The Israeli prime minister’s remarks come after Yemen’s Houthi military spokesperson reported strikes on military targets in Ashkelon and Eilat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “strong response” to recent attacks carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on military targets, in retaliation for what they have called the “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
“I want to say to the Houthis and all those who wish to harm us: any attack against us will not go unanswered. There will be a strong response,” he said on Monday during a speech in the city of Jaffa, in central Israel.
The Israeli prime minister emphasized that retaliation would occur “in Lebanon, in Gaza, and everywhere.” “The second thing I want to say to the Houthis: Jaffa is not occupied. Jaffa is liberated. It has been liberated for 77 years,” he added.
His statements come after the Houthi rebels’ military operations spokesperson, Yahya Sari, reported strikes on the aircraft carriers USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson, as well as two military targets in both Ashkelon and Eilat. In previous statements, the Houthis have also referred to “occupied Jaffa,” referencing the city located just south of Tel Aviv.
The rebels, who are backed by the Iranian regime, recently resumed attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and on Israeli territory in response to Israel’s decision to break the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached in January and restart its military offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
In recent weeks, U.S. forces have launched near-daily airstrikes across several Yemeni governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the start of a “decisive and forceful military action” against the Houthis in response to their campaign of attacks in the Red Sea.
On Sunday, Houthi authorities reported the deaths of twelve people following new airstrikes on a marketplace in Sanaa, just days after an attack on an oil port in Hodeidah governorate left 80 dead and 150 injured.
Yemen’s Ministry of Health reported that twelve people were killed and 30 wounded “as a result of the flagrant American aggression against the popular market in the Farwa neighborhood, Shuub district.”
The strikes occurred just hours after the president of the Houthi-established Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, convened the National Defense Council to “discuss the political and military situation, developments in the American aggression” against Yemen, and “options to respond to and confront the aggression.”
During his address, Al-Mashat asserted that “American raids and attacks have had no impact on the region.” He also vowed not to “succumb to blackmail” and declared that “as long as the aggression against Gaza continues, the battle remains open at sea and on all fronts.”
“There will be no truce without an end to the aggression, and no calm without lifting the siege on the Palestinian people,” he stated. Al-Mashat added that “the American action in the Red Sea is a failed show,” according to the Yemeni news agency SABA.
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