An intercepted missile fired from Yemen sparked blazes near Jerusalem Monday, and later the Houthi rebels said they carried out a successful attack on central Israel.
The Iran-backed militant group said it executed a "military operation targeting the Nahal Sorek military base" southeast of Jaffa, and that the "hit was accurate and led to a fire."
Meanwhile, the main television news outlet operated by the Houthis said U.S. and British forces carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Amran and Saada governorates in Yemen.
The Israeli military told Agence France-Presse a projectile from Yemen was intercepted in the Bet Shemesh area west of Jerusalem, and debris from that interception caused fires.
In a statement to the AFP, it said: "Following the sirens that sounded in the Shfelat Yehuda, Yehuda, and Lakhish areas of central Israel, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen.
"The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol."
An Iran-backed coalition, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed to have carried out four drone attacks on “vital targets” in Israel Monday, but did not disclose details about the targets in a series of Telegram posts.
Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon
At least three people were killed Sunday when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials reported.
Palestinians reported heavy bombing late Sunday in the western areas of Nuseirat camp, and least 24 people were wounded and taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat, the head of the hospital’s ambulance service told the Associated Press.
Earlier Sunday in northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City.
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah militants have a major presence. Lebanon's health ministry said another six people were wounded.
There was no Israeli evacuation warning and no immediate Israeli comment on the attack.
The United Nations children’s agency says the war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 200 children in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 3,189 people have been killed and over 14,000 wounded in Lebanon in more than a year of conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead.
Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union and others.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington as the mid-month deadline approaches for Israel to meet a Biden administration ultimatum that it allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to assist Palestinians or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding.
Information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters was included in this report.
