Israel airport reopens after getting hit by Houthi drone
A drone launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen struck Israel’s Ramon Airport on Sunday. Damage was limited, and flights resumed within hours after being shut down, The Associated Press reported.
Israel’s national emergency service said two people sustained injuries from shrapnel. This comes after Israeli strikes on Yemen in August that killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahwai, among other officials. Houthis started firing missiles into Israel following Hamas’ attack on Southern Israel back in October of 2023. 1,200 people died in that attack, most were civilians. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since then, and hundreds have died in a famine due to Israeli restrictions on aid coming into Gaza.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed the attack in a statement. He said it was part of a broader drone operation that also focused on other sites in southern Israel.
“A drone targeted Ramon Airport, which, by Allah’s grace, directly hit the airport and caused the airport to shut down and halt air traffic,” Saree said, according to Al-Jazeera.
Though they were stopped for about two hours as Israeli military officials investigated, Ramon Airport was able to resume operations later on Sunday, Reuters said.
“Following the completion of all safety and security checks, compliance with international civil aviation standards, and receipt of final approval from the Air Force — Ramon Airport has now been reopened for full operations, for both departures and arrivals,” Israel’s Airports Authority said in a statement.
Israel’s military said it was able to intercept three Houthi attack drones near the Egyptian border. It is looking into why air raid sirens at Ramon Airport didn’t go off for the fourth drone.
Third high-rise destroyed by Israel on Sunday
Over the last three days, Israeli troops destroyed three high-rise buildings in Gaza City. On Sunday, the military said it leveled Al-Ra’iya Tower, a seven-story building. An Israeli missile strike wrecked the Mushtaha Tower on Friday, while on Saturday, Defense Minister Israel Katz posted video of the Sousi Tower collapsing with the caption “We continue.”
(AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)
IDF officials have claimed without evidence that these are being used by Hamas, an accusation denied by the group. NBC News reported that Mushtaha Tower’s management said displaced people have been residing there.
Israel spokesperson Avichay Adraee had ordered evacuations of Al-Ra’iya, and people had been told to leave the area of the other building collapses as well. However, Palestinians have said they are too injured and exhausted to move again, as many have been displaced multiple times. In addition, the places they are being told to go to lack basic infrastructure and supplies, and people are still being killed there, the United Nations said.
“Every time we move to a place, we get displaced from it,” Shireen Al-Lada, whose house in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City was destroyed, told the AP.
Officials at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said Israeli strikes on a school that has been turned into a shelter killed at least 13 Palestinians, three of whom were children, the AP wrote. Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza reported receiving five dead bodies, the AP said, including a young girl’s, following an Israeli strike on a U.N.-administered refugee camp.
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