A missile fired by Yemen’s rebels lands in Israel and triggers sirens at international airport

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A missile fired by Yemen’s rebels lands in ******* and triggers sirens at international airport

JERUSALEM (AP) — A missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels landed in an open area in central ******* early Sunday and triggered air raid sirens at its international airport, in the latest reverberation from the nearly yearlong war in Gaza. ******* hinted that it would respond militarily.

There were no reports of casualties or major damage, but ******** media aired footage showing people racing to shelters in Ben Gurion International Airport. The airport authority said that it resumed normal operations shortly thereafter.

A ***** could be seen in a rural area of central *******, and local media showed images of what appeared to be a fragment from an interceptor that landed on an escalator in a train station in the central town of Modiin.

*******’s army said the surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by *******’s defense system, which hit and fragmented the target but did not ******** it. The military said the sound of explosions in the area came from interceptors.

The Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward ******* since the start of the war in Gaza between ******* and the ************ militant group ******, but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea.

In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, ******** one person and wounding 10 others. ******* responded with

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on Houthi-held areas of Yemen, including the port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold.

******* indicates it will respond to *******

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at a similar response in remarks at a Cabinet meeting after Sunday’s *******.

“The Houthis should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” he said. “Anyone who needs a reminder is invited to visit the port of Hodeidah.”

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the rebels, said they fired a ballistic missile targeting “a military target” in the area of Tel Aviv.

The Houthis have also repeatedly

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in the Red Sea, in what the rebels portray as a blockade on ******* in support of the Palestinians. Most of the targeted ships have no connection to *******.

The war in Gaza, which began with ******’ Oct. 7 ******* into southern *******, has rippled across the region, with Iran and allied militant groups attacking ******** and U.S. targets and drawing retaliatory strikes from ******* and its Western allies. On several occasions, the strikes and counterstrikes

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.

Iran supports militant groups across the region, including ******, the Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, its most powerful ally, which has traded ***** with ******* on a near-daily basis since the war in Gaza began. Iran and its allies say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

******* says ‘high probability’ its strike ******* three hostages in Gaza

On Sunday, the ******** military said there was a “high probability” that three hostages found ***** months ago were ******* in an ******** airstrike.

The army announced the conclusions of its investigation into the deaths of Cpl. Nik Beizer, Sgt. Ron Sherman and Elia Toledano. It said investigations had determined that the three were likely ******* in a November airstrike that also ******* a senior ****** militant, Ahmed Ghandour.

All three of the hostages were kidnapped in ******’ Oct. 7 *******. Their bodies were recovered in December, but the cause of ****** was only recently determined.

In its report, the army said there was a “high probability” they were ******* in the strike, based on where the bodies were recovered, pathological reports and other intelligence. But it said, “it is not possible to definitely determine the circumstances of their deaths.”

The conclusions could add pressure on the government to strike a deal to bring home the remaining hostages held by ******. Critics say it’s too difficult and dangerous to try to rescue them. Late last month, ******* recovered the bodies of six hostages that it says were ******* by ****** captors shortly before ******** forces arrived.

The army’s announcement is the first time it has linked the deaths of hostages to airstrikes. In other cases of bodies being recovered, the army has said people were either ******* on Oct. 7, ***** in ****** captivity or were ******* by the militant group.

In December, the army acknowledged mistakenly ******** three hostages who had escaped ****** captivity in a battle-torn neighborhood of Gaza City. It was believed that the three had either fled their captors or been abandoned.

Around 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7. ******* now believes 101 remain in captivity, including 35 who are thought to be *****. More than 100 were freed during a cease-***** in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by *******. Eight have been rescued by ******** forces.

Also on Sunday, an ******** border police officer was stabbed near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate and the attacker was shot and ******* trying to escape, said the police. The stabbed officer wasn’t severely injured and was evacuated for treatment. Police secured the area and began an investigation.

Rockets fired from Lebanon

The military said that around 40 projectiles were fired from Lebanon early Sunday, with most intercepted or falling in open areas.

In a separate incident, ******** forces dropped leaflets over the Lebanese border town of al-Wazzani, calling on residents to evacuate. The military later said there were no such evacuation orders, and that a local commander had acted without the approval of his superiors. It said the incident was under investigation.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any message had been conveyed to residents that the leaflets were dropped in error. Ahmad al-Mohammed, the mayor of Al-Wazzani, said most of the town’s remaining residents had not heeded the evacuation order.

The strikes along the *******-Lebanon border have displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides.

“This requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border,” Netanyahu said at the Cabinet meeting. “We will do everything necessary to return our residents safely to their homes.”

Gaza smuggling tunnels blocked

Hezbollah has said it would halt its attacks if there is a cease-***** in Gaza. The ******* States and ***** mediators Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker a truce and the release of

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, but the talks have repeatedly bogged down.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu has insisted on lasting ******** control over the

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with Egypt, which ******** forces captured in May. He has said ****** used a network of tunnels beneath the border to import arms, allegations denied by Egypt, which along with ****** is opposed to any lasting ******** presence there.

An ******** military official said late Saturday that of the dozens of tunnels discovered along the border, only nine entered Egypt, and all were found to have been sealed off. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said that it wasn’t clear when the tunnels were sealed.

The discovery appeared to weaken Netanyahu’s argument that ******* needs to keep open-ended control of the corridor to prevent cross-border smuggling.

Egypt has said it sealed off the tunnels on its side of the border years ago, in part by creating its own military buffer zone along the frontier.

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Natalie Melzer reported from Nahariya, *******. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, ******* ***** Emirates, Ali Sharafeddine in Beirut, Lebanon and Josef Federman and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, contributed to this report.

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