Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises more strikes if the group continues to launch attacks on Israel.
Israel says it has launched strikes on the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah and as-Salif in response to the Houthi rebels firing missiles towards Israel, days after the Yemeni group agreed a truce with the United States.
The Israeli military said it carried out strikes on โterrorist infrastructureโ on Friday, saying on X that the two ports had been used by the Houthi rebel group to โtransfer weaponsโ.
Al Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated outlet, also reported Israeli strikes on the two ports. The extent of any damage was not clear, and there no immediate reports of casualties.
The Houthis have carried out a campaign of attacks against Israel in self-proclaimed solidarity with Palestinians after Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Israel has carried out strikes in response, including one on May 6 that damaged Yemenโs main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.
Fridayโs attacks were the first since US President Donald Trump agreed to a ceasefire deal with the Houthis earlier this month, with the US halting its attacks on Yemen and the group agreeing to end its attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Israel was not included in that agreement, and its military said it intercepted several missiles fired from Yemen towards Israeli airspace this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the attacks are โjust the beginningโ, describing the Houthis as โjust a toolโ, alleging that Iran was โbehind themโ.
โWe will not stand idly by and allow the Houthis to harm us. We will strike them with greater force, including at their leadership and all the infrastructure that enables them to attack us,โ he said in a statement posted on the governmentโs social media account.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz pledged to โhunt down and eliminateโ Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi if the rebel group continued โto fire missiles at the State of Israelโ.
Alluding to recent Houthi attacks on Israel, Katz indicated leader al-Houthi would meet the same fate as Hamas commanders Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon โ all killed in Israeli attacks over the last year.
Al Jazeeraโs Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Jordanโs capital Amman, said that since Israel broke a ceasefire agreement with Hamas back in March โ killing almost 3,000 since then, according to Gazaโs Health Ministry โ the Houthis had launched โat least 34 different projectilesโ towards Israel.
She said that Israelโs policy โmoving forwardโ would be to strike back. โFor every missile thatโs fired, theyโre going to be conducting these types of air strikes,โ she said.
