“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” said Katz, who was visiting an air defense operations center.

The reference to Haniyeh was a reiteration of remarks Katz made the previous day, the first time Israel claimed responsibility for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s politburo and top leader in July. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike in Beirut in September. Hamas’s Gaza strongman and mastermind of the October 7 attacks Yahya Sinwar was killed in a chance encounter with soldiers in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

On Tuesday morning, Israeli air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis before it reached Israeli airspace. The launch triggered sirens in central and southern Israel. It was the third Houthi missile attack in a week. The attack also came as Iran-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq told Iraqi Prime Minister they would cease attacks on Israel, abstain from interfering in Syria, and withdraw from positions along the Iraqi-Syrian border.