Yemeni rebel missile hits central Israel in rare attack

A Yemeni rebel 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".

AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub, after the attack.

Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed the strike.

They are among Iran-backed groups in the Middle East that have been drawn into the conflict after war began in October between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"The Huthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen 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.

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 rebels 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, the Huthis 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.

A subsequent statement said an initial inquiry indicates the missile fired from Yemen probably fragmented in mid-air.

"Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial Defence Systems, and their results are under review," a military statement said.

Sirens sounded, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelter in the greater Tel Aviv area.

A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while "on their way to shelters".

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 Huthis are targeting Israel and its perceived interests in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

- Deadly shipping attacks -

Since November, the Huthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone strikes -- sometimes deadly -- on shipping in the vital Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea waterways.

Huthi missiles last month hit a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude, leaving it ablaze off the coast of the Yemeni port of Hodeida and threatening environmental disaster.

A Greek defence ministry source on Saturday told AFP that the Sounion was being towed northward under military escort in a salvage operation.

After the Huthis' July attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli warplanes bombed Huthi-controlled Hodeida, destroying much of its fuel storage capacity and killing several people, according to the rebels.

It was Israel's first claimed strike in Yemen, and on Sunday Netanyahu said it should serve as "a reminder" of the price to be paid.

On Israel's northern flank, Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has traded regular cross-border fire with Israeli forces in exchanges that threaten to spiral into all-out war.

On Sunday morning about 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israel's Upper Galilee region and the annexed Golan Heights, Israel's military said.

- Israelis protest -

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Saturday his group has "no intention of going to war" but if Israel does "unleash" one "there will be large losses on both sides" and "hundreds of thousands more displaced".

On Sunday Netanyahu said "the status quo will not continue" and "a change in the balance of power on our northern border" is needed.

Hundreds of people, mostly fighters, have already died in Lebanon and dozens, both soldiers and civilians, on the Israeli side.

The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel which began Gaza's war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,206 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not provide breakdowns of civilian and militant deaths.

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.