Yemen’s Houthis launched a ballistic missile that successfully penetrated deep into central Israeli airspace for the first time on Sunday morning since the start of the war, in a strike the group describes as the “beginning”.

The Iran-aligned northern Yemen terror group claimed responsibility shortly after the attack around 6:30am local time, saying it employed a “new hypersonic ballistic missile” in a “specific military operation” targeting Tel Aviv.

The militant group initially claimed that 20 Israeli interceptors had failed to intercept the missile before it reached its target, but the IDF later discredited the claim following an investigation.

The IDF said that while its Arrow system did fail to bring down the missile before it entered Israeli airspace, it did ultimately intercept it.

The missile landed in an open area, and nobody was hurt, Israeli media reports.

A Houthi deputy head, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X that the Yemeni missile had pierced Israeli defences after “20 missiles failed to intercept it”, and said the attack marked the “beginning”.

A spokesperson added: “It crossed a distance of 2040km in 11 and a half minutes and caused a state of fear and panic among the Zionists, as more than two million Zionists headed to shelters for the first time in the history of the Israeli enemy,”

The attack was the result of the group’s efforts in developing missile technologies capable of bypassing naval, aerial and ground interception systems, according to the spokesperson.

The spokesperson warned Israel that they should anticipate more attacks in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of the “blessed October 7 operation”.

A Houthi-issued statement read: “The geographical challenges, the American-British aggression, and the monitoring, espionage, and interception systems will not prevent beloved Yemen from performing its religious, moral, and humanitarian duty in solidarity with the Palestinian people,”

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the missile landed, sending residents running for shelter.

Sunday morning’s attack is believed to be the first time the Houthis have penetrated deep into Israeli airspace with a missile despite firing at Israel several times since the outbreak of the war last October.

A Houthi drone reached Tel Aviv in July, killing one man and wounding four, prompting Israel to carry out major airstrikes on Houthi military targets.

One missile hit Israeli territory in March but fell in an open area near Eilat.