighters were working to extinguish a fire caused by the missile near Kfar Daniel.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services, said in a post on X that nine people had suffered minor injuries as they sought shelter.
Houthis’ Saba news agency said the Israeli defence system could not shoot down the Yemeni missile, which caused a fire.
“A Yemeni missile reached Israel after ’20 missiles failed to intercept’ it,” Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi media official, posted on X.
The group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, announced that it had “targeted a military position of the Israeli enemy in the Jaffa area” with a “new hypersonic ballistic missile” that had managed to evade Israel’s air defence systems.
He warned Israel of more significant operations as the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack approaches.
At the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also said that the current situation in northern Israel “will not continue,” and that he was determined to do everything possible to return northern evacuees to their homes.
Netanyahu will travel to New York on September 24, 2024, the first day of the high-level general debate by world leaders at the annual UN general assembly, his office said.
It added that Netanyahu is scheduled to stay until 28 September in the US, which he had visited in July for official talks and a congressional address.
The Houthi group has been attacking Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the Bab al-Mandeb strait, since November in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel’s continuing war on Gaza.
This has forced shipping firms to reroute vessels to longer and more expensive journeys around Southern Africa.
A United States-led military coalition has been bombing Houthi targets since January, but the Yemeni group has continued its attacks.
Reminder Of The Right-Wing Government’s Failure
Labor Party leader, Yair Golan said that Sunday’s missile attack was a “reminder of the right-wing government’s ongoing failure.”
“Instead of closing battlefronts, this zero government is pulling us into endless war, eternal internal conflict and an abyss,” he said in a statement on X.
Golan called on the Israelis to stage daily protests against the government.
“Only continuous popular pressure will bring down this government,” he added.
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