A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels towards Israel on Sunday landed near Ben Gurion Airport, the country’s main international airport.
This sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused panic among passengers in the terminal building.
DAILY POST reports that Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, who claimed responsibility for the missile strike, have recently intensified missile launches at Israel, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Responding to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.
“We attacked in the past, we will attack in the future,”; he said
A senior Israeli police commander, Yair Hetzroni, showed reporters a crater caused by the impact of the missile, which airport authorities said landed beside a road near a Terminal 3 parking lot. The airport lies near the major city of Tel Aviv.
“You can see the scene right behind us here, a hole that opened up with a diameter of tens of metres and also tens of metres deep,”; Hetzroni said.
Israel’s Channel 12 News said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would meet security ministers and defence officials on Sunday to discuss a response.
Most attacks from Yemen are said to have been intercepted by Israel’s missile defence systems, apart from a drone strike that hit Tel Aviv last year.
Sunday’s missile was reported to be the only one of a series launched in the past few days that was not intercepted.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating.
“Today (Sunday), at approximately 9:18 a.m. (0618 GMT), the IDF identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory. According to protocol, sirens were sounded in a number of areas in Israel.
“Several attempts were made to intercept the missile. A hit was identified in the area of Ben Gurion Airport,”; the military said.
