A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis was intercepted by Israeli air defenses early Wednesday morning, the military said, marking the second night in a row — and the fourth in less than a week — that the Iran-backed terror group has fired at the country’s center in what has recently become a near-nightly occurrence.

The incoming missile set off sirens over a wide swath of central Israel, sending millions of people scrambling to reach bomb shelters. The sirens were activated as a precaution against falling fragments from the interception.

The alerts were issued in a wider area than usual as part of a new policy implemented by the Home Front Command, following delayed alerts in a previous attack.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service reported that nine people were injured as they ran to bomb shelters and another two were treated for acute anxiety. There have been similar injuries in previous attacks.

Senior Houthi official Hezam al-Asad later posted on X (formerly Twitter), in Hebrew: “How long can four million people be in shelters.”

Al-Asad, who often posts messages mocking Israel, further wrote: “Run to the shelters, we repeatedly warned you to stop killing Gaza’s children.”

It was the fourth time in less than a week that the Houthis have fired a missile at Israel, following attacks last Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday.

In the past 10 days, the Houthis have launched five ballistic missiles and at least four drones at Israel, in what the terror group says is a campaign in support of Gaza amid the ongoing war there against the Hamas terror group.

A large fragment from an Israeli interceptor missile landed early Wednesday morning next to a home in the central city of Be’er Ya’akov, causing slight damage to the yard but no injuries, according to the municipality.

Israel Police said other fragments were also found in the Shfela region and in Modi’in, but without causing damage or injuries.

Be’er Ya’akov resident Mor Steinberg-Golan said that when the sirens went off, she and her family sought refuge in their home’s safe room and stayed there for a few minutes, as recommended by the IDF, in case of falling debris.

“We had doubts if it [the interception] was near us,” she told the Walla news site.

When the family eventually emerged, “we saw bits of the interception, as big as me, waiting in the yard. It was very frightening because we didn’t know exactly what had happened.”

Steinberg-Golan said the fragments landed near a window and ripped an air-conditioning unit from its wall mount.

“If we hadn’t gone into the safe room it could have ended in disaster,” she said. “It demonstrates the importance of staying in a protected space, especially during the small hours of the night when everyone wants to go back to sleep.”

Steinberg-Golan said she alerted the police who came and removed the fragment.

Her cousin, Meital Merhav, who arrived in Israel from New Jersey just five days ago to stay with the family, has already experienced three missile attacks.

“It is a shock. This whole missile thing is new to me,” she said.

The United Nations Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting Monday about the Houthi attacks on Israel.

“It seems that the Houthis have still not understood what happens to those who try to harm Israel,” UN envoy Danny Danon said in a statement. “I expect the UN Security Council to support Israel and to condemn the attacks against us.”

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar asked the council to hold a meeting to condemn the attacks.

His request came hours after the Houthis fired another early-morning missile at Israel that was successfully intercepted.

On Saturday, attempted interceptions failed to stop a Houthi missile that struck a park in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, lightly injuring 16 people in surrounding buildings.

And on Thursday in the early morning, a Houthi missile was intercepted but the warhead still fell in Ramat Gan, collapsing a multistory school building but causing no injuries as the site was closed at that hour.

Another missile attack targeted central Israel in the afternoon of December 16, and was intercepted.

The Houthis also claimed a drone attack on Monday. The IDF said it shot down one threat before it reached the country.

An IDF Home Front Command investigation into Saturday’s Houthi missile strike in Jaffa found that there was a delay in activating sirens.

“The investigation revealed that the warning was activated late for reasons that cannot be detailed,” the military said, adding that conclusions and lessons were drawn from the incident.

The IDF said that following the investigation, which also looked into other incidents of impacts of missile and interceptor fragments in Israel, it was decided to “adjust the warning areas.”

“From now on during similar events, warnings will be issued in wider areas,” the military said.

Israel and the US have carried out strikes against Houthi targets throughout Yemen in recent days, but they don’t seem to have deterred the rebel group.

The Houthis have vowed to keep attacking Israel until the end of the war in the Gaza Strip that started on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The thousands of terrorists who burst into the country also abducted 251 people who were taken as hostages to Gaza. Israel is aiming to destroy Hamas in Gaza and bring home the 100 hostages still there.

The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military and Israeli allies in the region.

Israel has carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets three times in response to the group’s attacks, the latest last Thursday.

On Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that security forces will begin targeting Houthis leaders as well.

The Iran-backed group has also carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on some 100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping. The Houthis initially said they were going to attack Israel-linked ships, but few of the vessels targeted had ties to Israel.