Israel is signaling a wider campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen, a mountainous and impoverished country more than 1,000 miles from Israeli territory.

A Houthi political official says the group will continue attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians despite the escalating Israeli air strikes in Yemen.Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told the BBC that the Houthis would "escalate our military targeting of Israel" until it stopped what he described as "the genocide in Gaza".

Yemen-based Houthis — the last of Iran-backed groups still fully present in the regional war that began 14 months ago — are slowly escalating attacks on Israel with an eye to avoid full-out retaliation.