Jerusalem (AFP) – A missile fell on Sunday near Tel Aviv International Airport after the announcement of a Yemen shot, causing a brief interruption of air traffic and threats of Israeli reprisals.
The shot has not been claimed immediately, but the Houthi rebels of Yemen, allies of the Palestinian Hamas movement, claimed several attacks on missiles and drones against Israeli territory since the start of the war in Gaza.
Alert sirens sounded in the morning in several regions of Israel, the army announced. The anti-aircraft defenses tried to intercept the missile from Yemen, she said in a statement.
AFP journalists said they heard explosions in the Jerusalem regions and Ben -Gurion airport in the center of the country.
The police reported an “missile impact” near the international airport.
“You can see the area just behind us: a crater has been formed there, several tens of meters and also deep by several tens of meters,” said police chief in the center of Israel, Yaïr Hezroni, in a video with the airport control tower in the background.
According to Israeli media, police are still trying to determine whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an Israeli counter-missile.
Airport authorities have announced the resumption of air traffic after a brief interruption. “Takeoffs and landings have normally resumed. The Ben Gurion boring is open and operational,” said a statement.
– “Seven times stronger” –
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to fight back to this shot by hitting “seven times stronger”. Israel has already led several attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.
-“The one who strikes us will be struck seven times stronger,” he said in a brief press release.
The Houthis, supported by Iran, a sworn enemy of Israel, had previously claimed shots towards this airport but the army had claimed to have intercepted them.
On Friday, they claimed the shots of two missiles on Israel, several hours apart, of which the Israeli army announced the interception.
The military spokesman for Houthis, Yahya Saree, said in a video that the group had targeted a military installation in the center of Israel with “a Palestine 2 hypersonic missile”.
The Houthi rebels control large sides of Yemen at war, including the capital Sanaa, more than 1,800 km from the southern border of Israel.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the unprecedented attack on the Islamist Hamas movement on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Houthis have announced attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza.
These rebels have also targeted ships which they consider linked to Israel in the Red Sea, an essential area for global maritime traffic.
After a two -month suspension, the Houthis resumed the attacks on Israel with the resumption of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18.
The United States, under the presidency of Joe Biden, began in January 2024 to strike the positions of the Houthis to force them to stop their shots. The campaign intensified after Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
The Pentagon said at the end of April to have struck more than 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of “fighters” among the Houthis, including members of their management.
