Rocket fired from Yemen fell into central Israel, military says

Jerusalem:

The Israeli military said a rocket fired from Yemen hit central Israel on Sunday. Although no one was injured, tensions in the region have escalated almost a year after the start of the Gaza war.

Following the incident, AFP photographers spotted firefighters putting out a bush fire near Lod and saw broken glass at a train station in Modin, both areas southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have not directly claimed responsibility for the attack, but are among Iran-backed groups in the Middle East drawn into the conflict sparked by the October 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militias, which in turn sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

In July, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack that penetrated Israeli air defenses and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometers from Yemen.

A statement on Sunday said that “a surface-to-surface missile was sighted entering central Israel from the east and hitting an open area. No injuries were reported.”

“The missile was fired from Yemen,” it was later said.

The military said the explosions “heard in the last few minutes” came from air defense interceptors and that the result of the interception was currently being verified.

The Yemeni Houthis carry out attacks against Israel and its perceived interests, claiming to be in solidarity with the Palestinians during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The rebels are part of the “Axis of Resistance,” which also includes militant groups allied with Tehran in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Deadly ship attacks

Since November, the Houthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea that are crucial to global trade.

Several Filipino sailors were killed in the attacks, which led to US military retaliation against Houthi targets.

Last month, Houthi missiles struck a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude oil. The tanker caught fire off the coast of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, threatening an environmental disaster.

A source in the Greek Defense Ministry told AFP on Saturday that a salvage operation was underway and the Sounion ship was being towed north under military escort.

Following the Houthis' deadly attack on Tel Aviv in July, Israeli warplanes responded by bombing Houthi-controlled Hodeidah. According to the rebels, they destroyed much of the facility's fuel storage capacity and killed several people.

It was Israel’s first attack in Yemen for which it claimed responsibility.

A rebel official vowed at the time that they would “meet escalation with escalation.” A Houthi statement last month “reiterated that the Yemeni response will definitely come.”

On Israel's northern flank, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement regularly engages in cross-border shelling with Israeli forces, an exchange that threatens to escalate into open war.

On Sunday morning, about 40 missiles were fired from Lebanon towards the Israeli region of Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.

The hostilities have displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes near the border in both countries.

Israelis protest

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's number two, warned in a speech on Saturday: “If Israel really unleashes a war, we will face it – and there will be great losses on both sides.”

“If you think that such a war will enable the 100,000 displaced people to return to their homes, then we issue a warning: be prepared for it to continue with hundreds of thousands more displaced people.”

According to an AFP count, 623 people have been killed in cross-border violence in Lebanon since the beginning of October, most of them fighters, but also at least 142 civilians.

On the Israeli side, including in the Golan Heights, authorities announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Hezbollah said its actions supported its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas attack that started the war in the Gaza Strip left 1,205 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 251 prisoners in the attack, 97 of whom are still in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, 33 of them are dead.

According to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled area, at least 41,182 people have been killed in Israel's military retaliation campaign in Gaza. However, the ministry did not provide a breakdown of the casualties among civilians and militants.

On Saturday, thousands of people again took to the streets in Israel's largest cities to increase pressure on the government to reach an agreement to release the hostages.

Months of efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators have so far failed to achieve a ceasefire or the release of hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is facing increasing anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to secure the release of the prisoners.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)