The Israeli army said, at dawn on Thursday, that it launched raids targeting Houthi targets in Yemen, including ports and energy infrastructure in the western coastal sector and deep inside Yemen.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video statement that the Yemeni Houthi group fired a missile towards Israel on Thursday night, forcing millions of Israelis to take shelter in bomb shelters.

Earlier on Thursday morning, the Israeli army claimed to have "intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it penetrated Israeli airspace, and alarms were activated in the center of the country for fear of falling shrapnel from the interception," but videos on social media platforms showed damage to vehicles and buildings in areas of Tel Aviv.

He added: Over the past two weeks, the Houthis launched a drone that hit a civilian area in the south of the country, and last Sunday they launched a long-range missile towards the center of the country.

For its part, the Yemeni Houthi group announced that Israel launched a series of raids on the capital, Sanaa, and the Hodeidah governorate at dawn on Thursday, which resulted in the death and injury of a number of citizens.

Saba News Agency (Houthi version) said, "The Israeli aggression launched four raids on the Haiz power station south of the capital, Sanaa, and two raids on the Dhahban power station north of the capital."

It pointed out that the Israeli enemy also launched four raids on the port of Hodeidah, and two raids on the Ras Issa oil facility, which led to the death and injury of a number of employees of the Ras Issa facility, without specifying their number.

In "solidarity with Gaza" in the face of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Strip since October 7, 2023, which has so far led to the killing and wounding of more than 152,000 Palestinians, the Houthi group began targeting cargo ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea with missiles and drones since November of the same year.

The Houthis also launch missile and drone attacks on Israel from time to time, some of which have targeted Tel Aviv, and they stipulate that stopping their attacks requires ending the Israeli war of extermination on Gaza.

On Monday evening, the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Israel is preparing to launch an attack on the Houthi group due to its continued launching of missiles and drones. It confirmed that "there is a consensus within the Israeli security establishment on the necessity of attacking the Yemenis after a series of attacks, as the Houthis launched 6 drones and two ballistic missiles towards Israel last week."

Since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israel has attacked Yemen twice. The first was last July, and Israel called it “the long arm,” when it bombed the port of Hodeidah in the west of the country, in addition to the fuel facilities in the city’s power plant. While the second attack was last September, when Israel targeted several targets of the Yemeni group in Hodeidah.