Debris from an intercepted missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels landed on a kindergarten in northern Israel on Thursday, piercing the building’s roof and ceiling. No children were present at the time, and no injuries were reported.
The incident occurred shortly after Israel’s military detected a ballistic missile launch from Yemen and successfully intercepted it before it entered Israeli airspace. Sirens warning of incoming missiles sounded across wide areas of northern Israel, including the Jezreel Valley, Binyamina, the Gilboa region, the Upper and Lower Galilee, Haifa and surrounding towns.
Shai Regev, head of education at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, said the kindergarten, named Zayit, serves 32 children between the ages of four and six. “It’s a huge miracle,” she said. “If this had happened while the kindergarten was open, children could have been injured. The fragments broke through the roof and ceiling—it was a terrifying scene that shows just how close the danger is.”
Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported no injuries from the incident, aside from one man who was hurt while rushing to a shelter.
Thursday’s launch marked the second time in 10 days that a missile from Yemen was fired toward northern Israel. Explosions from the interception were heard as far south as central Israel.
In response to the missile alert, takeoffs and landings at Ben-Gurion Airport were temporarily halted, delaying several international flights, including an Israir flight from Hungary and a departure to Rhodes.
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The Israeli military said the missile was launched from Yemen and did not breach Israeli airspace. Similar alerts had been triggered earlier this week in the southern Arava region and around the Dead Sea. Sirens also sounded last week in the Haifa area and western Galilee—the first such alarms there since the end of recent hostilities with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has so far not responded militarily to the launches from Yemen, reportedly at the request of the United States, which began a regional military operation a month and a half ago. Israel last carried out a strike in Yemen three months ago.
First published: 05:46, 05.02.25