Sixteen people were lightly injured in Tel Aviv early on Saturday after a rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Israeli capital.

Another 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 am Saturday, Israeli military said.

Later, Iran-backed Yemen’s rebel group Houthis issued a statement on Telegram channel saying they had hit a “military target” in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area with a ballistic missile.

They did not identify the military target.

Paramedics were treating 14 people with minor shrapnel injuries and some were taken to hospital, the ambulance service said in a statement.

The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. They have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, said the Israeli military.

Earlier, the rebel group had said that attacks won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

The latest Houthi attack comes less than two days after a series of Israeli airstrikes on Yemen capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least 9 people.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Israeli airstrikes on Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports “that will lead to the immediate and significant reduction in port capacity.”

The port at Hodeida has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides’ attacks risk further escalation in the region and undermine UN mediation efforts.

Gaza war

In the war-torn Gaza Strip 19 people — 12 of them children — were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.

More than 45,200 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and triggered the devastating 14-month war in Gaza.