Israel and the Yemeni anti-government organization of Houthis carried out air strikes against each other on Thursday.

Israeli forces conducted air attacks on Yemen after the Houthis, who support the Palestinian group of Hamas, fired missiles toward Israel from Yemen early in the day.

The Houthis said in a statement that they launched two ballistic missiles targeting military facilities in Israel's biggest commercial city of Tel Aviv.

The group said the Yemenis will fulfill their "religious and moral duty" in response to "the massacres in the Gaza Strip."

The Israeli military says it intercepted the missiles. Israeli media says no injury was reported in the attacks, but a school building collapsed due to the fall of a large piece of debris from one of the intercepted missiles.

Israel responded with air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen's capital Sanaa, including energy infrastructure and ports.

A local media in Yemen reported that nine people were killed in the Israeli attacks.

In the wider Middle East region, Iran-backed armed groups have launched attacks on Israel in a show of solidarity with Hamas.

Among them, the Lebanese Shia Muslim group Hezbollah agreed last month to a ceasefire. But another group, the Houthis, vow to continue fighting.

Observers say the latest exchange of attacks between Israel and the Houthis shows no prospect of easing the ongoing tension in the Middle East without a ceasefire in Gaza.