Yemen’s Houthi group has said that it launched a missile toward Israel, “hitting a vital target.” 

“We attacked a vital target in the Jaffa area with a hypersonic missile,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Sunday in a statement aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. 

“The missile successfully hit its target,” Sarea noted, vowing that the group will launch more long-range missiles at Israel until “war in Gaza stops”. 

Meanwhile, Israel’s military said on Sunday that it intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace, with no injuries reported. 

Since November 2023, the Houthi group has launched rocket and drone attacks on Israel and disrupted “Israeli-linked” shipping in the Red Sea, allegedly to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Xinhua news agency reported. 

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip which has killed more than 44,400 people, most of them women and children, and injured over 105,200 since October last year. 

The second year of the war in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population. 

On November 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. 

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.