Defense Minister Israel Katz warns Houthi rebels that Israel will “decapitate” its leaders as it did Hamas.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz for the first time publicly acknowledged that his country had assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, warning that the Yemen-based Houthis would also suffer a “heavy blow”.
Speaking Monday evening at an event honoring Defense Department personnel, Katz said Israel had “dealt a severe blow to the axis of evil, and we will also deal a severe blow to the “Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen, which remains the last to resist”. .
“When the Houthi terrorist organization fires missiles at Israel, I want to send them a clear message from the beginning of my speech: we have defeated Hamas, we have defeated Hezbollah, we have blinded Iran’s defense systems and damaged production systems. we overthrew the (Bashar al-)Assad regime in Syria,” Katz said.
Israel “will damage the strategic infrastructure (of the Houthis) and we will behead their leaders – just as we did in Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah in Tehran, in Gaza and in Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah (in Yemen) and in Sanaa,” Katz added: referring to the subsequent killings of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The Houthis have carried out numerous missile attacks against Israel in recent months, including a strike on Tel Aviv on Saturday using what the Houthis described as a hypersonic ballistic missile.
More than a dozen people were lightly injured when the missile evaded Israeli defense systems and struck a public park in Jaffa.
Haniyeh was assassinated on July 31 while visiting Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
According to Iranian state media at the time, the Hamas leader and his bodyguard were killed when an “airborne guided projectile” struck a special residence for veterans, in which he was staying, in northern Tehran around 2 a.m. local time.
Iranian and Palestinian officials have blamed Israel for the assassination, but Israeli officials had until now neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Haniyeh’s killing sparked anger across Palestine and stoked fears of a wider regional conflict, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promising “severe sanctions” in retaliation.
In October, Iran launched a barrage of missiles on several Israeli towns in retaliation, it said, for the assassination of the leaders of its allies Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said only “a few” hits were recorded in the center and south of the country, while Israeli emergency services said two people were injured by falling shells in the area of Tel Aviv.
No Israeli deaths were reported. Palestinian authorities said a man was killed by falling debris in the occupied West Bank.
