By Ari Rabinovitch and Enas Alashray
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes struck Houthi military targets in Yemen’s Hodeidah port area on Saturday, the Israeli military said, a day after a drone launched by the Iran-backed group struck Israel’s economic center Tel Aviv.
At least 80 people were injured, most of them seriously, in airstrikes that targeted oil facilities and a power station in Hodeidah, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, quoted the health ministry as saying.
Residents of Hodeidah told Reuters by phone that explosions were heard throughout the city during the intensive bombardment and Al-Masirah TV said civil defense forces and firefighters were trying to put out a fire at a port oil tank.
An Israeli military spokesman said the port was used by the Houthis to receive arms shipments from Iran. The targets, more than 1,700 km (1,056 miles) from Israel, include dual-use sites such as energy infrastructure, he said.
Israel had notified its allies ahead of the attack, which the military said was carried out by Israeli F-15 fighters that all returned safely.
The Houthi Supreme Political Council said there would be an “effective response” to Israeli airstrikes. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree also said the Houthis “will not hesitate to attack important targets of Israel’s enemies.”
The attack in Yemen, which Israeli officials said followed more than 200 Houthi attacks on Israel, underscored fears that the Gaza war, sparked by a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, could escalate into a regional conflict.
“The fire currently burning in Hodeidah is visible in the Middle East and its importance is clear,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
“The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time they harmed Israeli citizens, we were struck. And we will do this wherever we may be needed.”
On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen struck central Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthis, killing one person and wounding four others.
The attack followed an escalation in daily exchanges between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared for a trip to Washington, where he will face the US Congress.
Netanyahu called on the international community to increase pressure on Tehran and its proxies – the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah – and thereby help secure international trade routes.
“Anyone who wants to see a stable and secure Middle East must fight Iran’s evil axis, and support Israel’s struggle against Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani condemned the Israeli attack and “warned against the risk of escalation of tensions and the spread of war in the region as a result of the dangerous Zionist adventure,” Iranian state media reported.
In a statement, Hezbollah also condemned the attack on the port area, describing it as a “stupid step … which marks a new and dangerous phase of the ongoing confrontation of great importance.”
As the war in Gaza has raged, the Houthis have stepped up attacks on Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.
They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The attacks have disrupted global trade by forcing shipowners to divert their vessels from the crucial Suez Canal shortcut, and have sparked US and British strikes since February.
“Israel’s brutal aggression targeted civilian buildings, oil facilities and power plants in Hodeidah with the aim of forcing Yemen to stop supporting Gaza,” said Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief negotiator of the Houthi movement, in X.
He said the attack “only increased his determination, his steadfastness, his persistence”.
Egypt, which has been trying to broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, said it was “with great concern” over the Israeli attack.
Hamas attacked Israeli cities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Since then, nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.