ANKARA 

Israeli warplanes carried out a new wave of airstrikes on Sanaa airport in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

Katz claimed in a statement that the attacks destroyed what he said "the last aircraft remaining in Houthi use as part of Operation Golden Ornament."

"The ports in Yemen will continue to be hit hard, and Sanaa airport will be destroyed again and again," Katz warned.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV confirmed that four Israeli airstrikes targeted the airport's runway and a plane for the country’s flag carrier Yemenia Airways.

"The Zionist (Israeli) enemy targeted and completely destroyed the last operational Yemenia Airways plane at the Sanaa International Airport," Khaled Al-Shayef, director of Sanaa airport, said in a statement on X.

Wednesday’s attacks were the 10th wave of Israeli airstrikes on Yemen since October 2023, and the fourth since March when Israel resumed its genocidal war on Gaza.

The Houthis have intensified missile and drone strikes on Israel since Tel Aviv resumed its military attacks on Gaza in March. 

Since November 2023, the Houthis have also targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where over 54,000 people have been killed in the ongoing Israeli offensive.