Netanyahu vows Houthis will pay 'heavy price' for any missile attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed the Houthis would pay a "heavy price" after they fired a rocket into central Israel.

"This morning, the Houthis fired a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen at our territory," Netanyahu said at the start of his cabinet meeting on Sunday. "They should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us."

"Anyone who needs to be reminded of this is invited to visit the port of Hodeidah," he added, referring to an Israeli air strike on Yemen in July in response to a Houthi drone attack targeting Tel Aviv.

The Israeli army revealed in a statement on Sunday morning that "following up on the warnings a short while ago in the central region of the country, the talk is about a surface-to-surface missile being launched from the east that fell in an open area without causing any injuries." It indicated in a later statement that "the missile was launched from Yemen."

Loud explosions were heard across the area, which the military said was caused by the interception of the missile. It added that the protection instructions for residents had not changed.

Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a video clip via the XN platform, "The missile force carried out a qualitative military operation targeting a military target in the Jaffa area in occupied Palestine. The operation was carried out with a new hypersonic ballistic missile, and the enemy's defenses failed to intercept and confront it."

The Israeli army said that the missile traveled a distance of about 2,000 kilometers and took about 15 minutes to fly, penetrating the airspace from the eastern border, stressing that the air force is investigating the reason for the delay in detecting and intercepting the missile.

For its part, the Israeli police said that the rocket fell in the town of Kfar Daniel, in an area near Ben Gurion Airport, adding that the rocket caused fires in forested areas and material damage to a main train station near the town of Modi'in.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired missiles towards Israel as part of what they describe as a campaign to support the Palestinians as part of the so-called "Iranian axis of resistance" since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza Strip.

Houthi missiles have not previously been able to reach far into Israeli airspace, but one reached an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

In addition to missiles, the Houthis have also attacked Israel with drones, one of which reached Tel Aviv in July, killing one person and wounding four others.

The attack was the first from abroad to target Tel Aviv with a drone. It prompted Israel to launch a major airstrike on Houthi military targets near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, killing at least six people and wounding 80.

Source: Agencies