A drone fired by Houthi militants in Yemen has hit an airport in southern Israel, shutting down airspace and diverting flights over the region. The Israeli military said Houthi rebels targeted the country with several drones, most of which were intercepted outside of Israel.
At least one of the drones slipped through Israel’s defence system and crashed into the passenger terminal at the Ramon International Airport near the resort city of Eilat, the Israeli Airports Authority said. The blast blew out glass windows and sent plumes of smoke billowing over the flights hub. The Houthis have claimed responsibility for the strike.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said it treated a 63-year-old man for light shrapnel wounds. The damage to Ramon Airport appeared limited and within a couple of hours it had reopened with normal flights resuming.
The attack on Sunday (September 7) came days after Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa, in which the Houthi prime minister and other officials in his Cabinet were killed in a major escalation of the nearly two-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen.
The Houthis began firing missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’s October 7 attack ignited the Israeli military’s devastating campaign in Gaza.
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 hailed the attack on Ramon Airport — some 12 miles from Eilat on Israel’s southern tip — as “a unique, qualitative military operation”.
Nasruddin Amer, Deputy Head of the Houthi Media Office, wrote on social media: Enemy airports are unsafe, and foreigners must leave them for their own safety. Other sensitive targets are under fire.”
Shortly before the strike, the Israeli military said it had intercepted three Houthi attack drones near Israel’s border with Egypt but failed to detect a fourth drone which hit Ramon Airport without setting off air raid sirens. The military said it was looking into what happened.
The Houthis have stepped up their aerial attacks on Israel in recent months, including by deploying warheads with cluster bombs which scatter smaller munitions over a large area and challenge Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.
Houthi attacks on Israel, while frequent since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October 2023, rarely cause major damage or manage to hit significant targets such as airports.
But in May, a Houthi missile hit near Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport, prompting many international airlines to cancel flights to Tel Aviv for months.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to push forward with Israel’s operation in Gaza City, as negotiations between Israel and Hamas continued to falter.
He said: “Our effort in Gaza on the last strongholds, actually the last important stronghold, Gaza City, is part of our effort to complete the crushing of the Iranian axis’s chokehold.”
Mr Netanyahu claimed more than 100,000 Palestinians have left Gaza City in advance of the operation, though international organisations have countered this figure.
Last week, just a few thousand people were leaving each day, with only 41,000 people having evacuated since mid-August, of the approximately one million people estimated around Gaza City, according to the United Nations.
Attempts to relaunch negotiations between Israel and Hamas are faltering. Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said the militant group won’t lay down its arms until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
But he said Hamas is ready for a long-term truce and will release the hostages still being held in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Mr Naim said Hamas is still waiting for Israel to respond to a 60-day ceasefire proposal crafted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators last month. The Prime Minister’s Office has refused to comment on negotiations.
There are 48 hostages still being held in Gaza, around 20 of which Israel believes to be still alive. Militants kidnapped 251 people and killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel during the attack which sparked the war on October 7, 2023.
The Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry said a total of 64,368 have been killed and 162,776 have been wounded since the start of the war.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the casualties were women and children.