After Yemen strikes, Netanyahu says Israel hitting Houthis on behalf of ‘entire world’
Prime minister says group is last Iranian proxy still standing; Katz warns rebels ‘the long arm of Israel will reach you’

Hours after the Israel Defense Forces carried out intense airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s operations are protecting not just itself from the Iran-backed rebel group but the entire world.
“They are not only attacking us,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “They are attacking the entire world. They are attacking international shipping and trade routes.”
Dozens of planes struck Houthi targets along Yemen’s western coast and, for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana’a, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“When Israel acts against the Houthis, it acts for the entire international community,” Netanyahu said, adding that the US and many others “understand this well.”
He suggested that the rebel group was among the last Iranian proxies still active “after Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria.”
The Houthis, he said, “are learning and they will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price.”

Fourteen fighter jets, alongside refuelers and spy planes, flew some 2,000 kilometers in the early hours of Thursday morning and dropped over 60 munitions on Houthi “military targets,” the IDF said.
Israeli military sources said the strikes in Yemen were aimed at paralyzing all three ports used by the Iran-backed group.
The targets included fuel and oil depots, two power stations, and eight tugboats used at the Houthi-controlled ports.
All of the tugboats used to bring ships into ports were struck in the Israeli attack, as were power stations. A previous attack on the Hodeida port targeted cranes used to unload shipments.
Israel now believes that all activity at the ports controlled by the Houthis is paralyzed, sources said Thursday.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that among the targets hit in the “precise strikes” were “ports and energy infrastructure,” which he accused the Houthis of harnessing for “their military actions,” including missile and drone launches against Israel and attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The military, which released videos of the strikes and the aerial refueling amid the operation, called the destruction of the targets a major blow to the military operations of the Houthis.
Footage released by the IDF shows Israeli airstrikes in Yemen and aerial refueling operations, early December 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday in a statement that he was “warning the heads of the Houthi terror group: The long arm of Israel will reach you. Whoever lifts a hand against the State of Israel will have it severed. Whoever harms us will be harmed many times over.”
Katz said that Jerusalem “will not accept firing of missiles at Israel, nor harm to trade routes.”
Houthi rebels have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel, with most being shot down but some managing to reach the country and cause death and destruction. Thursday’s strikes marked Israel’s third counterattack on areas in Yemen held by the rebel group.
The Israeli Air Force had been preparing for the strike for several weeks, military sources said, and the planes were already on their way to Yemen when the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday morning.
The projectile was partially intercepted outside Israeli airspace by the long-range Arrow air defense system. However, the warhead didn’t explode in the air and crashed into an empty school building in the city of Ramat Gan, causing severe damage but no injuries.

The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military and Israeli allies in the region.
The group has also carried out repeated missiles and drone attacks on some 100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping.
The Houthis began their attacks following Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, seeking to add pressure on Israel, along with other Iran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah.
For months, Israel argued that others in the international community should bear the responsibility of dealing with the Houthi threat, referring to it as a global problem — a position endorsed by Washington, which has also launched strikes on the Houthis.
On Monday, the US military’s Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility” operated by the Houthis in Sana’a, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government’s defense ministry.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.