Israel strikes Houthi sites in Sanaa

Israel’s air force carried out a series of strikes on military facilities in the Yemeni capital that it said were linked to the Houthi movement. The operation targeted the Houthi general staff’s control headquarters, several security and intelligence compounds and a number of military camps on the outskirts of Sanaa.

Israel Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "We have now struck a powerful blow against many targets of the Houthi organization in Sana'a as part of Operation "Passing Package". Air Force aircraft attacked several military camps, including a camp of the Houthi General Staff, killing dozens of Houthi operatives and destroying UAV and weapons caches. As I promised yesterday - whoever harms us will be harmed sevenfold."

The raids came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone that struck a hotel in Israel’s Red Sea resort city of Eilat, injuring at least twenty people, according to the Israeli ambulance service. The incident in Eilat marked the latest escalation in a pattern of reciprocal attacks that has persisted for more than a year, reflecting the broader spillover of the Gaza war into the Arabian Peninsula.

Residents of Sanaa reported that the Israeli jets focused on the southern and western districts of the city, including the densely populated Al‑Raqqas neighbourhood. Video footage broadcast by the Houthi‑run al‑Masirah TV channel showed extensive damage: collapsed residential buildings, rubble‑strewn streets, and shops reduced to wreckage. Emergency responders were seen pulling injured civilians from the debris, transporting them on stretchers to nearby hospitals where medics tended to the wounded. One eyewitness condemned the targeting of a civilian‑heavy area, saying the strikes “only frighten women and children” and vowed retaliation against Israeli leadership.

The airstrikes were timed to coincide with a pre‑recorded speech by Houthi leader Abdul Malik al‑Houthi, which was airing on local media as the jets passed overhead. Israeli officials released a photograph from the government press office that purportedly shows the prime minister on the wing of a “Wing of Zion” aircraft issuing the order for the operation while en route to New York, indicating a high‑level coordination of the strike.

These actions underscore the deepening entanglement between the Israeli‑Houthi conflict and the wider regional hostilities sparked by the Gaza war. While Israel frames the operation as a defensive response to Houthi aggression, the targeting of residential zones in Sanaa has drawn condemnation from local civilians and raises concerns about civilian casualties and the humanitarian impact of the ongoing tit‑for‑tat escalation.