PM says Houthis learning cost of attacking Israel ‘the hard way’; Katz: We destroyed presidential palace

Speaking from the Israeli Air Force command center in Tel Aviv after observing Israeli airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to continue striking against anyone planning to attack Israel.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, claims Israel “destroyed the Houthi presidential palace in Yemen,” though there have been no such reports out of Yemen. Netanyahu only indicates that the IAF struck the palace.

“Whoever attacks us, we will attack him,” says Netanyahu. “Whoever plans to attack us — we attack him. I think the entire region is learning Israel’s strength and determination.”

“The Houthi terrorist regime is learning the hard way that it will pay and is paying a very heavy price for its aggression against Israel,” he continues in a video statement released by his office, after the IAF targeted a military compound in Sanaa where Yemen’s presidential palace is located, a fuel depot, and two power stations.

The strike came shortly after the military said that an IAF investigation into a Friday night ballistic missile attack from Yemen found that, for the first time, the Houthis had used a projectile with a cluster bomb warhead.

“The IDF has now destroyed the Houthi presidential palace in Yemen and attacked fuel depots and power and electricity stations,” says Katz. “We continue to impose an air and naval blockade and are hitting infrastructure targets that are used to promote Houthi terrorism.”

“For every missile they launch at Israel, the Houthis will pay many times over.”

Netanyahu and Katz are joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar. Netanyahu also invited Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to observe the strikes, Kan reports.