A missile fired from Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv before dawn on Saturday, wounding 16 people in the second such attack within days.

Latest tit-for-tat attack follows Israeli air strikes on Sanaa and Hodeidah, which killed nine people earlier this week.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Sanaa on Friday as part of a weekly demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Those gathered waved flags, banners and rifles aloft as they chanted anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans.

The Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen on Tuesday claimed to have attacked the international airport in Tel Aviv as well as targets in Jerusalem. Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said in a televised statement that Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and an electricity plant in the Jerusalem area had been attacked with ballistic missiles.

SANAA : Yemen’s Houthi rebels said today that they had fired a ballistic missile at central Israel, with Israeli forces saying they intercepted the attack. The missile was aimed at the Tel Aviv area, the Iran-backed Houthis said. The Israelis reported it was shot down before it entered Israeli territory.

Israel is signaling a wider campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen, a mountainous and impoverished country more than 1,000 miles from Israeli territory.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said Wednesday that they had fired a ballistic missile and two drones at Israel, days after an attack on Tel Aviv wounded 16 people. Israel's military said it intercepted the missile and that one drone "fell in an open area" after sirens sounded in the country's south,

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are stepping up their missile attacks, keeping up what could be the last major front in the Middle East wars.