The Yemeni Ministry of Health confirmed Friday that the death toll from Israeli air strikes on Sanaa on Thursday has climbed to nine, including two women and four children, with at least 174 others wounded.

Rescue teams continue to search for survivors in devastated neighborhoods across the capital’s southern, eastern, and western districts.

The Ministry of Electricity reported that Israeli warplanes also struck the Dhahban power station and the General Authority for Renewable Energy, killing a ministry employee and injuring four others. In a statement, it condemned the “continuing Israeli targeting of civilian facilities,” stressing that repeated assaults on energy infrastructure constitute war crimes and a blatant violation of international law.

The Israeli assault came a day after a Yemeni drone strike hit the southern city of Eilat on Wednesday, wounding at least 20 Israelis and impacting a central shopping area near hotels.

Officials in Sanaa said the escalation is intended to pressure Yemen to abandon its support for Gaza, but vowed that operations will continue until the Israeli occupation halts its assault and lifts the blockade. “The aggression against Yemen will only increase our resilience and determination to support the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance,” the government declared.  

Later on Thursday, the Yemeni Armed Forces announced a “qualitative military operation” using a multiple-warhead Palestine 2 hypersonic missile against sensitive sites in the occupied Yaffa region. The strike, they said, forced “millions of Zionists to flee to shelters” and temporarily shut down Lod Airport.

Yemen’s leadership underscored that its struggle is inseparable from Gaza’s, pledging further operations “at an escalating pace” until the siege is broken.