TEL AVIV, Israel— A drone fired by the Houthi militants in Yemen breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses on Sunday and slammed into the country’s southern airport, the Israeli military said, briefly shutting down commercial airspace and diverting flights over southern Israel.
One of several Houthi drones launched from Yemen slipped through Israel’s defense system and crashed into the passenger terminal at the Ramon International Airport near the resort city of Eilat, the Israeli Airports Authority said, blowing out glass windows, sending smoke plumes billowing and lightly wounding one person.
The damage to Ramon Airport appeared limited and within a couple of hours it reopened as normal flights resumed.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike.
The attack comes days after Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed the Houthi prime minister and other officials in his Cabinet in a major escalation of the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen.
In Gaza City, the Israeli military on Sunday leveled another high-rise tower that housed hundreds of displaced Palestinians and urged people to move south as it intensifies its offensive on the city.
Meanwhile, a breakthrough Israeli Supreme Court decision ruled that Israel was not providing Palestinian detainees in its custody with enough food to ensure basic sustenance. In response to a petition by Israeli human rights groups alleging malnutrition and starvation in Israeli prisons, Israel’s highest court ordered the state to “guarantee basic living conditions in accordance with the law” for Palestinians in its detention facilities.
It marked a rare Israeli court ruling against the security establishment over its conduct in the Israel-Hamas war.
Houthi rebels escalate attacks on Israel
After Israel’s targeted killing of Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi last Thursday, the militants vowed to escalate their attacks targeting Israel and merchant ships navigating the vital trade route through the Red Sea off Yemen.
The Houthis said that Sunday’s attack on Ramon Airport — some 19 kilometers (12 miles) from Eilat on Israel’s southern tip — “successfully achieved its objectives.”
Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group had fired eight drones at Israel and “will escalate its military operations and will not back down from its support for Gaza.” He warned that airports in Israel “are unsafe and will be continuously targeted.”
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had intercepted three Houthi attack drones near Israel’s border with Egypt but was investigating why it failed to identify the fourth drone that hit Ramon Airport as a hostile aircraft. As a result, the drone did not set off air raid sirens.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said it treated a 63-year-old man for light shrapnel wounds.
The Houthis have stepped up their aerial attacks on Israel in recent months, including by deploying warheads with cluster munitions that scatter smaller bomblets over a large area and evade Israeli air defenses.
Saying that they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, the Houthis began firing missiles and drones into Israel after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, ignited the Israeli military’s devastating campaign in Gaza. Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted over 250 in the attack.
While frequent, the aerial attacks from Yemen have not caused significant damage in Israel. But in rare cases they have managed to hit strategic targets like airports.
Before Sunday’s assault, the most damaging Houthi attack was in May, when a Houthi missile struck near Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport, prompting many international airlines to cancel flights to Tel Aviv for months.
