Houthis fire a ballistic missile named ‘Palestine 2’ at Tel Aviv

A missile launched from Yemen struck the Israeli city of Tel Aviv early Saturday morning, marking a rare instance of a failed interception over the city, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The missile landed in Tel Aviv’s southern Jaffa district after interception attempts failed after warning sirens sounded in the area, according to the IDF.

No fatalities were reported, but the Israel’s emergency services said it was treating 14 people in “mild condition,” after they were injured by glass shards. The Israeli police said property damage had also occurred. 

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi forces claimed responsibility after the strike, announcing that they had launched a hypersonic ballistic missile named “Palestine 2” at an Israeli military site in the Jaffa area.

“The missile hit its target accurately and the defense and interception systems failed to intercept it,” the Houthis said in a statement released Saturday morning, adding that the attack was in response to “the massacres against our brothers in Gaza.”

Hamas praised the strike in a statement shortly afterwards.

Israel and Houthi rebels have repeatedly fired retaliatory strikes at each other since the start of the nearly yearlong war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea. The group has targeted ships in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, in what it says is a response to the war in Gaza.

In September, nine people were injured running to shelters after a ballistic missile launched from Yemen crossed into Israel, landing in an open field outside Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv, Israel’s second-largest city, serves as the nation’s commercial and diplomatic hub. Direct impacts on the city from incoming projectiles are uncommon, thanks to Israel’s usually robust air defense systems.

On Thursday, the IDF said a school near Tel Aviv was damaged after the “partial interception” of a missile launched from Yemen.

Later that day, it said Israel had launched strikes against “military targets” on Yemen’s western coast and inland, including “fuel and oil tanks, two power plants, and eight tugboats.”