Netanyahu promises to act against Houthis after missile hits airport

Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Israel will strike back against Yemen's Houthis and "their Iranian terror masters" after a missile launched by the militia movement hit the perimeter of Israel's main airport.

- Jason Burke

On X, the Israeli prime minister said yesterday that Israel would respond to the Houthi attack "at a time and place of our choosing". On Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had acted against the Houthis in the past and would act again in the future.

"It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs," he said.

The Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack and Israeli military confirmed the missile was launched from Yemen.

Local media reported that both Israeli and US defence systems had failed to down the missile, which dug a deep crater in an open field on the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport.

Most attacks from Yemen during the conflict in Gaza have been intercepted by Israel's missile defence systems, apart from a drone strike that hit Tel Aviv last year. Yesterday's missile was the only one of a series launched in the past few days that was not intercepted. The strike that sent a plume of smoke into the air, caused panic among passengers in the terminal building and led to air traffic being suspended for an hour.

European and US carriers have cancelled flights for the next few days. Many had only begun to resume flights to Israel following the ceasefire which temporarily paused hostilities between mid-January and mid-March, after halting them for much of the last year and a half.

The attack came hours before Israel's security cabinet was due to vote on plans to expand the fighting Gaza with a new offensive.