An unmanned aerial vehicle that was launched toward Israel “from the east” impacted in the courtyard of a hotel in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat on Thursday evening, according to local media reports.
Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster reported that the attack caused minor damage to the hotel. No injuries were reported.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that “following the alerts that were activated in Eilat a short time ago, a UAV launched from the east fell in the Eilat area,” using a phrase that is typically used by the military to refer to attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
“Rescue forces are operating in the area where the report was received. You are asked to continue to obey the instructions of the Home Front Command and instructions that are being distributed to you,” it said.
The air-raid sirens triggered by the aerial assault sent approximately 52,000 Eilat residents, as well as tourists, running for bomb shelters.
A second drone was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force only minutes later, the IDF said, adding that no sirens were activated in accordance with policy.
Approximately an hour later, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at the Jewish state, triggering air-raid alerts across central Israel, sending millions of civilians to bomb shelters.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF,” the IDF announced. “Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.”
The Magen David Adom medical emergency response group said it did not receive any calls about injuries in the assault, “except for cases of anxiety and individuals wounded while heading to a protected area.”
On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force intercepted a drone launched by the Houthis. The attack triggered air-raid sirens in the town of Be’er Ora, located adjacent to Ramon Airport in southern Israel, due to the potential threat of falling shrapnel, according to the military.
On Saturday, the IAF intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the terrorists. The attack set off sirens across central Israel at 3:47 a.m., including in Tel Aviv, sending millions of people racing for shelter.
The Houthis claimed that the attack targeted “sensitive sites of the Zionist enemy in the occupied Jaffa area” and that the projectile had carried a cluster warhead.
In response, the IDF struck Hudaydah Port in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Tuesday, accusing the terrorist regime of using the facility to transfer Iranian-supplied weapons to attack the Jewish state and its allies.
A “military infrastructure site” was targeted in the attack, which the IDF stressed was “in response to the repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel, including the launch of UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles towards the State of Israel.”
Air-raid sirens were activated across Israel’s central region hours after the raid in Yemen on Tuesday, following another Houthi missile that was intercepted. There were no initial reports of injuries or damage.
The Houthis have carried out missile and drone attacks on the Jewish state—including a direct missile hit near Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 4—since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In response, Jerusalem has conducted several rounds of strikes against the Iranian-backed terrorist group, including an Aug. 28 operation that took out their “prime minister” and several other high-ranking officials.
