Israeli jets bomb Yemen’s Hodeidah port in retaliation for drone attack in Tel Aviv

It marks the first time Israel publicly acknowledges bombing Yemen in wake of Friday’s drone attack on Tel Aviv which killed an Israeli man and wounded ten others

A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center shows a column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024 (AFP via Getty Images)

The Israeli military said it bombed sites in  Yemen linked to the Iran-backed Houthi militias in retaliation for a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday.

The military said it hit “military targets” over 1600km away in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Saturday in response to “hundreds of aerial threats” including Friday’s attack which killed an Israeli man and wounded 10 others.

It marks the first time Israel has publicly acknowledged striking Yemen amid escalating attacks from the Houthis.

The military claimed it is also one of the furthest strikes away from Israeli territory ever conducted by the Israeli Air Force.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Yemen had been subject to “blatant Israeli agression against Yemen”. He said the strikes had targeted civilian infrastructure, oil tanks and an electricity station in the strategic port city.

A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center shows a huge column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida opn July 20 (ANSARULLAH MEDIA CENTRE/AFP via)

“With the aim doubling the people’s suffering, and pressuring Yemen into halting supporting Gaza”, he added, writing that the attacks will only “increase the determination” of the Yemeni people and the armed forces.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen, wrote on X that “there will be impactful strikes”. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, said “they will not hesitate to strike the vital targets of the Israeli enemy” in a statement carried by Yemeni media.

The ministry of health in Sanaa said that 80 people had been wounded, the majority with severe burns. Houthi-affiliated al Masirah TV later reported that Israel’s strikes killed three people and wounded 87.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike was a direct response to the Houthis’ strike on Tel Aviv, which killed 50-year-old Israeli citizen Yevgeny Ferder and injured 10 others on Friday.

“It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” he said of the port. “It makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the State of Israel will not reach,” he continued.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said that the Houthis have struck Israel “over 200 times.”

“The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required,” he added in a statement.

The drone attack by Houthi rebels killed one person in the center of Tel Aviv and wounded at least 10 others near the US Embassy early Friday. Nearly all projectiles fired from Yemen toward Israel have been intercepted in the past. However, on Friday Israel said while the air defenses detected the drone, no air raid sirens sounded and an “error” occurred.

Since January, British and American forces have been striking targets in Yemen, in response to the Houthis’ attacks on commercial shipping that the rebels have described as retaliation for Israel‘s actions in the war in Gaza. However, many of the ships targeted weren’t linked to Israel. 

The joint force airstrikes so far have done little to deter the Iran-backed force. Also on Saturday, Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people in refugee camps in central Gaza overnight, according to Palestinian health officials, as ceasefire talks in Cairo appeared to make progress. Among the dead in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps were three children and one woman, according to Palestinian ambulance teams.

Israel launched its most ferocious bombardment ever of Gaza and a crippling siege of the tiny 42-km strip in retaliation for the October 7 attacks by Hamas where the military group killed over 1,000 people and took more than 250 hostage. Since then Palestinian health officials say that Israel’s bombings have killed more than 38,000 people the majority women and children. The United Nations said crippling food shortages has led to famine.