Several senior Houthi leaders have reportedly fled Sanaa towards fortified hideouts in Saada, Amran, and other areas under Houthi control due to fears of further Israeli airstrikes.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said that “the remnants of Houthi leadership” are fleeing Sanaa in Yemen.
“Like all the leaders of radical Islamist terror, they look after themselves and abandon residents,” the defense minister stated.
Katz added that this was how Hamas leaders behaved in Gaza and “in the luxury hotels of Qatar,” and “this is how the Houthis act in Yemen.”
“We knew how to hunt them down this time, and we will know how to do so in the future as well.”
Houthi leaders flee Sanaa
Earlier on Tuesday, Saudi-owned, London-based outlet Asharq al-Awsat reported that several senior Houthi leaders have fled Sanaa towards fortified hideouts in Saada, Amran, and other areas under Houthi control.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on a tour in the Gaza Strip, August 5, 2025. (credit: DEFENSE MINISTRY)
High-ranking Houthi officials, including Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the group’s ruling council; Abdul Karim al-Houthi, the terror group’s interior minister; Abu Ali al-Hakim, the newly appointed head of Houthi intelligence; and Ahmed Hamed, another member of the ruling council, have disappeared from Sanaa in recent days, sources confirmed to Asharq al-Awsat.
Buses were seen transporting the families of group leaders towards Amran and Saada, sources told Asharq, saying that the terror group is aware that its leaders are direct targets for Israeli airstrikes.
According to the report, Houthi leaders and commanders were instructed not to use government buildings or gather in public places.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, has been killed in an air strike in Gaza City, Israel has said.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, for the “flawless execution” in a post on X.
He gave no detail on the time or location of the operation, but the IDF earlier said its aircraft attacked “a key terrorist” in the al-Rimal neighbourhood on Saturday, prompting reports in Israeli media that Obeida had been the target.
Hamas has not confirmed his death. The Palestinian armed group earlier said dozens of civilians were killed and injured in Israeli strikes on a residential building in the district.
Katz warned on Sunday that many more of Obeida’s “criminal partners” would be targeted with “the intensification of the campaign in Gaza” – a reference to a recently approved Israeli plan to seize control of Gaza City.
Separately, the IDF and Shin Bet offered more details about Saturday’s strikes that targeted the Hamas spokesman.
They said in a joint statement that the operation had been “made possible due to prior intelligence gathered by [Shin Bet] and the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate” that had identified his hiding place.
Five missiles struck the second and third floor of the six-storey apartment building simultaneously from two different directions.
The targeted flat had been used as a dentist’s surgery. Witnesses reported hundreds of thousands of dollars flying into the air because of the strike, with large sums stolen and later recovered by Hamas members.
Obeida was among the few remaining senior members of Hamas’s military wing from before its deadly 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
The joint statement said Obeida “served as the public face of the Hamas terrorist organization” and “disseminated Hamas’ propaganda”.
Over the past few years, Obeida – believed to be about 40 years old – delivered a number of long diatribes against Israel on behalf of Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.
Always masked in a Palestinian scarf, he became an idol to Hamas supporters throughout the Middle East.
In what may have been his final speech on Friday, Obeida said the fate of remaining Israeli hostages would be the same as that of Hamas fighters, warning Israel against its planned invasion of Gaza City.
Palestinians flee as smoke is seen billowing over Gaza City following an Israeli air strike on Saturday [EPA]
On Saturday, Hamas accused the IDF of hitting a residential building in the densely populated al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Local journalists reported that at least seven people had been killed and 20 injured in the strikes, with children among the casualties.
The IDF said that prior to the attack “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations, and additional intelligence information”.
BBC News has been unable to independently verify the claims of either the IDF or Hamas.
In early August, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City in a fresh offensive, with the stated aim of bringing the 22-month-long war to an end.
The UN has repeatedly warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said it would be “a huge mistake”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Hamas and defied international criticism of his plans to expand the war.
Israel’s military operation in Gaza began in response to the Hamas-led 7 October attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
While the operation to capture Gaza City has yet to begin in earnest, Israeli attacks on the city – where nearly a million people live – have been ongoing.
The Israeli military has said it plans to evacuate Gaza City’s entire population and move it to shelters in the south before troops move in. Most of Gaza’s population has already been displaced many times during the conflict.
More than 90% of the city’s homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.
A security source confirmed to the ‘Post’ that Israel is carrying out airstrikes in Sanaa in response to Friday’s missile launch by the Houthis toward Israeli territory.
The Israeli air force on Sunday afternoon struck the Yemeni Houthi capital of Sanaa, as a response to Friday’s ballistic missile strike by the Houthis on Israel, the IDF confirmed after The Jerusalem Post’s initial confirmation from security sources.
The strikes, which included more than 10 aircraft flying over 2,000 kilometers for five-and-a-half hours total and dropping around 35 munitions, targeted an area near the presidential complex, the Asar and Hizaz power plants, and sites where the Houthis may keep ballistic missiles.
The IDF added that the presidential palace in the Sanaa area is located within a military site from which Houthi forces operate.
The Hizaz and Asar power plants, which were also struck, served as a significant electricity supply facility for Houthi activities, the military said.
A security source has confirmed that Israel is carrying out airstrikes in Sanaa in response to Friday’s missile launch by the Houthis toward Israeli territory.
Israeli strikes in Houthi-controlled Sanaa in Yemen, August 24, 2025. (credit: screenshot via X/ section 27a copyright act)
Shortly after the Post received confirmation as an on background statement, the Defense Ministry put out a photo of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, and Air Force Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Omer Tishler is managing the attack from Air Force Headquarters.
Israeli counterattacks sought to halt Houthi economy, ability to resupply weapons
In the past, most Israeli counterattacks have been against the Yemeni Houthi port city of Hodeidah in order to grind their economy and ability to resupply weapons to a halt.
Some of the sites being hit are expected to widen the extent of electricity shortages in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
If the sites being hit are new sites that will more significantly harm the Houthis’ ballistic missile capabilities, this would be one of the first achievements of a new emphasis on wider intelligence collection within Yemen.
The Post has learned that there is a strong push by Israeli intelligence to better understand ways to reduce the Houthi threat, but also that Israeli intelligence is playing catch-up after mostly ignoring Yemen until this war, or even deep into the war when it became apparent that US pressure would not stop Houthi attacks on Israel.
Reuters contributed to this report. This is a developing story.