VIDEO: Israeli airstrikes on Yemeni port kill 6, Houthi news agency says

At least 6 people were killed and 87 wounded in Israeli air strikes on targets near the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, Al-Masirah TV reported on Sunday, citing Yemen's health ministry.

Israeli strikes on the Houthi-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida killed three people and wounded more than 80, the Iran-backed rebels said on Sunday.

"The toll of victims of the Israeli attack on Hodeida has risen to three martyrs and 87 wounded," said the Houthi-run Saba news agency, citing the health ministry.

Earlier, the Israeli army said on Saturday it has struck several Houthi targets in western Yemen following a fatal drone attack by the rebel group in Tel Aviv the previous day.

The Israeli strikes appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, and they threatened to open a new front in the region as Israel battles proxies of Iran.

A number of "military targets” were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold, the Israeli army said, adding that its attack was in response to "hundreds of attacks” against Israel in recent months.

"The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.

An injured Yemeni worker receives medical treatment at Al Thawrah hospital in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Saturday. AP

The Ministry of Health in Sanaa said that 80 people were wounded in a preliminary toll of the strikes in Hodeidah, most of them with severe burns.

Israel’s military said it alone carried out the strikes and "our friends were updated.” An Israeli Defense Forces official didn't say how many sites were targeted, but told journalists that the port is the main entry point for Iranian weapons. The official didn't say whether it was Israel’s first attack on Yemen.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X that the "blatant Israeli aggression” targeted fuel storage facilities and the province’s power station. He said the attacks aim "to increase the suffering of the people and to pressure Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.”

Abdulsalam said the attacks will only make Yemen's people and armed forces more determined to support Gaza. "There will be impactful strikes,” Mohamed Ali al-Houthi of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen wrote on X.

A media outlet controlled by Houthi rebels in Yemen, Al-Masirah TV, said the strikes on storage facilities for oil and diesel at the port and on the local electricity company caused deaths and injuries, and several people had severe burns. It said there was a large fire at the port and power cuts were widespread.

Health officials in Yemen said the strikes killed a number of people and wounded others, but didn't elaborate.

Agencies