Sanaa/Jerusalem, May 16 (UNI) Yemen's Houthi group said on Thursday night that it had launched a new ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel, which was reportedly intercepted by Israeli defence systems earlier in the night.
"We carried out a qualitative military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport, using a hypersonic ballistic missile," Houthi's military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
The spokesperson said the Houthis' operations "to impose a ban on air navigation at Ben Gurion Airport" will continue until Israel ends its offensive and blockade against the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier in the night, the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement that it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
Following the launch, the IDF issued a smartphone application alert to residents in areas of central Israel. About two minutes later, sirens were activated in those areas, sending residents to take shelter.
Israel's national emergency service, Magen David Adom, reported that there were no casualties, except for several cases of panic and people bruised while rushing to shelter.
Israel's state-owned Kan TV News published footage of parts of the missile falling in the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut in the West Bank.
The Houthis have intensified their attacks against Israel since the Houthi group struck a ceasefire deal with Washington last week, in which the Houthis pledged not to target U.S. warships in the Red Sea in return for the U.S. military halting airstrikes against the Houthi targets in Yemen.
UNI XINHUA ARN