Israel Bombs Hodeida, Yemen, After Drone Attack on Tel Aviv; Yemen Reports 6 Dead

Israel struck the Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Saturday in response to a drone attack on a building in Tel Aviv, according to the report. The source says Houthi groups managed to strike the building in the early hours of Saturday, evading Israel’s defensive systems, and that the incident left one dead and several injured.

Israel said it destroyed a large section of the port of Hodeida. The source quotes the Israeli government’s statement that “the destroyed terminals served for the supply of Iranian weapons from Iran that were arriving in Yemen, of the type of the drone they launched on Saturday.” The report does not independently verify that claim.

Casualty figures differ by source. The source reports that the Houthis’ admitted toll, given on Sunday, was 6 dead and 83 injured, many in serious condition. Yemen’s Ministry of Health, as quoted, said “six people were martyred, three remain missing, and another 83 were injured” in the Israeli bombings on Saturday. It said this revised an earlier tally of three dead and 87 injured. According to Houthi spokespeople, the death toll is 6, though the source says it is believed the figure could be higher.

The source also reports other Israeli strikes on Sunday. Israeli bombs fell on the Gaza Strip, which the source says targeted “Hamas objectives,” and areas of Lebanon were attacked in response to attacks launched from those areas by groups backed by Iran. The report places these strikes within the wider war that began after the October 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel, which it describes as involving a massacre and hostage-taking. Care for the injured and for civilians caught in these conflicts remains urgent, as the reported casualties in Yemen show (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Military officials on both sides issued warnings. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, was quoted as saying, “We will respond to this aggression (…). We will not hesitate to attack vital objectives of the Israeli enemy.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that the army would again attack the Houthis if they “dare to launch missiles toward Israel,” according to the source. The Israeli army later intercepted a new missile fired from Yemen toward Eilat that Sunday, hours after the bombing in Hodeida.

The source places these events within a longer pattern. It reports that the Houthis, who partly control Yemen, have for months attacked ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that they say are linked to Israel, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. It also reports that the Houthis have regularly launched missiles at Israeli cities, although most were shot down. Hezbollah, a Lebanese movement allied with Iran, has been engaged in daily artillery exchanges with the Israeli army along the Lebanon border.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned “the attacks of the Zionist regime” in Yemen. It said Israel and its allies, including the United States, were “responsible for the dangerous consequences of the continuation of crimes in Gaza and of the attacks against Yemen.”

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)