Netanyahu vows retaliation after missile hits Israel airport area in attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthis

The Israeli Prime Minister vowed to act against the Houthis and their ‘patron’ Iran, after a missile fired by the rebel group landed inside the perimeter of Israel’s main airport, wounding six.

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis in Yemen and to act against “their patron” Iran, after a missile fired by the rebel group landed inside the perimeter of Israel’s main airport

“We, along with the entire world, are under threat from the Houthis. We will not tolerate it and will take very strong retaliatory action against them,” the Israeli Prime Minister told Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, who is in Israel on an official visit.

“We will always remember that they acted under the orders and with the support of their patron — Iran,” Mr Netanyahu said, according to a readout from his office. “We will do what needs to be done to deliver a proper warning to Iran that we cannot tolerate such acts.”

Mr Netanyahu also endorsed a post by Donald Trump in which the President held the Iranians responsible for the Houthis’ actions.

“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“President Trump is absolutely right!” wrote Mr Netanyahu on X. “Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Separately on Sunday, Iran’s defence ministry unveiled the country's latest solid-fueled ballistic missile which Tehran says has at least a 1200km range.

It also said the missile can identify and strike a designated target among multiple ones without GPS guidance and with pinpoint accuracy.

Defence Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh distanced Tehran from the Houthi attack but said if war was initiated by the US or Israel on its territory, Iran would strike their interests, bases and forces “wherever they are and whenever necessary.”

The Houthi missile wounded six people, halting flights and gouging a wide crater at Ben Gurion airport.

The Israeli military said “several attempts were made to intercept” the missile that was launched from Yemen, a rare Houthi attack that penetrated Israel’s air defences.

A video issued by Israel’s police force showed officers standing on the edge of a deep crater with the control tower visible in the distance behind them. No damage was reported to airport buildings or runways.

The police reported a “missile impact” at Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main international gateway.

An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport’s largest, with the crater less than a kilometre away from the closest tarmac.

“You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen metres wide and several dozen metres deep,” central Israel’s police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video shared by the force.

Israeli security forces at the scene. Picture: AP

It was not immediately clear whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an interceptor.

The attack was claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who say they act in support for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza.

“The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile”, the Houthis said in a statement, referring to their own forces.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.

An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35am local time (4:35pm Sunday AEST), adding the “reverberation was very strong”.

“Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers,” the AFP journalist said.

“Many passengers are now waiting for their flights to take off, and others are trying to find alternative flights.”

A crater caused by the missile. Picture: AFP

An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official told AFP.

A passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of the country, caused panic.

“It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this,” said the passenger, who did not want to be named, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

“A missile might come at any time and life stops for some time. Today at the airport there was panic and even I was scared, because the blast was big.”

Israel vows to hit back

Israel’s airport authority said that “departures and arrivals have resumed” at Ben Gurion, a short while after they had been interrupted due to the missile fire.

The airport “is open and operational”, the aviation authority said in a statement.

Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

Israeli medical emergency services stand by on a mud-splattered road outside Israel's Ben Gurion airport. Picture: AFP

On Saturday, the Houthis claimed a third missile attack on Israel in two days. The vast majority of missiles fired by the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war have been intercepted by Israeli air defences.

The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.

But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.

Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1000 targets in Yemen.

Agencies