Rocket sirens activated across central, southern Israel
The Israeli military issued a post on X saying “rocket sirens are sounding across all central and southern Israel”. It also published a map showing dozens of red markers where the sirens were blaring.
The Israeli military has said the sirens that sounded in central Israel were set off by a “surface-to-surface missile” that crossed into Israel “from the east” and “fell in an open area”.
Nobody was injured, the military added in a post on X.
In an update on X, the Israeli military said a missile that “landed in an open area” in central Israel, was “launched from Yemen”.
“Explosive sounds heard in the last few minutes” were caused by Israeli systems intercepting the missile, the military added.
Missile from Yemen fell near Israel’s Lod: Report
Israel’s Ynet News is reporting that the missile fired from Yemen fell in an agricultural field near the central Israeli city of Lod.
Shrapnel from interceptor missiles also hit a train station in the city of Modi’in, causing damage, the outlet reported. The attack caused no casualties. But five people were “lightly injured” while rushing to take shelter, it reported.
Houthi spokesman says Israel’s air defences failed to intercept Yemeni missile
Nasruddin Amer, in a post on X, appears to claim the missile attack on central Israel earlier this morning, saying Israeli air forces shot 20 interceptors at the Yemeni projectile but failed to take it down.
“It’s the beginning,” the Houthi spokesman wrote.
“The air defences failed and the Yemeni missile reached, thanks be to God,” he said in a separate post. “Previously drones and now the missiles, all of which reached without any obstacles. The future holds much much more.”
Amer added that he was waiting for a statement from the Houthi armed forces.
Nine injured rushing to protected areas after missile lands near Tel Aviv
Medics say nine people were lightly injured while rushing to protected areas as sirens, triggered by a missile fired from Yemen which landed east of Tel Aviv earlier today, sounded.
The Israeli army reported that the missile landed in an open area, marking a rare instance of a projectile penetrating the country’s defences.
Responders put out a fire in the area of Lod, near Tel Aviv
Houthis target Israeli forces with ‘hypersonic ballistic missile’
Yemen’s Houthi group says its forces carried out a “military operation targeting a military target” in Jaffa, using “a new hypersonic ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target”.
Houthis’ military spokesperson Yahya Saree has held a news conference, talking about a missile attack earlier today that penetrated Israel’s defences, which the Israeli army said landed in an open area.
Saree said the operation employed a new hypersonic ballistic missile, which could not be intercepted. According to Saree, the missile covered a distance of 2,040km (1,268 miles) in 11-and-a-half minutes, causing two million Israelis to flee to shelters “for the first time in the enemy’s history”.
He warned Israel of more significant operations as the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack approaches.
Israeli army says missile from Yemen ‘likely fragmented’ midair
It says in a statement the missile launched by the Houthis early on Sunday at Israeli territory “most likely fragmented in mid-air”.
Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial defence systems, it said, with their “results” and the entire incident currently under review.
The army said fragments from the missile and interceptors were found in open areas and at the Paatei Modi’in railway station. It added that firefighters were working to extinguish a fire caused by the missile near Kfar Daniel.
Houthi missiles could be ‘a very big problem for Israeli air defences’
Omar Ashour, professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says the weapon used by the Houthis to penetrate Israeli air space is “probably” a ballistic missile.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ashour said such missile could have been detected earlier because it travels at a high altitude. The Israelis “probably missed that and that merits an investigation as to how the radars all missed it”.
Ashour added that another possibility is that the Houthis used a cruise missile that travels closer to the Earth or the water’s surface. But he said this was less likely.
“The ballistic missile would have more weight [than a cruise missile] in terms of its strike payload and its capability in terms of damage, and speed is usually on the side of the ballistic missile, because it comes down [to earth] very fast,” he said.
“If the Houthis have this type of technology of a hypersonic ballistic missile and we know that they are advancing fast in terms of range, precision, payloads, guidance systems and maneuvering … then it’s a very big problem for Israeli air defences.”
