Houthi missile strikes central Israel for first time after penetrating Iron Dome

Sirens sound in Tel Aviv early on Sunday as missile hits unpopulated area

Yemen’s Houthi terror group struck central Israel for the first time after a missile broke Israel’s air defence system on Sunday.
Sirens were sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel before the attack at 6.35am .
No injuries were reported according to Israel’s military, as the missile hit an unpopulated area. A train station in Modi’in, east of Tel Aviv, was damaged by shrapnel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, a surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing into central Israel from the east and fell in an open area. No injuries were reported,” Israel’s military said.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price”
“Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port,” Mr Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.
Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the Houthis’ media office, said on Sunday that a Yemeni missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it. He also described the attack as the “beginning”.
Through its Telegram channel, the Iran-backed terror group warned its military spokesman would soon give details about a “qualitative operation that targeted the depth of the Zionist entity”.
It comes as the Houthis continue their Red Sea region blockade, launched in November on the instruction of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The group initially set out to attack and hijack Israeli-linked vessels in a bid to force a ceasefire in Gaza, but it has since expanded to target global shipping on the trade route.
Dozens of hostages from across the world have been taken and missiles launched at multiple international vessels.
In recent weeks, a Yemeni drone hit a residential building in central Tel Aviv, its target was believed to be the US embassy on the city’s coastline.
Sunday’s strike is the first time the Houthis have penetrated deep into Israeli airspace with a missile. Most such missiles have been shot down although one hit an open area near Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Since the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, killing around 1,100 mostly civilians, Iran’s proxies on Israel’s borders and Iraq have surrounded the Jewish state. The worst conflict has been on Israel’s northern border where Hezbollah have been sending almost daily bombardments.
Over 6,000 projectiles have been fired to the north of Israel since October 7 from Iran’s biggest proxy, with over 60,000 Israelis displaced, and around the same number displaced from southern Lebanon.