The showdown in Yemen

Signs that the talks are moving in a positive direction were reflected in comments made by a senior Palestinian official involved in the negotiations, who told the BBC earlier this week that talks were in a "decisive and final phase".

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, has also said an agreement is closer than ever.

But while the momentum in both the conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza is directed towards ending hostilities, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who declared war on Israel as a gesture of solidarity to Hamas following the October 7 attacks, appear determined to maintain their military confrontation with the Israelis.

For the past year the Houthis have been conducting attacks against shipping in the Red Sea they claim has links with Israel, although their attacks against international shipping not related to the Israelis has prompted the US and other Western powers to launch attacks against Houthis bases.

The Houthis have at the same time launched direct drone and missile attacks against Israeli targets, even managing to strike Israeli residential areas in Tel Aviv.

Now, in a move that marks a significant escalation in the Houthis' military campaign against Israel,  the group claims to have carried out a military operation targeting two "sensitive military targets" in Israel's Jaffa area, south of Tel Aviv, with two ballistic missiles. A statement published on Yemen's state news agency Saba claimed, "The operation has successfully achieved its objectives," adding the attacks took place "simultaneously" with Israeli air raids on civilian infrastructure in Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.

"The Israeli aggression will not deter Yemen and the Yemenis from performing their religious and moral duty in responding to its massacres in the Gaza Strip," it said.

Residents in Tel Aviv were woken by air raid sirens at about 2.30am on Thursday, followed by an explosion. Israeli officials said that the missile was shot down but its debris damaged a school just outside the city centre. 

The Houthi attacks, taking place at a time when Israel is focused on negotiating ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon and dealing with the aftermath of the Assad regime's overthrow in neighbouring Syria, suggests that, while other members of Iran's "axis of resistance" are concentrating their efforts of ending their conflict with Israel, the Houthis are not yet prepared to end their war against the Israelis.

The Houthis' willingness to maintain their attacks against Israel, moreover, runs the risk of escalating its confrontation with Israel, with the Israelis responding to the latest Houthi attacks by launching a series of intense air strikes against Houthi positions around the rebel-held port of Hodeidah.

Within an hour of the Houthi attacks, Israeli jets had launched their first strikes along the coast of Yemen, hitting the Hodeidah Ras Isa and Salif ports. A second wave of airstrikes at 4.30am struck two power stations in the capital Sanaa, which the Iran-backed Houthis have held for more than a decade. 

The Houthi-controlled satellite TV channel al-Masirah said that at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two died at the Ras Isa oil terminal. Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.

Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the rebels "have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action".

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country would "not allow the continuation" of shooting from the Houthis. 

"I suggest the leaders of the Houthi organization to see, to understand and remember, whoever raises a hand against the state of Israel, his hand will be cut off. Whoever harms us will be harmed sevenfold," he warned.

This is the third time the Israeli military has been in action against the Houthis this year. Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded ten in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a rebel missile targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport as Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, was arriving back in the country.

Israel's determination to act forcefully against any further attack conducted by the Houthis means that, while elsewhere in the region the focus is on ending hostilities, the conflict between Israel and the Yemeni-based rebels has all the potential to escalate into another major conflict.