Netanyahu vows multi-phase response against Houthis | Breaking News & Latest Ireland Updates

Netanyahu vows multi-phase response against Houthis — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a multi-phased response to Yemen's Houthis after they struck the area of Israel's main airport ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised a multi-phased response to Yemen's Houthis after they struck the area of Israel's main airport with a missile.

"We have acted against them in the past and we will act in the future, but I cannot go into detail (...) it will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs," Mr Netanyahu said in a video on published on the Telegram messaging platform.

The Israeli army confirmed that a missile that struck inside the perimeter of Israel's main Ben Gurion Airport was fired from Yemen, after the Houthi rebels there claimed the attack.

"At approximately 9:18am [local time] the (Israeli army) identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory.

"According to protocol, sirens were sounded in a number of areas in Israel. Several attempts were made to intercept the missile, a hit was identified in the area of Ben Gurion Airport," the army statement read.

The missile wounding six people, halted flights and gouged a wide crater, in the attack claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The Israeli military said "several attempts were made to intercept" the missile that was launched from Yemen, a rare Houthi attack that penetrated Israel's air defences.

A video issued by Israel's police force showed officers standing on the edge of a deep crater with the control tower visible in the distance behind them. No damage was reported to airport buildings or runways.

The police reported a "missile impact" at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international gateway.

An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport's largest, with the crater less than a kilometre away from the closest tarmac.

Watch: Footage of the crater near Ben Gurion Airport in Israel

"You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen metres wide and several dozen metres deep," central Israel's police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video shared by the force.

The attack was claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, who say they act in support for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza.

"The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport" with a "hypersonic ballistic missile", the Houthis said in a statement, referring to their own forces.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas praised the attack.

"Yemen... escalates its attacks on the heart of the illegitimate Zionist entity, surpassing the most advanced defence systems in the world and striking its targets with precision," Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.

An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the attack said he heard a "loud bang" at around 9.35am local time, adding the "reverberation was very strong".

"Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers," the journalist said.

"Many passengers are now waiting for their flights to take off, and others are trying to find alternative flights."

An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official said.

Vow to hit back

Israel's airport authority said that "departures and arrivals have resumed" at Ben Gurion, a short while after they had been interrupted due to the missile fire.

The airport "is open and operational", the aviation authority said in a statement.

Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: "Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger."

The Houthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

Yesterday, the Houthis claimed a third missile attack on Israel in two days.

The vast majority of missiles fired by the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war have been intercepted by Israeli air defences.

The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.

But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel's aid blockade on Gaza.

The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting 15 March in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.

Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.

Accreditation:AFP