A surface-to-surface ballistic missile was fired at Israel from Yemen on Sunday morning, the third time the Iran-backed Houthis apparently successfully penetrated Israeli air defenses.
The missile caused the activation of sirens across central Israel at around 6:30 a.m., with alerts heard from the east of Tel Aviv to Modiin.
There were reports that the missile impacted an open area in the Ben Shemen forest, sparking a fire near Kfar Daniel, a few kilometers southeast of Ben Gurion Airport.
Shrapnel damage was reported at a train station on the outskirts of Modiin, some 25 kilometers (18 miles) east of Tel Aviv.
The IDF initially reported that the missile struck an open area, but later said that it was also investigating the results of interceptor missiles launched at the projectile.
Videos and pictures posted online showed trails in the sky.
A military probe was set to ascertain why the missile was not intercepted before it reached Israeli airspace, or whether it was in fact intercepted — either fully or partially.
Passengers ran to take shelter at Ben Gurion Airport, and lay down on the floor of trains as the sirens went off.
A worker at the Modiin train station told the Walla news site that she heard a large blast shortly after she reached the bomb shelter.
“We ran to the protected area and then when we heard the large explosion, we realized it was here,” the unnamed woman said.
Police said they were additionally searching for potential shrapnel that may have fallen in areas east of Tel Aviv.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated nine people for minor injuries they sustained as they ran for shelter when the sirens went off.
The IDF said that there was no change to Home Front Command instructions for civilians, with schools and kindergartens open as usual in central Israel.
Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer said that the attack showed Israel was completely exposed to aerial assault.
“The [Israeli] defense systems failed and the Yemeni missile arrived thanks to Allah. The depths of the enemy are now completely exposed to us. In the past it was UAVs and now the missiles, and all arrived without interception. The future holds many things,” he said, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
A second senior Houthi official posted on X in Hebrew saying the group’s leader will deliver an address later on Sunday.
“Whether in your underground shelters or outside of them, it would behoove you to listen with close attention this afternoon to what is said by” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, wrote Hezam al-Asad, a member of the Iran-backed group’s politburo, above a picture of their leader.
Yemen’s Houthis have fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — saying that it is in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas.
The vast majority of the Iran-backed Yemeni group’s projectiles have been intercepted by US forces stationed in the Red Sea and Israeli air defenses and fighter jets, or have missed their target.
However, the IDF has long warned that Israel’s air defenses are not “hermetic.”
In July, a drone launched by the Houthis hit Tel Aviv, killing 50-year-old Yevgeny Ferder.
The Iranian-made UAV traveled more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) to reach Israel, according to an Israeli Air Force probe. The modified Iranian-made Samad-3 took a non-direct flight path, which may have contributed to it not being classified as a threat by air defense troops, which resulted in it not being intercepted and striking the residential building.
Israel responded to the July drone attack with strikes against the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida in western Yemen. The strikes, carried out by dozens of Israeli aircraft, targeted fuel depots and energy infrastructure at the port, in addition to the cranes.
It was the first time Israel responded to the attacks, preferring that a United States-led coalition continue to strike the Houthis, mostly in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea.
A Houthi official vowed at the time to “meet escalation with escalation” and a statement last month from the rebel group affirmed “once again that the Yemeni response is definitely coming.”
Before the July attack on Tel Aviv, only one Houthi projectile, a cruise missile, had successfully struck Israel, hitting an open area near Eilat in March.
Agencies contributed to this report.