For its part, Houthi forces in Yemen announced on Wednesday that their missile force "carried out a military operation targeting an important and sensitive target of the Israeli enemy west of occupied Jerusalem."
The statement added that the military operation was carried out "with a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile. The operation successfully achieved its goal, thanks to God, and caused millions of herds of usurping Zionists to flee to shelters," without further details about what was targeted.
The statement indicated that "the Yemeni Armed Forces' (Houthi forces) drone air force also carried out a military operation targeting a vital Israeli enemy target in the occupied Haifa area (north) with a drone, and the operation successfully achieved its goal."
According to the statement, the operation comes "in response to the crimes of genocide and starvation committed by the Zionist enemy against our brothers in the Gaza Strip, and as part of the initial response to the Israeli aggression against our country."
Earlier on Wednesday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that they had fired "a Palestine 2 ballistic missile equipped with multiple warheads, used for the second time, and another Dhu al-Fiqar missile towards Jaffa (Tel Aviv)."
Saree noted that the operation hit "sensitive targets and successfully achieved its objectives," and that it caused "large numbers of Israelis to rush to shelters."
On Wednesday morning, Israeli authorities temporarily closed airspace around Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv (central Israel) after detecting a missile launch from Yemen.
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Sirens sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area, as well as in West Jerusalem.
Channel 12, a private Israeli news channel, reported that this was the first time air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem since the assassination of the head of the Houthi government (not internationally recognized) and a number of its ministers in an Israeli airstrike on Sanaa last week.
On Tuesday, the Houthi group announced the implementation of four military operations in which it attacked Israeli targets, including the General Staff building, Ben Gurion Airport, the Hadera power station (north), and the port of Ashdod (south).
On Saturday, the group announced the death of its prime minister, Ahmed Ghaleb al-Rahwi, along with a number of ministers, as a result of an Israeli bombing of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Thursday.
The Houthis launch attacks on Israel using missiles and drones, in addition to targeting ships linked to or heading toward it. They claim that their attacks are in response to the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 63,746 Palestinians dead, 161,245 wounded, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 367 Palestinians, including 131 children.
