TEL AVIV: A Yemeni missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no casualties but again added to regional tensions nearly a year into the Gaza war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the rebels will pay a "heavy price".
Photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub, after the attack.
Yemen's group claimed the strike.
They are among groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict after war began in October between Israel and Palestinian groups in Gaza.
"The Yemenis launched a surface-to-surface missile into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.
Palestinian group Hamas praised the attack, vowing that Israel "will not enjoy security unless it ceases its brutal aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip".
The Yemenis had targeted an Israeli "military position" in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a "ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target", their spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement. He added that "the enemy's defences failed to intercept it". In July, they claimed a drone strike that penetrated Israel's intricate air defences and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometres from Yemen.
In an initial statement on Sunday Israel's military said the latest missile "fell in an open area" in the country's centre. Israeli police said they were at the scene near Shfela, east of Tel Aviv, where a fragment of an air-defence interceptor had come down. Yemen's groups are targeting Israel and its perceived interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry. Gaza's civil defence agency on Sunday reported Israeli air strikes killed at least three people in central Gaza and another around Gaza City.
Months of efforts by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators have failed to secure a truce and hostage release deal. Netanyahu's government is facing rising anger from critics who accuse him of not doing enough to get the captives home. On Saturday thousands again took to the streets of Israel's main cities to push the government for a deal. — AFP
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