The Houthis launched a missile toward Israel Thursday evening, sending more than a million Israelis scrambling for shelters and secure areas.
Watch the interception of the ballistic missile
(צילום: דוברוVideo: Photo: Eilot Regional Council Spokesperson, Kobi Koenaks)
The missile was intercepted by the Arrow 3 system, but before that it led to rocket alerts in dozens of communities in the central region, the Sharon, the Shephelah, and the West Bank. In addition, during the alerts, landings and takeoffs at Ben Gurion Airport were halted.
The alarms were activated while tens of thousands were taking advantage of the beginning of the weekend to party around the country - and while many children were celebrating Lag BaOmer around bonfires.
Rocket alert sirens sound, interrupt Lag B'Omer bonfires in Rishon LeZion
(Video: Meir Turgeman)
Magen David Adom reported that no reports of casualties have been received so far, except for cases of panic and people who were injured on their way to the protected areas. Interceptor parts fell in Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion.
Planes that were poised to land at Ben Gurion Airport are currently delayed. Most of them belong to foreign airlines that still fly to Israel.
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Part of the missile interceptor landed near a bonfire in Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc
Senior Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer sent a message to Israel on the social network X, alongside a video of the sirens sounding in the country: "This entity (Israel) will not feel any calm as long as the attacks and siege on Gaza continue. Yemen will continue to exert military pressure on the Zionist enemy until it stops the attacks and lifts the siege. We will work towards more and more escalation, with the help of Allah."
Meanwhile, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that the Houthis believe their attacks on Israel have become more effective and could pressure Jerusalem to end the war in Gaza more quickly.
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A military source in Sanaa told the paper that Houthi forces plan to double their “operations against Ben Gurion Airport” to the point of halting all air traffic there, “similar to the shutdown of the seaport in Eilat.” The source added that the latest attacks on Ben Gurion Airport conveyed “more than one message” to Israel, claiming that the flight ban would be enforced by force and that the Yemeni threat is ongoing “hour by hour.” He also said drone strikes are planned “to prevent planes from landing or taking off from Ben Gurion.”
Wednesday morning, as children headed to kindergartens and schools, sirens sounded at 7:44 a.m. in the Jerusalem area, the Shephelah, and the West Bank, following a Houthi missile launch that was successfully intercepted. It marked the third launch within 24 hours, after two missiles were fired the previous day—one of which was intercepted, while the other fell short of Israeli territory.