Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have targeted the Israeli Red Sea resort city of Eilat with multiple ballistic missiles.
Israel’s military said its air defences intercepted a missile from Yemen before it crossed into its territory.
It comes after a strike by Israeli fighter jets on Houthi military targets near Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Saturday. Medical sources told Reuters at least six people were killed and 80 others injured.
It appeared to be the first Israeli strike on Yemeni soil since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Oil tanks burn in the port city of Hodeidah. Pic: AP
A map showing the Yemeni city of Hodeidah
A number of military targets were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah, the Israeli army said, adding its strike was in response to “hundreds of attacks” against Israel in recent months.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said: “The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”
On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen killed one man and wounded at least 10 others near the US Embassy in central Tel Aviv.
The strike on Yemen will further raise fears the Gaza war, sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, could spill over into a regional conflict.
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There was an inevitability about the Israeli strikes and, early on Saturday evening, the military’s fighter jets pounded the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
The IDF had vowed to respond to hundreds of Houthi attacks on Israel and the strikes on the port, which Israel says was a “dual use” civilian and military target, was the retaliation.
With the loss of an Israeli life a military response was always coming and the attack on Yemen – the first ever by Israel – was also about delivering a message and attempting to restore deterrence.
But it is questionable whether it will work.
What all this means is that the war is entering dangerous new territory with the possibility of further escalation.
There is a fear that a regional conflict may not be far away.
‘Stand against Iran’s axis of evil,’ Netanyahu urges
The latest development comes amid an escalation in the daily exchange of fire between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington and address the US Congress.
Mr Netanyahu called on the international community to step up pressure on Iran and its proxies – Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah.
“Whoever wants to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran’s axis of evil, and support Israel’s struggle against Iran and its proxies,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the Israeli strikes and “warned against the risk of escalation of tension and the spread of war in the region as a result of the dangerous adventurism of the Zionists,” state media reported.
In a statement, Hezbollah also condemned the attack on Hodeidah, calling it “a foolish step … that marks a new and dangerous phase of the extremely important ongoing confrontation”.
On Saturday, at least 13 people were killed in three Israeli airstrikes that hit the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.