Video: Israel bombs Yemen's Hodeidah port day after Houthis strike Tel Aviv

In a sharp escalation, Israel, in coordination with the US, launched airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeidah port, a day after a missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

In Short

• More than 10 airstrikes hit Yemen's Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port
• Attack came day after Houthi missile struck near Tel Aviv airport
• Israel attacked 'terrorist targets' in and around Hodeidah jointly with US

Israel on Monday launched airstrikes at Yemen’s Hodeidah port, a day after the Iran-aligned Houthis fired a missile that landed near the airport in Tel Aviv. The Israeli strikes killed one person and injured at least 35, Houthi-controlled media reported.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it attacked what it called Houthi terrorist targets in Hodeidah and its vicinity. News agency Reuters said a senior US official confirmed that Israel had carried out the strikes in coordination with Washington.

Hodeidah is Yemen’s second-largest Red Sea port after Aden and handles roughly 80 per cent of the country’s food imports.

More than 10 strikes targeted the port and the nearby Al Salakhanah and Al Hawak districts, according to five residents who spoke to Reuters. A separate wave of four strikes also hit a cement factory east of the city.

Following the attacks, Houthi forces sealed off access to both the port and the cement factory, reported Reuters citing sources.

According to the Reuters report, it is estimated that about 70 per cent of the port’s infrastructure — including docks, warehouses and the customs area — sustained damage.

In a major escalation on Sunday, a missile launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, reportedly injuring several people, sending a plume of smoke into the sky, and causing widespread panic among passengers inside the terminal.

"While most of the previous missiles launched by the Houthis, who have been targeting Israel in solidarity with Gaza’s Hamas, were intercepted by Israel’s defence systems, Sunday’s missile landed near a road close to the airport, creating a crater on impact.

Responding sharply, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate for the attack by the Houthis, saying, "There will be bangs".

Netanuahu said, "We operated against them in the past and we will operate in the future". “It’s not ‘bang — that’s it, but there will be bangs.”

The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, began targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping in late 2023, during the early stages of the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. They later escalated their campaign by launching direct missile strikes on Israeli territory.

In response, the Israeli military has carried out retaliatory strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, while the United States, Israel’s key ally, launched its own wave of strikes against the group in March.