Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to exact a heavy price from the Houthis for its missile attack against central Israel on Sunday.
“This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory,” Netanyahu told his government during its weekly meeting.
“They should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” he stated.
“Those who need a reminder in this matter are invited to visit the port of Hodeidah,” Netanyahu said in a reference to an Israeli reprisal attack in July.
“Anyone who attacks us will not escape,” Netanyahu said, explaining that Hamas has already learned this.
From Yemen to Israel in under 15 minutes
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that traveled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes. Israel’s military said the missile fell in an open area, and nobody was hurt.
Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel, though it was not immediately possible to determine if the missile or interceptor debris caused the fire.
The Houthis, an Iranian proxy group, have fired missiles at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Apart from missiles, the Houthis have also attacked Israel with drones, including one that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July, killing a man and wounding four people. That attack prompted Israeli air strikes on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah that killed six and wounded 80.
Israel should expect more strikes in the future “as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah,” Sarea said.
The deputy head of the Houthi’s media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it, describing it as the “beginning.”
The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon on Sunday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
“No injuries were reported,” the military said.
The Houthi attack is part of the multi-front war Israel is fighting with Iranian proxy groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah along its northern border.
Netanyahu told the government, “We are in a multi-front campaign against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us.”
He pledged to return the 101 hostages in Gaza. Concerning the north, where there has been a cross-border IDF-Hezbollah war since October 8, he pledged that the residents who have been evacuated since then would return home and that “the status quo would not continue.”
“This requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border. We will do everything necessary to return our residents safely to their homes.
‘I am committed to it, the government is committed to it, and we will not settle for less than that,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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