An attack on Thursday killed the Houthis’ prime minister, Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi, and other officials, the Iran-backed group has said.

Israel’s military has confirmed the strike on Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-held capital, and that it had killed Rahawi – the most senior official known to have died in a series of attacks during the Gaza war.

In a speech broadcast Sunday on the Huthis’s Al-Masirah TV, group leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi vowed to continue “targeting Israel with missiles and drones” and to escalate these attacks.

He added that recent Israeli strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen would not weaken the group or discourage its fighters.

The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks on Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

Israel has been striking Houthi targets for months in response to the rebels’ attacks, which they say are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

A Yemeni security source told AFP on Saturday that Houthi authorities had arrested dozens of people in Sanaa and other areas “on suspicion of collaborating with Israel”.

The Houthis’ leader said in his speech that “the coming days will see additional success… in thwarting the Israeli enemy’s attempts to commit crimes against our dear people or to target official institutions and cities.”