JERUSALEM: Houthis attacked central Israel with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Israeli strikes that killed over 41,000 Pales­tin­ians in Gaza in 11 months.

Yemen’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the military attacked Israel with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040km in less than 12 minutes.

While Israel’s military claimed the missile fell in an open area and nobody was hurt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” for the strike.

Photographers saw firefighters putting out a fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20km of Tel Aviv, after the attack.

Netanyahu says Houthis will pay heavy price for Tel Aviv attack

“The Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” Netanyahu said.

Hamas praised the Houthis’ attack, vowing that Israel “will not enjoy security unless it ceases its brutal aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip”.

The Houthis had targeted an Israeli military position in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a hypersonic ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target, the Yemen military spokesman said in a video statement, adding that the Israeli enemy defences failed to intercept the missile.

US failed to stop Israel, says Hamas

A senior Hamas official said that the United States was not doing enough to force concessions from Israel that could lead to a truce in the war in Gaza.

“The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side,” Osama Hamdan told journalists in Istanbul. “Rather it is trying to justify the Israeli side’s evasion of any commitment,” the Hamas official said.

A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian movement had ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained over more than 11 months of war in Gaza. “The resistance has a high ability to continue,” said Osama Hamdan during an interview in Istanbul.

“There were martyrs and there were sacrifices… but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance.”

Israeli leaflets for Lebanon

On the other hand, Israel dropped leaflets over a Lebanon border village, urging residents to leave.

However, Israel’s military hours later said a brigade had taken the initiative without “proper approval”.

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It was the first time Israelis had told residents of south Lebanon to evacuate in 11 months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel over the Gaza war.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said the status quo with Hezbollah will not continue and a change in the balance of power on our northern border is needed.

Hundreds of people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, have already died in Lebanon and dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians in Israel in Israeli-Hezbollah clashes since October 2023.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2024