Netanyahu: ‘Strikes against Houthis in Yemen are protecting entire world’

Sixteen people were lightly wounded overnight on Friday when a ballistic missile fired by Houthis struck Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Following IDF strikes on Thursday against Houthi targets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the operations are not just protecting Israel, “but the entire world.”

“They are not only attacking us,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “They are attacking the entire world. They are attacking international shipping and trade routes.”

IAF planes struck the western coast and, for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana’a.

“When Israel acts against the Houthis, it acts for the entire international community,” Netanyahu said, adding Israel’s allies “understand this well.”

The premiere noted that the Houthis were the last Iranian proxy left “after Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria.”

He added the Houthis “are learning and they will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price.”

Sixteen people were lightly wounded overnight on Friday when a ballistic missile, fired by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, struck a residential area in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood at 3:44 a.m. The blast created a crater in a local playground.

Magen David Adom paramedics treated at least 14 of the injured, mostly for cuts from glass shards caused by the explosion. The victims were evacuated to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv.

Additionally, 14 people were injured while heading to a protected area, and seven others suffered from anxiety. Millions of residents in the greater Tel Aviv area rushed to protected spaces after hearing air-raid sirens.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the missile hit following “unsuccessful interception attempts.”

The military was probing the circumstances of the attack.

The IDF stated that only a partial interception of the missile launched from Yemen occurred, and the warhead likely exploded, causing damage to the school. The IAF and Home Front Command are conducting a more thorough investigation into the incident.