JERUSALEM

An attack by Tel Aviv on Yemen’s Al Hudaydah port was conducted with the approval of the Israeli Security Cabinet, a media outlet reported Saturday.

“The security cabinet ministers were exceptionally summoned today (Saturday) to a meeting where they approved the attack on Yemen,” according to Israeli public broadcaster, KAN.

Typically, the Security Cabinet does not meet on Saturdays, except in very special cases, due to the Jewish Sabbath, which begins Friday evening and ends Saturday evening.

KAN noted that the meeting “lasted 4 hours at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.”

“The plans for Israel’s strike in Yemen had been drawn up in advance, and were implemented in the wake of the early Friday Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv,” said Israeli Channel 12, referring to the Yemeni group’s airstrikes against Tel Aviv that resulted killed an Israeli and injured nine others.

The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah channel reported casualties from the airstrikes on the port.

US officials told Channel 12 that Tel Aviv carried out the attack “on its own” without any military intervention from Washington.

The strikes targeted oil storage facilities at the port, as well as the power station in the governorate.

The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it attacked targets in Al Hudaydah, claiming they are linked to the Houthi group.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated or headed to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala