Lod, Israel - A Yemeni missile triggered a rush to shelters in central Israel on Sunday, a rare incident that caused no injuries but again showed mounting tensions nearly a year into the Gaza siege.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Yemenis will pay a "heavy price."

AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a brush fire near Lod and broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 12 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub, after the attack.

The Houthis claimed the strike.

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They are among groups in the Middle East that have taken a stand against Israel in solidarity with the besieged people of Palestine.

"The Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we charge a heavy price for any attempt to harm us," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.

The Houthis had targeted an Israeli "military position" in the Jaffa area, around Tel Aviv, using a "ballistic missile that succeeded in reaching its target," their spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

He added that "the enemy's defenses failed to intercept it."

In July, the Houthis claimed a drone strike that penetrated Israel's air defenses and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, over 1,100 miles from Yemen.

This time, Israel's military said an initial inquiry indicates the missile fired from Yemen probably fragmented in mid-air.

"Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial Defense Systems, and their results are under review," a military statement said.

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Sirens sounded, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelter in the greater Tel Aviv area.

A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while "on their way to shelters."

Israeli police said they were at the scene near Shfela, east of Tel Aviv, where a fragment of an air-defense interceptor had come down.

Yemen's Houthis are targeting Israel and its perceived interests as they openly denounce Israel's genocide in Gaza, which the territory's health ministry says has killed at least 41,206 Palestinians in the last 11 months – although the true number is assumed to be far higher.

Since November, the Houthis have carried out dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

Houthi missiles last month hit a Greek-flagged tanker carrying more than a million barrels of crude, leaving it ablaze off the coast of the Yemeni port of Hodeida and threatening environmental disaster.

A Greek defense ministry source on Saturday told AFP that the Sounion was being towed northward under military escort in a salvage operation.

After the Houthis' July attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli warplanes bombed Hodeida, destroying much of its fuel storage capacity and killing several people, according to the Houthis. The strikes caused a massive blaze after hitting oil tanks and a power plant in the harbor.

It was Israel's first claimed strike in Yemen, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said it should serve as "a reminder" of the price to be paid.