The airstrikes on the port city came a day after a drone attack by a Yemeni group killed one person in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military said it had launched attacks on Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for Houthi attacks.
Saturday’s airstrikes came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack in Tel Aviv that killed one person and wounded 10 others.
The Houthi-aligned Al-Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes targeted an oil storage facility and a power plant in Hodeidah, sparking a fire in the area. The news agency quoted health officials as saying the airstrikes caused casualties, including deaths, but did not give a specific number.
However, the Israeli military claimed it had struck “military targets” in Yemen.
The Israeli airstrikes are Israel’s first known direct attack on the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war and come amid growing fears of escalating violence across the Middle East.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said “Israel’s brutal aggression in Yemen” was “aimed at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza, but that is a dream that will never come true.”
He added that the attack “will only further strengthen the resolve of the Yemeni people and their brave armed forces.”
Hamas was also quick to condemn the Israeli attack. “The occupied country will undoubtedly be burned by the fire that was unleashed in Hodeidah today, and the increase in Zionist crimes will change the entire situation,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Palestinian organization’s Politburo, said in a statement.
But Israeli Defense Minister Yaov Gallant hailed the attack as a warning to Israel’s enemies.
“The fires burning right now in Hodeidah are being seen across the Middle East and their importance is clear,” Gallant said. “The Houthis have attacked us over 200 times. The first time they tried to harm Israeli citizens, we attacked them, and we will do so wherever it is needed.”
The Iran-allied Houthis, who describe themselves as Yemen’s official military, have been targeting Red Sea shipping lanes in an operation they say is aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza that has killed more than 38,900 Palestinians.
Yemeni groups have also fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, but most have been intercepted.
But early Friday, a Houthi drone packed with explosives evaded Israeli air defenses and struck a building in Tel Aviv, in what Israel saw as a major security breach.
Israeli officials have promised to respond: In a message to the Houthis on Friday, Gallant vowed that Israel would “finish off” those who undermine its security.
The United States and Britain have been conducting airstrikes in Yemen for months in retaliation for Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, but the military campaign has failed to halt the Yemeni group’s attacks.
Al Jazeera’s Hamda Salhat said the latest developments would strain Israel’s “already stretched” forces amid fears of an all-out regional war.
Salhat noted that Israeli reservists are conducting operations in both the north and south of the country against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“If the air force has to be deployed to more parts of the Middle East, like Yemen, it’s hard to say exactly how they’ll manage that when they’re still recruiting military personnel,” she said. “This morning a new front has opened up, which puts a lot of pressure on Israel.”
